#Gradius
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
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Episode 133
Life Force is and exciting auto-scrolling shooter, and one best two player co-op games on the NES! This the second game in the highly successful Gradius series, but it's not a sequel, it's a spin-off...
Life Force started out as an arcade game, but the original was a lot different than the game we got on the NES. Why were so many things changed, and what happened to Gradius II, the REAL sequel to Gradius? We'll find out in this episode, and we'll also learn:
* The best way to beat ALL SIX STAGES!
* How to use the KONAMI CODE to start with 30 lives!
* Where to find every SECRET POINT BONUS!
* How to reveal HIDDEN EXTRA LIVES!
* Strategies for powering up - How to SURVIVE without the best weapons!
* The secret GLITCH to get 255 LIVES!
* The best way to defeat EVERY BOSS, with and without extra power ups.... AND MORE!
Thanks for watching!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
0:00:00 Intro
0:09:33 SECRET: The Konami Code
0:09:52 SECRET: 255 Lives
0:11:02 Stage 1 - Cell I
0:16:07 Stage 2 - Volcanic
0:22:29 Stage 3 - Prominence
0:26:38 Stage 4 - Cell II
0:31:19 Stage 5 - Temple
0:38:30 Stage 6 - Mechanical City
0:44:39 Ending
0:45:18 Thanks for Watching!
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I LOVE the twist ending when we destroy the life form we were sent to save. Classic 80-90s game logic! Brought to you by "wait, games have plots?!"
I didn't really appreciate the gravity of the ending until I played through this time. I think 90% of video games from the 80's end with you either saving some girl, or something blows up - so it just seemed normal for that thing to explode!
@@UCanBeatVideoGames The arcade version of Life Force explains it better. The entity you're fighting through is on it's way to planet Gradius to consume it and is being controlled by a Zelos Force. The dragon with it at the end is the eponymous "Salamander". Hence the reason you destroy the thing at the end.
@@KaizenNeko Does it explain why there's an Egyptian style temple inside this entity or is it also 80-90s game logic? Feels like it was initially made for another Gradius sequel (with the miniboss music and all) but made its way into to the game anyway...
@@happytrashman Well that's because they had only the first stage being biologically themed when released in the arcade as Salamander the rest goes towards space/whatever theming as you're flying between planets fighting the enemy until you get to the final boss.
The port of Salamander to the US/International market does the plot rewrite so you're trying to save giant cyborg lifeform Sentinel and uses the Stage 1 background in recolorings to give it the feel of being in a body more.
I'd check The Cutting Room Floor for some more information but I figure the Famicom/NES ports mirrored their parents as a bit as well.
@@happytrashmanthere's some interpretations of stage 5 saying it's Planet Latis, Lord British's homeworld.
Though, the Salamander OVAs also delved into supernatural phenomenon that revolves around mysterious artifacts (the Moai heads apparently are an example too.) attracts on what would be later known as the Dark Force (from Gradius 3 onwards); an existential threat that spreads like a virus that turns things evil and corrupted. The Bacterian Empire fell to the Dark Force a long time ago and is used as the patient zero to spread the evil.
Gradius Galaxies/Advanced/Generations, the GBA one, implies that the fighting is kinda fruitless because everytime a Cyberbrain is destroyed (the final boss of gradius every game and straight spinoff), its pieces are spread throughout the cosmos and grow into new Cyberbrains someday. The GBA game shows the worst possible scenario of an entire planet succumbing to a Bacterian infection-which ended up also blowing up just as the creature you "saved" at the end of Lifeforce/Salamander.
Up up down down left right left right B A start! I'll remember that till the day i die 😂
You forgot select for player 2!
Even God knows it 😅
I'll always remember it, too! I knew a local rock band in Florida 20 years ago that used that as their band name! 😅 Great covers of video game songs!
If you use the Konami Code in Gradius III while paused, you'll _definitely_ remember it till the day you die 'cause you'll die right then and there. 😅
@@neutraltral8757 that's weird.
I remember that my mom used to rent this game for us when she went to the laundromat. We would keep it for a week and my brothers and I would play it non-stop. Thanks as always for doing the research to make these games so nostalgic.
Even at a young age when I played this, I loved the soundtrack. As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate the 'proggy-ness' of the music. It's even more amazing to me now.
You do a good job changing genres and covering all sorts of games, I like that!
Not the first shooter the doggos covered. I believe they covered Jackal one time.
