Gradius? I'll only be in for a participation point because I was never good at this game lol

Thank God, back to back games I am good at. I haven't played Gradius in a while, but I beat Starship Hector earlier this year, so it should be an easy readjustment.

So... month and a half is a while, eh?

ETA: That 2nd quote was from the Can NA beat every NES Game 2013, posted on January 1st, 2013

Jesus, if that's a while, what's my decade of rust count as?

For the record, my "in a long time" = about 16 years

I love gradius! Even though I can't pass the Easter Island stage, I'll see what I can do!

180,500

Started to move, then realized I was out of lives.  Oops.  At least I didn't shoot anything.

And in case you need to see the setup...



Totally need to clean up, but whatever.  Anyway, I doubt this will stay near the top for long, but it's a decent first effort considering it's been a decade since I last played   One tip (one I will utilize if I play again) is to switch to the Double shot on the Moai stage (the Easter Island heads) so that you can shoot up as well.  Switching to the Laser again would be recommended for level 4, but you won't have enough power ups to keep your Shield available in case it fails when the computer chip looking enemies start flying at you, so take your pick as to which you prefer...I just thought I'd mention it in case it helps someone

As for the power up sequence, the best bet is to use at least one Speed boost right away so you can maximize your destruction of the enemies at the beginning...getting missiles and your gun by the half-way point should be priority, after that the Options will come...you'll want at least one by the end (you can easily get two, and possibly the shield as well).  A second Speed Up is also recommeded if you can spare it, but you can get that later.  I have trouble with controlling my ship when I have more than two boosts though, but if you can handle more, go for it.

Totally just realized I got the top score so far (I doubt it'll last though), despite the fact that you actually got further than I did.  Remember, this is for points...keep shooting constantly, especially if you have the Laser.  If you luck out and have two Options and Lasers when you get to the volcanos on level 1, you can really rack up the points.  I got my first free man there   Also, if you kill the bosses by shooting out the core, you get more points...it's hard to pull off, but it's definitely doable.

669,400

Oh god, this game, I still can't figure out how the hell to beat the first boss! Time to go to youtube, I'm gonna try my best to kick ass at all these games now that I won the random prize last game!

Sweet! I used to be able to loop the game when I was a kid. Been a few years though. We will see how this goes.

I think this is just me showing off my horrible forgetfullness.  

Awesome. One of the first games I got for that legendary Christmas long ago. Question, is the Konami code permitted at the start of the game to get max power-ups?

^ lol.

Chrono: 156,900         (Update #3 - Feb 26)

 

You dare laugh, sir?

A chuckle at most, and it was with you, not at; I assure you.

Is there really a Konami code for this game?

looks like the Konami Code is out, Im practicing now, can get past 100,000 but once i die the first time i feel like im screwed.

Yeah, similar to Abadox, gives you full power-ups.  Same code as Contra, you pause when the game starts, input, and there you go.

Of course. I thought this was the game that was the most well-known for having it.

I didn't know abadox used the code. I think there's a non-Konami game that uses the code too.

I always thought the Konami code was from Contra...

That's prolly what it's most famous for, but Gradius came out a couple years before Contra.

90,600

Kick this man out of the forums immediately.

Sorry, didn't mean to state it like that. I meant similar as in it possesses a code to give you full power-ups.