Gradius V (PlayStation 2) Review by Mike Matei
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มี.ค. 2018
- Gradius V review by Mike Matei. Read more about Gradius V on Mike's Blog!
www.mikematei.com/blog/gradiu...
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![[PS2] Gradius V 1 Loop Very Hard 1cc 2p play(60fps)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mYxDnnN0tZw/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm only a few minutes into this and it's already the best Gradius-related review I've ever seen.
Thanks!
Yeah, he did a great job. I'm a sucker for Treasure. I miss them so much. Maybe a possible story idea for a future video? History of Treasure. The pre Treasure, Konami days info is hard to find. I've read a bunch of things, but i can't always be sure it's all accurate. I've read that Konami asked Treasure to make Gradius 5 because some of them worked on the original and wanted them to finish the series, but I've also read they only outsourced the game for budgeting reasons. Oh well, at least i have my games. Funny, i just came here after watching your Digital Pictures video. Great stuff, thanks!
Agreed! Gradius has so many great games but this one is insane!
Great video Mike! We await the next one, big fan of the spider-man review you did!
Well, he's had 15 years to prepare.
Back when Konami had balls.
mike's best scripted review yet. it's both a review and a strategy guide, great stuff.
Finally, Gradius V getting the review it deserves. Great review, Mike
Treasure was started in 1992 by previous Konami employees. They worked on the best games from the company, like: Contra, Castlevania, Gradius, and in Star Team, worked on Bucky O' Hare, and the awesome Ninja Turtles arcade game in 1989. I'm not suggesting everyone at Treasure worked on all of those games, just that individuals that worked on those games later formed Treasure--important difference. Anyway, it's sad that one of my favorite developers of all time is basically just a licensing company now for it's old games. They leave a legacy of great games (some brutal), I'll always love.
Great review Mike. Gradius V is one of my favorite shmups of all time, and definitely worth any fans time.
The last big console game Treasure made was Sin and Punishment Star Successor I believe. Now that is a GAME!!
Gradius III on the SNES is probably the greatest shooter I have ever played. And one of the hardest.
the music is great
R-Type III was another :)
If you find Gradius III hard, stay the HELL away from Super R-Type, R-Type III, or BioMetal!
Ah yeah I beated it on arcade difficult level. You should try the arcade version, it was released on ps2 along with Gradius 4.
Gradius III SNES is doable compared to Gradius III Arcade which is downright unfair and stupidly difficult.
Do Contra Shattered Soldier on PS2 next. It's the best Contra game in my opinion, with similar franchise refinements to Gradius V
entitled millennial Hard Corps on the Genesis.
entitled millennial They played that whole game while hanging out talking. Check it out.
I'm not sure if Shattered Soldier or Hard Corps : Uprising is the best contra, but both were awesome. :)
Hard Corps is the best. That or Super C
Just downloaded it last night gonna play today. Revisiting all the ps2 classics I missed out on as an n64 kid. If you guys have any suggestions shoot em over. I like all game types.
Konami killed Gradius, just like nearly all of their own franchises.
And just like usual, the series ended with a pachinko machine.
ForceMaximus84 that could be a game. You play as Konami killing their franchises. And collect disappointment and despair from fans
The final official Gradius Game by Konami was... a pachinko... back in 2011
I still play my PS2 after all these years. I have the big one and it has never given me problems knock on wood. I would love to pick this gem up one day. You give great reviews aswell Mike! I'm always impressed with the level of detail you present! Keep up the great work!
Me too, bro.
I even installed a hard drive in it after my laser stopped working.
ThePreciseClimber Niceee! Glad you can keep yours going! I wish my PS3 worked as well as my PS2. My NES and SNES are still going strong! They just don't make them like they used too.
Trey Kilgore same ps2 is my favourite console of all time
Wish Treasure was the one that made Star Fox Zero. They had far better experience with shooters than Platinum Games.
star fox is an entirely different kind of shooter altogether
True, but Star Fox Zero is essentially Sin and Punishment 4. Sin and Punishment 1 and 2 was made by Treasure.
Gradius 5 is one of the best SHMUPs ever made. Masterpiece.
Did James play this game with you? I see another Monday material coming up!
These games demonstrated how much video games could be a hobby of insanity back in the day. I played the hell out of 3 back in the day. There are only a few modern franchises that are considered punishing.