And yet, he still kept everything cohesive by making sure this episode had a Star Wars reference in it just like there were several in the recent FFIV coverage. 😆
So stoked to see this game, this, along with Zelda 2 were the first games I got for Christmas with my NES.
Outstanding! This, along with Galaga and the NES, were my Christmas unwraps in '88.
'89, I would wish for TMNT. Not my best move, but at least UCBVG helped me revisit it with a touch less bitterness.
Been waiting for this video to be made. After doing FF2 (4) for the SNES, a lighter, shorter game had to be next... and LIFE FORCE is just what the doctor ordered.
I'm sure some people like those huge games, but I just don't even click on those videos. Some games just take way too damn long to finish.
@@sbrazenor2 Personally not a fan of FF II but I appreciated having a ton of UCBVG content to play in the background!
It's like a fancy lil dessert after a huge banquet. Just dandy.
@@sbrazenor2i agree 100%
Yeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss, LIFEFORCE!!!! My brother and I played this game all the time, back in the day. It was a Sunday ritual for a long while, the two of us saving the universe in our spaceships!
And we saw they made a movie called "LifeForce"!!! We were so excited! Our parents rented it for us, and... well... lets just say it DEFINITELY has nothing to do with this game. But as young boys we still enjoyed it, for a few reason.
The music on this game is still some of my favorite of all time! I've even thrown it onto some of the videos on my own channel.
Great pick this week, U Can Beat Video Games!!! ( I'm still working my way through your FF4 videos, that's been tons of fun too!)
The way I saw some of the items and enemies when playing this game as an elementary school aged kid are pretty amusing now. I saw the red blood cells in the "bloodstream" level as "pepperonis" and the power ups as "fried eggs". The pulsating purplish cells were "cats' paws", as they looked like the padded soles of a cat's foot to me at the time. The orbs in the mini-boss phase of the volcano level were "marbles".
youre totally right. i think similar things about the legend of zelda
In your defense, depending on how long ago elementary school was for you, you might have been playing on one of those old CRT TVs with the separate red/green/blue bars. The graininess might have made some of those sprites look a bit different from how they were intended. 😅
Glad to see new content. The FF video was long and a lot of work I'm sure.
You aren't kidding, I kinda thought id finish that series by February. 😅
@@UCanBeatVideoGamesDon’t forget us little people when you are rich & famous! 😂 Your channel is mesmerizing. 😊
This game was so much fun growing up!!
Lord British is the name of the king in the ULTIMA games.
Play those. You are in for an incredible adventure. Start with part 4 if you have the patience for it. Otherwise play part 6 and 7.
You wont regret it.
Hard to believe Ultima Online is still going. It came out when I was in high school and now I'm middle age.
Beat me to it
lol yeah, the 2nd ship should be piloted by Richard Garriott
I was going to comment about Lord British! To date 4 is the only Ultima I played, but I absolutely loved it. It blew my tiny little mind!
I'm low key surprised he hasn't covered Ultima III - Exodus. It's not an amazing game, but it is one of the titles covered in Rusel DeMaria's _Nintendo Games Secrets_ and he's covered the vast majority of the others. 🤔
wow you just keep getting better and better.... I find myself enjoying more channel more everytime. its like saterday moring cartoons now. i look foward to it all the time. Great job
Woof.. woof woof woof... woof woof woof... meow!
Oh, my childhood.
Double options, straight laser and missiles (second level), my go to configuration.
Double laser, double missle, two options, one speed.
@@atskooc yeah, forgot speed and force field. 1 speed is just right, I always though if you hit it the second time you moved too fast.
I never knew how to use the power ups when I played this as a kid. I didn't realize how the power up system worked until I played the version of this game unlocked in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner called Zoradius on PS2. Then it made sense that you had to select the power up as it became unlocked. lol
That 255 bug is a very clever overflow. Rolled right over that 0 when you stole the life and they didn't bother with checking the life total when it occurs. Interesting stuff.
Salamander is also a Japanese oav based on the same source material. All 3 of them are available to be viewed here on TH-cam.
Thank you so much for showcasing bosses with no powerups. Watching someone play through a game like Gradius is seldom helpful because the "trick" is simply to not have died and maintained full power for the entire run. The extra footage you shot is a real lifeline to a player that made some mistakes.
I couldn't own an NES as a kid, as I would have had to pay for the system and games by myself, and would have been strictly limited to 1/2 hour a day playing it, so I only got to play games at friends' houses. One of my friends owned a copy of Life Force, and it was probably my favorite NES game outside of Super Mario 1 and 3 and the second and third Ninja Turtles games. I was completely hopeless at it, but fortunately my friend who owned the NES knew the Konami Code to increase the number of lives from 3 to 30. Even with the code, the furthest we ever got was to the boss that looks like King Tut's mask.
