 Vulcan Venture / Gradius II Level 1 - Death Stars
One of the most unforgiving first levels in gaming history, this stage consists of flaming stars inhabited by fearsome Sun Dragons. The screen scrolls vertically, so there's quite a bit of room although you must be careful not to scroll into a dragon. As expected, the dragons must be shot in the head - you must be careful to avoid being trapped as they curl across the screen. Make sure you shoot all the fireballs they spit out, as some of them leave power crystals behind. A flaming Firebird is the first boss. The game helpfully tells you to 'shoot it in the head'. Shoot the fireballs he spits out, and avoid the blue laser spray that comes from his claws. Then turn him into roast chicken. Level 2 - Space Twiglets
Once again, the influence of H.R. Giger is felt. This level has his characteristic 'bio-mechanoid' look, along with the curious twiglet formations that must be shot through. The Salamander-type arms cannot be destroyed, but will retreat if shot at. As you might imagine, eggs that spawn facehuggers turn up near the end. The boss is a large eyeball with two arms. Obviously. The arms generate lots of small blobs that must be shot, whilst the eye fires a larger blob that cannot be destroyed. The eye is only vulnerable when 'open'. A course of laser-Optrex seems the best solution. Level 3 - Ice Ice Baby
Large floating blocks of ice are your main obstacles in this level. When shot, they fragment into smaller pieces rather like in Atari's classic Asteroids. Some of the larger blocks cannot be destroyed, however. It is extremely hard to recover after losing a life on this level, so don't die. The boss is a rather attractive crystalline ship, the Icebreaker. Luckily, you can fly right into his 'mouth' (see picture) and his lasers will miss you (this may take practice). You can now shoot him with impunity. Level 4 - Another Day, Another Cavern
It wouldn't be a Gradius game without some volcanoes, and here they are. This is one of the levels where 2-way missile is particularly useful, since there are plenty of gun emplacements and ship generators on the ceiling. This level often marks the first appearance of the irritating 'Multiple Grabber'. This indestructible alien craft tracks your ship at the back of the screen, and then flies forward intent on stealing your precious orange blobs. If it makes contact with your ship it will steal all of them, so try and avoid it. Since it's appearances are random, it may arrive at a time when you cannot manoeuvre easily and you will have no choice but to let it pinch your blobbies. This level's boss is the Beamship, a craft slightly reminiscent of the level 5 boss from Salamander. He first fires a spread of missiles from his forward dome. Blow this up and he will start firing an enormous blue laser beam. This takes a moment to charge up, so you have time to get out of the way. Keep firing at the core, and the forces of good will triumph. Level 5 - Easter Island Revisited
Another series favourite, the deadly Easter Island heads are back for more. To begin with, this level is similar to the one from Nemesis until you reach the Redheads. These improved heads fire at a much faster rate, and can turn around or rise up from the ground. After you have dealt with them, you enter a rocky cavern where you will face the grey Bouncy Heads. The trick here is to skip underneath them whilst they are bouncing, and shoot them when they turn to face you. At the end of the cavern waits the boss, three large heads embedded in the rock. These spit out smaller heads which in turn fire tiny rings at you. As with the normal-size heads, shoot them in their mouths. Depending on your weapon selection, you may not be able to destroy all three heads. In this case, the bosses will eventually self-destruct. Level 6 - Speed
Inspired by the very final part of Salamander, this level scrolls at a faster rate than normal. Gates open and close, occasionally blocking your path, and you must make sure you don't fly into any dead ends. Piles of orange blobs block some corridors, and you must blast your way through. You must have two speeds for this level, or you will surely die. At the very end are 3 large gates which close quickly, so sprint through them. The boss is a variant on the standard Nemesis mothership. He has two cores, and can open his 'arms' to fire a wide spread of lasers. When you destroy one of the cores, the arm on that side will cease to function. It will now be straightforward to destroy the second core and send him to the scrapyard. Level 7 - Memory Lane
This level was quite a surprise when it turned up, since it consists completely of bosses from Nemesis, Salamander and Lifeforce. First up are the Fuzzy Things from Nemesis. These beam in from hyperspace and attempt to ram you. The first wave of them are red, so they leave power crystals behind when shot. This is a good chance to recover any weapons you may have lost - the main difficulty is hitting the power-up button at the right time. Next up, the classic Nemesis mother ship is launched from the aliens' giant spacecraft. This fires faster than it used to, and can now move forwards as well as up & down. When one of the gates protecting the core is destroyed, a spray of bullets is launched towards you. Now comes the giant brain from Salamander. Since you are in empty space, you can manoeuvre more freely than in your first encounter. If you keep circling him, his arms get knotted up. Shoot his eye and wave goodbye. Mr. Twirly is your next opponent. He now has the ability to curl his arms up and then unfurl them suddenly. Also, his core gates explode into a bullet spray when destroyed. As in Salamander, multiple dangling works well. Lifeforce's only entrant appears next, the Skullship. He fires a load of eyeballs and a few lasers at you. After you shoot his face off, he starts shooting a large number of lasers. Dodge between them and finish him off. The Salamander is next, and he's learnt a few tricks since you last saw him. Shoot his head, and he will break up into three smaller snakes. Kill these as quickly as possible, as it easy for them to trap you. The final boss is a new one, the Missile Cruiser. He fires large numbers of indestructible missiles, whilst his core is protected by rotating shields. Line up your multiples in the middle of the screen, and move forwards and backwards to dodge the missiles. Eventually, you will penetrate his core and destroy him. Level 8 - The Final Level
The giant space cruiser that launched the bosses in the previous level is your next target. Blow open the rear doors and enter to find a level suspiciously similar to the final level from Nemesis. They probably used the same interior designers. There is as much alien hardware on the ceiling as on the floor, so you really need some upwards firepower here. At one point, the floor and ceiling tiles are ripped up and thrown at you. It's usually a good idea to shoot them. At about the halfway point, you encounter the Wall of Death. This structure assembles itself in front of you (watch out for the core coming on from behind), and then attacks with fast lasers and those annoying robot walker things. The laser guns and walker generators can all be destroyed seperately, after which you can concentrate on taking out the core. In the next section, parts of the floor and ceiling move to try and crush you. Look out for the flash which indicates a section is about to move. And now we come to the most annoying thing in the entire game, the Deadly Killer Death Spider Robot of Death. This pink monstrosity is utterly indestructible, so you must slip under its legs as it walks about. Whilst you're trying to do this, walkers on the floor and ceiling shoot at you. Eventually it buggers off, and you can confront the alien mastermind. As is usual for the series the final boss, a rather disturbing skinless head, is pretty much helpless. Shoot the wires above his exposed brain and he dies. The End
Your craft flies out from the alien cruiser, which explodes. Watch the credits, and then start all over again. |