Dodonpachi :)
Trogdor burninating the countryside
fartzinwind ain’t gonna tell you again Trogdor, better leave those villagers alone
Gradius V is still the best. Nice review.
For those who like the song at the start of the video, I think this is "Gradius Perfect Selection - Burning Heat (Gradius II)"
I'm always down on Mike's review! Also so in depth!
going in deep is mike's specialty
The director of Gradius 5, Hiroshi Iuchi, is one of my favorite game designers. He also directed Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. After Gradius, he made an awesome shooter on 3DS called Kokuga. The last I heard he was creating another shooter for PS4 called Ubusuna.
So happy to see the Gradius games get a review. A damn shame Konami will let this amazing series rot and/or be doomed to stupid pachinko machines as well.....
Gradius V is a MASTERPIECE, i've never played a game like this, i just beat it recently on normal difficulty using 14 credits and 3 lives.
One of my fave ps2 games, great review Mike!
Ah Gradius V, one of my favorite Shmups games ever made. While I still prefer Gradius II and Gaiden, Gradius V is still a wonderful amazing crafted game that still looks gorgeous despite the game being almost 14 years old at this point, and with gameplay that has finely aged showing Treasure how they were the masters of crafting arcade and action focused experiences.
While I miss both Gradius and Treasure, this is still one of the best games ever crafted for one of my favorite series and a wonderful swan song for the series.
... now if Thunde Force would've gotten a game this good as a send off, TFVI was kind of a dissapointment imo.
Solid review! Since the NES game, GRADIUS has always been my favorite series by Konami. Now that they own Hudson, it’s a tie between GRADIUS & Bomberman that Konami owns.
DO R-TYPE FINAL NEXT!!!
Your video game reviews are becoming some of my favorites on TH-cam. Keep em coming !
Playing Rtype and Gradius games are some of my favorite childhood memories.
Daniel Coats of those two I think I prefer R-Type the best. Both are definitely awesome though.
R-Type is definitely my favorite Shmup franchise. I can't count the amount of times i drew Dobkeratops at elementary school all the way to .. well, basically a couple of years ago. I've come to like the Tactics games the most eventually, they were great at combining all the elements into a fun package.
DethstruXioN ™ it's really awesome how the game completely crushes you until you figure out how to dissect it. It's an intelligent shooter. Instead of relying on twitch reflexes ,it comes across more as a thinking man's shooter. I love that!
TheAlphaOmegaX3, i totally agree. I've owned R-Type on GameBoy since it came out in 1991, and i have only been able to beat it recently...
Certain things started to click that i could not comprehend as a kid.
It's a tough love for sure.
That intro is how ALL GAMES should start.
Good review. By far, one of the best shooters ever made. Treasure is such a great company as they deliver quality games.
I really like that you brought up so much details about the mechanics, which is not so usual on many reviews. Thanks for the video!
This wasn't the last Gradius game mike. There was a mobile game made, and a wii ware game called Gradius Rebirth, but I agree it is the best shooter out there.
Toploaded Gaming also otomedius
I LOVE this game, music is amazing, visuals amazing, bosses amazing.
One that i'll never let go from my collection.
Excellent review. This is by far my favorite Gradius game. Really miss Treasure these days. BTW a great Gradius clone is Super Hydorah. Give it a shot.
Love these reviews, Mike Matei! I really enjoy the special insights.
I had no idea Gradius V existed until today. Thank you. I have played Gradius IV hundreds of times wondering why no more existed. this makes me want to buy a ps2 slim and Graduis V for it immediately. Unfortunately my original ps2 fell off the top of my old tv and died the death almost 10 years ago.
Do it , I did the same thing just to play Gradius 5, worth every cent !!!!
I discovered the same thing in 2012. Gradius V is what got me to start collecting games. It is a masterpiece and got me to think,what else have I missed out on.
ArmageddonBen you can download and play on ps4
I've always liked Gradius V. Awesome to see an AVGN episode about it!
Really enjoying this series, Mike! :D Keep up the good work, brother! :)
My all-time favorite shooter. Gradius V is damn-near perfect!
Reminds me of Guardian Legend on NES, on the spaceship type levels you had to choose weapons very wisely, for the end level boss especially.