I always liked this game much more than I ever did Gradius. Gradius was a nightmare to play, but Lifeforce was fun.
I'm extremely impressed with the graphics and everything that lifeforce was able to push on the NES.
The first NES game I purchased in the '80s. I remember the back of the box showed a ship having 3 OPTIONS, but the game only allows 2. I thought I had to beat the game on a 2nd or 3rd playthrough in a row to unlock. It was then that I realized it was likely a photo of the Japanese version.
I had Gradius back in late 1987 on the NES, and it was a huge hit in the house (even my mom loved it enough to complete it on her own), so it was only natural that we would pick up Life Force a year later. Amazing games and amazing OST. Pretty much cementing Konami as something special (that silver packaging really did do its job proper in that regard) to 8-9 year old me at the time.
Lord British definitely has to be a nod to the Ultima series.
If I remember right, "Lord British" was the nickname for Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima and an in game character. That's a funny reference I hadn't heard of before.
Great guide as always, but one thing I'd hope you would've put in this: on the 4th boss, if you kill both his eyes, he'll shoot upwards due to being blind. If you despawn one, it still counts as being there, so it can still see you.
I owned this game back in the day, but never played Gradius until I owned the NES Classic Edition. So many weekends spent playing this game. Such a great game!
The hidden 5,000 point bonus locations don't actually have to be fired upon to uncover (unlike the hidden 1-ups) and just need to flown over them to be awarded.
I hope to see a video on plok.
It's not a popular game, but it's got a banger soundtrack, and the gameplay is not that bad.
A very good choise. This was my favourite shooter back in the day. Although I rarely got past the third stage. Played this often with friends.
After watching this, it's hilarious how many SFX Konami reuses from its previous NES games.
At least they didn't reuse "With the pass" from _Blades of Steel_. 😆
This and Jackal were my repeat plays. Easy to beat in a short time. I already had a route to follow and it was always consistent.
I love Life Force i have it on my NES Emulator and on Nintendo Switch the Konami Code really comes in handy
The boss fight theme is such a banger
Man I totally forgot about this game! Thanks sir. Much love to you.
Absolute banger game, banger OST, though I have to use save states still, lmfao... That whole "losing your powerups" thing on death is a killer, lol
I always loved Life Force because I could actually beat it. That Miki Higashino soundtrack is absolutely incredible. Gradius in general always had kick ass music and this is no exception.
This and contra was my first introduction to the nes. Me and Reggie beat every single game we could get our hands on that year. I wish I was 8 again, that was a great year.
You can actually hide inside the intruder to kill it. It's risky, but you're completely untouchable 19:42
I often watch your videos only because of your intros. They are so perfect and interesting !
Hey! I was looking for this channel for some time as I had lost it in the endless ocean of youtube subscriptions and recommendations! I especially loved your Faxanadu Guide and this one for Life Force is cool as well and brings back loads of fond and vivid childhood memories, as I grew up playing and beating both with my mates in 1990!
You have the absolute best game playthroughs/reviews ive seen on any channel. Thanks for all the work you put into these
It's kinda frustrating that the 3rd stage is so hard. I remember playing this over and over alone or with my friends or cousins but we just couldn't beat it... A lot of years later I could see the other stages and hear the fantastic music this game has to offer! Well better late than never I guess.... Thanks for the video! Brings back good (and frustrating) memories! ☺Maybe with this excellent guide I'm finally prepared to move past the 3rd stage 😅
Mad respect to you fr making t through level 3 without losing a life. I've been playing this gae for years and there is no way I could do that.
thank you so much! i love Gradius so dang much, Gradius 3 is one of my favorite games ever so i cant wait for that!
Can't wait for you to get to NES Godzilla!
These videos help me decompress from life stressors. Enjoying the videos and narrations as always!
Yesss!! I've been waiting for this!!! Btw, this has one of the best ending/ game over themes ever.
Another awesome video! Now I have the right motivation and tutorial to give this game a go. I struggled in it but I feel your tutorial is just right to help me beat the game.
Yay, I've been waiting for this one
Great game but I played a ton of Gradius III in my early teens day back in the 90's!
Great video. Vanguard and Space Odyssey were space shooters that had both horizontally and vertically scrolling levels all the way back in 1981.
