Gradius Origins - Blu-ray Forum

heyadol · 03-27-2025, 04:28 PM

Gradius ORIGINS is coming to Nintendo Switch on August 7, 2025.

Glad to see M2 making a new game with Salamander III, but we probably don't need another Gradius collection. Especially annoying since they skipped Gradius ReBirth, Gradius IV, and when tf is Gradius V ever going to get a port? That being said...can we get Parodius Origin Collection next?

Gradius Origin Collection for the JP market:

Talal86 · 03-27-2025, 04:34 PM

Meh I assumed V is part of the collection

dyne · 03-27-2025, 05:11 PM

LRG's just announced their release of this.

heyadol · 03-27-2025, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talal86

Meh I assumed V is part of the collection

Yeah, it's a bit disappointing. I'd rather have a direct port of Gradius V than another bundle of games they've already bundled this gen.

Pretty sure Gradius V is still available digitally on PS3 (but you have preload your PSN wallet then buy the game on a PS3), but the game is 480i so it looks awful on PS3. Looks better on PS2 and emulation.

Talal86 · 03-27-2025, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heyadol

Looks better on PS2 and emulation.

that's the version I play

emailking · 03-28-2025, 12:49 AM

Rewind is much better than continues.

Musashi · 03-28-2025, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emailking

Rewind is much better than continues.

Right? Good to see that this compilation has it. Losing armaments when dying has always been super lame.

VictoryAtNight · 03-28-2025, 06:39 AM

Best news today from Nintendo!

Can’t wait!

ChadFL · 03-29-2025, 10:57 PM

LRG has been dropping some great shmup releases of late. Most of them were not surprising, but this one was a pleasant shock. Don't recall any previous mention of a Gradius collection. Really looking forward to this release.

heyadol · 03-30-2025, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChadFL

LRG has been dropping some great shmup releases of late. Most of them were not surprising, but this one was a pleasant shock. Don't recall any previous mention of a Gradius collection. Really looking forward to this release.

True it wasn't a Gradius collection per se, but Konami released Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection a few years ago and it included Hamster's Arcade Archives ports of Gradius, Gradius II, and Life Force/Salamander. Hamster also released Gradius III and Vs. Gradius via their Arcade Archives label.

This collection is more thorough, M2 likes including multiple versions of games in their collections so that is cool. Still I would prefer games in the series which haven't been ported at all over variants of games we've already collected this gen. Just the same I'm excited for this release, I even hear the Life Force voice in my head when I type "multiple."

dyne · 03-30-2025, 12:53 PM

So to be clear, in addition to all the aforementioned titles not being included this collection also only includes arcade titles right? No console versions?

heyadol · 03-30-2025, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyne

So to be clear, in addition to all the aforementioned titles not being included this collection also only includes arcade titles right? No console versions?

Correct, strictly Arcade versions for the six classic titles, and Salamander III is being treated as an Arcade title here.

https://www.konami.com/games/gradius/us/en/

I heard ROM hackers fixed the horrendous slow down and flicker in Gradius III (and Super R-Type) for SNES, it’s almost too bad M2 didn’t get to take a stab at fixing it as well.

Musashi · 03-30-2025, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heyadol

Correct, strictly Arcade versions for the six classic titles, and Salamander III is being treated as an Arcade title here.

https://www.konami.com/games/gradius/us/en/

I heard ROM hackers fixed the horrendous slow down and flicker in Gradius III (and Super R-Type) for SNES, it’s almost too bad M2 didn’t get to take a stab at fixing it as well.

Funny thing is, Konami themselves fixed it for Gradius 3 Arcade, in the PS2 port. They even included an option to keep the slowdown. What's kinda funny is how the manual phrased it, "Because the PS2 processor is faster than arcade's.." I saw that and snarked, "Naw, really?"

For context, Gradius 3's 1989 arcade board had a 10MHz processor. The PS2 ran at nearly 300 MHz, and was certainly doing more work per cycle.

dyne · 03-30-2025, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heyadol

I heard ROM hackers fixed the horrendous slow down and flicker in Gradius III (and Super R-Type) for SNES, it’s almost too bad M2 didn’t get to take a stab at fixing it as well.

The FAST Rom hacks in the SNES scene are awesome. Most assume incorrectly that slowdown and flicker is always caused by the "slow" SNES cpu which isn't the case. A lot of times it's because companies opted for cheaper and slower ROM in the carts. This causes the cpu to run at 2.68mhz rather than the flatout 3.58mhz to match the ROM speed which really hampers games with a lot of sprites on screen.

Musashi · 03-30-2025, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyne

The FAST Rom hacks in the SNES scene are awesome. Most assume incorrectly that slowdown and flicker is always caused by the "slow" SNES cpu which isn't the case. A lot of times it's because companies opted for cheaper and slower ROM in the carts. This causes the cpu to run at 2.68mhz rather than the flatout 3.58mhz to match the ROM speed which really hampers games with a lot of sprites on screen.

