Jeremy Parish

NES Works #035: Gradius (Patreon)

Published:

2017-07-23 12:58:51

Imported:

2026-06

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Content

This is it! The end of NES Works 1986. And what a way to wrap the year.

It'll be a while before I delve into NES again — my top priority now is to wrap up the first year of Super NES retrospectives I started (gotta milk that Super NES Mini hype), then make some progress on Game Boy... and then there's a secret, self-contained project to tackle that should be interesting, hopefully.

Thank you for supporting this series through the second year of the NES's life. It's a been a little meager at times, I realize. NES Works 1987 should be a lot more interesting! Look forward to it in about a year (unless we can miraculously drum up support for this campaign to hit the two-weekly-videos goal, in which case it'll happen a lot sooner).

Files

Previews only

Gradius retrospective: A stellar finish | NES Works #035

And here we arrive at last at the end of NES Works 1986. Thankfully, we've saved the best for last. Gradius turns the tables on the NES's woeful early third-party days, presenting a cutting-edge contemporary arcade shooter with a minimum of compromises. It's not arcade-perfect, but it's every bit as satisfying as the original Gradius — a promising sign for new NES publisher Konami, who jumps immediately to the front of the console race with this debut release.