I'm brazilian and Life Force was the first shmup I saw and played. The first time was in a very popular brazilian NES clone named Phantom System. ❤
Thanks for the walkthrough of this absolute banger of a game. I think many people will start enjoying it much more when they get some hints because the game really rewards prior knowlege and it gets exponentially easier as you get upgrades so as long as you can keep holding onto them your run will definitely feel like you're getting into a flowstate almost immediately.
Nice! I loved this game
Nothing like an unsigned short integer underflow glitch to pick up extra lives. Lol
One of my favorite games on the NES. Thanks for your videos!!!
What the heck!? I haven't thought about this game in forever but I was just playing this game and listening to the OST about a week ago. Then suddenly make a video of it? Crazy. I love it!
This game has an amazing soundtrack. I still have a MIDI version of it that I downloaded at some point back in the day before anyone uploaded the real thing anywhere. :)
@@neutraltral8757 Wow that's awesome.
One of my favorite games as a kid! Played it a lot and have beaten it multiple times.
Wow! And all these years I've been playing this game the hard way.
@UCanBeatVideoGames great game to review! This one I loved playing at the arcade and was crazy excited when it came to NES at home. Ordered it for a Christmas present out of the Sears catalogue.... memories!!!!
This brings back memories
Your pup works hard making all of the videos. I hope she gets tons of skritches for her work!
Great video! Life Force, Legendary Wings and Dragon Force were my go to short game after playing something long like an RPG so you could not ask for a better video after that crazy 4 video playthrough of Final Fantasy IV!
This game looks a lot like Abadox. Loved that game.
Thank you 😊
This is my favorite shmup of all time, and one of my favorite NES games.
One of the few NES games I actually beat. Great memory, thanks!
I love this one. Played it a lot as a kid.
I love this game. I had it when I was younger. Mastered it😎
I remember this fondly. Almost as great as R-Type
I love this game! This was my first "Gradius" game!
So many good memories of this game. My friends and I playing both at the arcade and on the NES.
Another great video!
29:00 - I think the vines are supposed to be capillaries
44:55 xD
I thought so, too. So it is more force than life in the end, I guess.
Herr we go, back on schedule
This was one of my favorite NES games
I remember playing life force and it was a really challenging game and playing gradius was even more funner It was good times and good memories
Good stuff
There's actually another way to defeat the 2nd boss if you dont have powerups. Break the barriers in the front, and then just dive your ship right inside of it. As with most games in this genre your hitbox is much smaller than it looks, and you can fit in there. The arms actually cant hit you in there, and you can simply get right in front of the core and hit it with super rapid shots. It'll go down in seconds. On a side note, the bit about the story surprised me. In the NES version's manual, it mentions Zelos as a planet wrecking monster, so your goal is to get inside it and destroy it from there. Honestly the arcade version's idea of going into a benevolent version of the thing to save it from weird robotic infection is much more interesting.
What blew me away is this game was IMPOSSIBLE without the Konami code from my childhood memory, but I moved in with a guy in college who could casually sit down and beat it without dying. Apparently I just suck but now I feel like I can beat videogames 😂
Good to see the action games getting some coverage on the channel again.
Oh hell yea!! Life Force and Gun Nac are the best shooters on NES!
I still have this one on the NES but I also have Salamander on the TurboGrafx Mini. Great games.
One of my favorite games
I played this for the first time when I borrowed it from a friend in Junior High back in 1994. Such a great soundtrack. Wasn't it composed by the same person who composed Goonies II?
Salamander/Life Force had five composers. The two from Goonies II were among them.
One of the best space shooters ever! I love Lifeforce. It was a fun game to play through quickly.
Yeaaah!! Hope you cover Abadox too sometime, the "We Have Life Force At Home" game (and one of my personal favorites)
Love your voice man!
This game is incredibly addictive.
Such an awesome game!!
22:08 well, that's not the *_"only"_* way. A more dangerous one is to go inside the portion of the ship cleared out once the barriers were taken out, and then fire away at the ship's core.
Pompei catching strays in level 2 lol
You are awesome!
My mom and I used to play this together a lot when I was a tiny little kid. We always called the things in stage 4 "potato brains."
Music is 10/10
Hellz yes I LOVE LIFEFORCE... I'd play it EVERY Sunday morning every week when I was a kid....one of the few I mastered under 10 years old!!! I waited till 1 am to watch so its technically sunday
How long have I been waiting for a new video that wasn't final fantasy! Hahaha! Even though ai respect the series a lot I personally do not enjoy jrps or any game that requires grinding. Now Life Force! What a great choice of a game to make a video about!
this is my second favorite jet game. I loved it