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The 8 levels are each crafted with surprising detail, and buck a few trends from earlier Gradii. No plain starfields before each new level, now even starting level one you'll encounter such eye-candy as a sun actively rising in a background planet's orbit. Every level moves graphically well beyond Gradius III and competes with the PS2-only Gradius IV, trading high-resolution for added environment details.

Secondly, the sounds keep to Gradius tradition while adding a little more oomph to explosions. Gradius has heretofore been weak in the pyrotechnics, but Galaxies looks and sounds more potent.

Finally, the expected difficulty is there, just not so much as in the very hardest, such as Gradius III. For players new to shooters--or people who have forgotten how to play real games--it will be tough. However, a nice "Hint" mode actually shows through recorded gameplay how to get through any stage you've reached. Perfect for "newbies".

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

It's a GRADIUS GAME, PERIODNov 28, 2001
By Christian H. Kim
I just finished Gradius Galaxies today with countless continues.. There's something about this long-lived franchise and I'm glad it is the way it is. When the gaming industry is flooded with 3D games with powerful systems, it's really difficult to find a real good 2D-old schooler games like Gradius series, especially Gradius Galaxies.

The moment I turned on the game, there was this nice intro, which shows the history of Gradius series including its early prototype and import-only games as well; and the opening music, which perfectly brings out the Gradius-atmosphere- I was pleasantly surprised with the options they managed to fit in such as continue mode, which let you come back anytime and start from where you left off, and hint mode, which let you see how to beat certain level with pre-recorded game play.

However, what it really set this game aside from the rest of the shooter games outside is that this game is based on over-decade time testsed formula, which let you power up your spaceship according to your need. Choosing your ships and powering up certain part becomes very crucial throughout the game and that really adds alot to the not only the game but also replay value. Graphic was what anyone would've expected from Konami (just like castlevania) and some BGM were familiar since they were rearranged from previous Gradius games. Control wasn't as smooth as previous Gradius games (especially Saturn version with import games) because of the GameBoy Advance D-Pad itself, which is sorta difficult to move your ship in diagonal direction with ease. However, that little problem will be overshadowed by high qualities of Gradius.

I really hope that Konami would keep certain games like Castlevania and Gradius series the way they are right now, 2D with crisp graphic, gorgeous BGM, and old but the best game play you can find. This game will definitely satisfy Gradius fans and it is the best shooting game you can find from GameBoy Advance. [...]

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

a good gameJul 24, 2002
By a powerful gamer
this is a pretty good game. the graphics are so-sobut gameplay is good and swift. you can switch which type of ship you want, each with different powerups. you can only take one hit before you are destroyed, which [stinks] but then you can get one of two types of shield, forward(10 hits) or surround shields(3 hits). both protect you from anything but crashing. graphics are super, and the controls are simple and changable,surprise surprise. all in all, a great game.

6 of 9 found the following review helpful:

An updated release of a classic arcade gameJan 14, 2002
By Jeff Johnson "Jeff Johnson"
I have always loved the Gradius series, its always been a simple side view spaceship shooting game, with a fire button and a power button. You are a small spaceship, which must fly through enemy platoons and fortresses destroying big bad monsters, turrets, ships, flame dragons and much more. Its simple, its "classic arcade" fun, but this Gradius has added a huge amount of detail, such as great backgrounds, enemies with more animations and more traps like volcanoes and moving gates. This however slowed down the game drastically! Playing this game is very difficult because everything moves so slowly and some of the time the directional pad does not respond! It gets very frustrating compared to the old Gradius games for SNES and NES, which had super smooth gameplay!

A perfect choice for shooter fans.Aug 16, 2003

This game has everything that makes Gradius games good, and a little bit more:

Visuals: 4/5
First off, the graphics are top notch, with great looking backgrounds, and some nice looking enemies. Everything has a good amount of detail to it, and the game even looks good when blown up on a big screen, when using the GC adapter. The only complaint about the graphics is that the game is really dark, but if you are using the Advance SP, or if you have a good lighting addition to your GBA (and there are hundreds out now, so you should), it's not a problem at all.

Sound: 3/5

Nothing spectacular here. Better sound effects than III or IV, but not by much. Instead of going "BOP" when a baddy gets shot, it makes a small crush sound. The lazer shots don't quite sound as annoying either, but the music score is a little annoying sometimes.

Gameplay: 4/5

Everything you'd expect from a Gradius game, except for one thing: In previous Gradius games, if you pumped the difficulty up as high as it would go, and you died in the middle of a stage and lost all your power-ups, it was extremely difficult to come back. That does not hold true for this game. You can continue from just about any part of the game and make a comeback fairly well, as the designers usually place a significant amount of powerups at each respawn portion of the game. The only time that the game is next to impossible without powerups is when you've beaten the game several times through, and are playing on a high loop setting.

Extra: 4/5

It's great that you can continue from any respawn point that you have reached on any difficulty setting! This allows for gamers to pick up, play for a few minuettes, and when they die, put it away so that they can play later at almost the spot they died. I also like the hint section, even though it doesn't do any good if you are playing on anything higher than normal difficulty.

The reason I gave 4/5 for extra, is because in previous Gradius games, the player could customize the ship more. In this one they have a bunch of presets that are fairly well balanced out.

Overall 4/5

It's a great game for gamers that are new to shooters and shooter fans alike. The lower difficulty settings, good respawn points, and hint modes, make the game pretty eassy for beginners. The ability to continue from spots after looping through the game allows for advanced shooter gamers to play at extremely difficult settings. I'd call this game a must have for GBA owners, unless you're really not interested in intense gameplay.

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