I heard about the SlowROM/FastROM thing and don't yet fully understand it. I take it there are cheaper but slower storage chips and all, but it raised a bunch of questions on my end like: Were other cartridge-based consoles performances affected by this too? Ie: Did other consoles also run at speeds lower than their maximums for certain games due to being manufactured with cheaper chips? And what of consoles that use Optical Discs and/or local storage like Hard Drives?

Staying on the topic of Gradius: I've heard of several FastROM mods, and for Gradius 3 I even heard about a hack that goes even further and adds the 10.74 MHz SA-1 chip.

dyne · 03-30-2025, 08:17 PM

Optical disc consoles wouldn’t have the same issue since the games are on disc and not ROM chips. There would be limited RAM in those consoles but not the same game ROM issue. Interesting question about other systems like the Genesis. I’ve not seen anything to indicate differences with their ROM chips. Didn’t Nintendo manufacture all the carts and or have a very high licensing fee to release games on the system? Maybe that was a factor that wasn’t present on the Genesis.

heyadol · 06-17-2025, 07:02 PM

Probably nothing...but Konami permanently delisted Gradius V from PSN a few days ago. Not getting my hopes up for a remaster or another Gradius collection but I would definitely buy it. There are community patches to fix that awful interlaced resolution, I'm sure M2 can give us some quality options.

https://delistedgames.com/gradius-v-...g-is-to-blame/

heyadol · 08-07-2025, 08:14 AM

Having a lot of fun with this, maybe getting a bit too old to get a 1cc (much less the subsequent loops). Fingers crossed Konami/M2 announce a Parodius and/or Otomedius collection at TGS, those are more my speed. M2 was in the credits for both Otomedius games, maybe they did the 360 ports?

ChadFL · 08-09-2025, 03:39 AM

Shmups are one genre I always loved, despite always being awful at them.

dyne · 08-10-2025, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Shmups are one genre I always loved, despite always being awful at them.

Same. Usually great visuals and soundtracks is what draws me in.

03-27-2025, 04:34 PM	#2
Talal86 Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Dec 2010 4K collection:228 Blu-ray collection:375 DVD collection:2 Trading Score:74	Meh I assumed V is part of the collection

03-27-2025, 05:11 PM	#3
dyne Blu-ray Baron Member since:Feb 2011 4K collection:77 Blu-ray collection:508 Trading Score:7	LRG's just announced their release of this.

03-28-2025, 12:49 AM	#6
emailking Blu-ray Knight Member since:Aug 2015	Rewind is much better than continues.

03-28-2025, 06:39 AM	#8
VictoryAtNight Blu-ray Count Member since:Sep 2011 Location:Hotel Krat 4K collection:72 Blu-ray collection:1043 DVD collection:393 MA collection:14 Digital collection:105 iTunes collection:3	Best news today from Nintendo! Can’t wait!

03-29-2025, 10:57 PM	#9
ChadFL Blu-ray Archduke Member since:Dec 2009 Location:Daytona Beach, FL Blu-ray collection:556 DVD collection:5	LRG has been dropping some great shmup releases of late. Most of them were not surprising, but this one was a pleasant shock. Don't recall any previous mention of a Gradius collection. Really looking forward to this release.

03-30-2025, 12:53 PM	#11
dyne Blu-ray Baron Member since:Feb 2011 4K collection:77 Blu-ray collection:508 Trading Score:7	So to be clear, in addition to all the aforementioned titles not being included this collection also only includes arcade titles right? No console versions?

03-30-2025, 08:17 PM	#16
dyne Blu-ray Baron Member since:Feb 2011 4K collection:77 Blu-ray collection:508 Trading Score:7	Optical disc consoles wouldn’t have the same issue since the games are on disc and not ROM chips. There would be limited RAM in those consoles but not the same game ROM issue. Interesting question about other systems like the Genesis. I’ve not seen anything to indicate differences with their ROM chips. Didn’t Nintendo manufacture all the carts and or have a very high licensing fee to release games on the system? Maybe that was a factor that wasn’t present on the Genesis.

06-17-2025, 07:02 PM	#17
heyadol Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Nov 2014 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:75 DVD collection:3 MA collection:37 Digital collection:77 iTunes collection:1473 Prime collection:2 Trading Score:11	Probably nothing...but Konami permanently delisted Gradius V from PSN a few days ago. Not getting my hopes up for a remaster or another Gradius collection but I would definitely buy it. There are community patches to fix that awful interlaced resolution, I'm sure M2 can give us some quality options. https://delistedgames.com/gradius-v-...g-is-to-blame/

08-07-2025, 08:14 AM	#18
heyadol Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Nov 2014 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:75 DVD collection:3 MA collection:37 Digital collection:77 iTunes collection:1473 Prime collection:2 Trading Score:11	Having a lot of fun with this, maybe getting a bit too old to get a 1cc (much less the subsequent loops). Fingers crossed Konami/M2 announce a Parodius and/or Otomedius collection at TGS, those are more my speed. M2 was in the credits for both Otomedius games, maybe they did the 360 ports?

08-09-2025, 03:39 AM	#19
ChadFL Blu-ray Archduke Member since:Dec 2009 Location:Daytona Beach, FL Blu-ray collection:556 DVD collection:5	Shmups are one genre I always loved, despite always being awful at them.

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