Ok... AFAIK here in Europe Gradius I is known as "Nemesis". And there's a MSX version of that game...

*BUT*

AFAIK Gradius II here is called "Vulcan Venture" (the best game in the series IMHO)... but Gradius II on the MSX doesn't resemble Vulcan Venture at all... where are all the huge fire dragons that comes out from the magma planets? where is the firebird at the end of the first stage? it looks more like a newer game... a sort of Gradius 1.5 game to me

So here's the question: where is the real Vulcan Venture / Gradius II for the MSX ? Do you mean that Nemesis III for the MSX is Vulcan Venture AKA Gradius II? that's a little bit confusing to me! And where is Salamander / Life Force ? ( there was a time when I believed that Salamander was the sequel of Nemesis.. )


( P.S: doesn't matter with the above question, but I have to say that "Vulcan Venture" for the PC-Engine CD is the best Gradius conversion I have ever played )

Konamiman could answer you better than I'll do. MSX versions are different than arcade (I prefer the way konami implemented the MSX versions if we talk about the genre of the game as they are not just "shooters".

What about Gradius III then?

Isn't Gradius II, more like Nemesis III on the MSX: http://www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/softwareinfo/1254 ?
Salamander was also released on MSX: http://www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/softwareinfo/941

Salamander/ Life Force was released as Salamander.

Nemesis 3 (Gofer no Yabou Episode II) - is a sort of port of Vulcan Venture.
But I think some stages were different.
It does start with the sun stage and has the fire bird as boss monster.

Yes, "Nemesis III: The eve of destruction" is probably the real Gradius II... even if AFAIK it lacks some things from the arcade version, like the fire dragons at the very beginning of the game... probably the MSX2 version couldn't handle them (but the NES version of Gradius II have them)

Quote:

The MSX1 version of Gradius 2 (released as Nemesis 2 in the European market) was an original sequel produced specifically for the platform and unrelated to the arcade version. A port of the arcade version of Gradius II was later released under the title of Gofer no Yabō Episode II (ゴーファーの野望 エピソードII, Gōfā no Yabō Episōdo Tsū?, "Gofer's Ambition: Episode II" ) in Japan, or Nemesis III: Eve of Destruction in Europe. The MSX1 version of Gradius 2 would later be remade as Nemesis '90 for the X68000 with improved graphics.

Thank you. So the do have made a two different storylines for the arcade version and for the MSX version... It's quite confusing!
Aaaah... those japanese!

If "Gofer" is the giant head at the end of Nemesis III, is the brain at the end of Nemesis I Gofer's brain?

Gradius is supposed to be the first megabit game on the MSX home computer (the game even do not feature the megarom symbol on the box!). I believe that Gradius II was a special game for MSX that introduced the custom sound chips from Konami, the famous SCC ...

No, F-1 Spirit was the first SCC game. (According to that interview with the Konami developers which I can't find back anymore...)

Yeah, yeah. What about Gofer?

Quote:

No, F-1 Spirit was the first SCC game. (According to that interview with the Konami developers which I can't find back anymore...)

I did not know this. Learned something new, 21 years after the release/copyright date of these two wonderfull games :-)

To complicate the story a little bit more:

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=722

If you have a look at the arcade flyer, you will discover a different story for the Nemesis game (where are the bacterions?)

I think Konami followed a different script to develop MSX versions and did not managed to make faithful conversions, but adding some extras (Bonus stages, more difficult here and there...).

I always hated how the Gradius arcade versions didn't have actually "a script" with some background story, but well, it's perfectly understable for a cabinet arcade game. If you take a look arround, you'll see all the conversions of the arcade (for NES, C64, CPC, Spectrum, PC-Engine, SNES, etc...) are "direct" conversions and the MSX ones are the only who received a special treatment:

• Created a background plot deeper that the ones for arcade, in a saga-like basis
• Added bonus levels, special weapons or features not available on arcade (Nemesis 2 weaponary, Salamander Extended weapons, green ship in dual mode....)
• Totally new feature: different endings for the story depending on what you do through the game (Salamander and Nemesis 3), very uncommon for shootem'ups.

Of course I think MSX versions are so different from arcade ones, but I also think they are way better, even better than the outstanding Gradius II conversion for PC Engine.

@mohai:

Captain Nemo, lost armada... Interesting stuff!