I say this game is actually still underrated. It's a heaving beast.
I'm really hoping that now that Konami is giving their IPS to third parties companies Gradius 6 can finally become a reality at last.
De los mejores review que te He visto Hacer, vamo arriba Mike!!!
Also, the PS2 Classic version for the PS3 goes on sale every so often. I picked it up for $2.50 during a flash sale.
I kinda wish that Cinemassacre logo from the beginning would become the standard Cinemassacre logo. Mike's reviews are always awesome.
Gradius III was one of my favorite games growing up and I didn't even know there were any beyond 4 (which I considered to be much worse than 3 in a lot of ways) So thank you for letting me know about this and I know what I'm gonna be playing for the next few months :)
One nitpick on the review: prefer the PS2 version with a CRT TV, instead of PS3 download.
Loved Gradius on snes as a kid. Thanks for the throwback!
Went Top-50 in North America when this came out. It had a competition mode where you could upload a code to an internet site. The dream was being able to pull off a 1-credit clear (1CC).
Great review and alot of helpful info.
Fixing to get this game. Just got in the gradius deluxe pack for the saturn.
Awesome review Mike! I really love how in-depth you go with them. Really makes the viewer know you really spent a lot of time playing and researching this game before making a video review of it. I hate watching reviews where it's painfully obvious the person spent 10mins with the game before spewing out a review. Bravo. Keep up the great work!
Couldn't agree more dude. This is seriously the greatest 2D shooter made so far.
Man I love this game it's one of my childhood games ever, I know it sucks they never made a Gradius 6 or anything, I really missed Gradius series really I want it back.
Am I missing something? Wasn't this game called Life Force on the NES?
Life Force is a part of the Salamander series, which is a spin-off to the Gradius franchise with similar gameplay and mechanics.
No that was a spin-off game that was originally released as Salamander for the NES.
looks and plays kind of like life force but gradius is much harder
Oh man Life Force was one of my favorite NES games as a kid. I had no idea the rest of these even existed. This is fantastic! I feel like I just discovered a time capsule or something. So looking forward to playing all of these now! :D Thank you and Thank you as well for yet another great review Mike Matei
Life Force is a spinoff of the Gradius series. :)
I have Gradius 3 for SNES - still works like a charm. Great review, I never knew this game existed!
Liked the live streams, like the review. Would love to see Mike tackle doom 2016 for both a stream and review next.
Great review. I absolutely love seeing in-depth analysis of retro games, which is why DF Retro is my favourite TH-cam show. Now Mike is creating content just as good for this channel. Please continue doing more deep reviews of older games. They're fascinating and you're doing a great job of covering every conceivable aspect of the game.
Edit: Actually, it should be pointed out that this goes beyond a review and into playguide territory. At least half the runtime of this video is tips and tricks for effective play, and that's a good thing. If you're going to talk about an old game's strengths, why not also give advice on how to play it effectively.
So far the most in-depth review of Gradius V I've seen on TH-cam. It's a nice homage to a very-difficult, yet surprisingly amazing game.
Wow! Mr Matei SIR you are a natural when it comes to reviewing games. Please continue to do this!I remember loving Gradius 3 and 4 on PS2 and also got the entire old school collection on my PSP. Never got to try Gradius 5 though.
This is my favorite horizontal shooter of all time. Absolutely amazing soundtrack. Poison of Snake on the level 2 boss rush is a perfect remix!
Respawning in place is a reason why I always will love Galaga. When you die it doesn’t feel like being sent back to square one, and while not levels to hit etc can really help figure strategy on the fly(heh) within those few seconds before back in place. Other system is a hold over from quarter eaters and imo a prime example of false difficulty in older games
Finally!! I've been requesting for a review/playthrough this game for such a long time.Although i think gradius 5 has the best music compare to all the games in the series and the graphics pushed ps2 to it's limit.
It's worth noting that Treasure was formed by former Konami employees at the time, so it's even more appropriate that Treasure took development of Gradius V
Treasure? As in THE Treasure? The ones, who made Dynamite Headdy?
And better yet, the masterful but sadly obscure to all...Alien Soldier
Ever tried Gradius Advance on GBA? This Game have a "Superplay" Video Options that shows you how to beat the Game without any Powerup on any Checkpoint.
My SNES Classic has pretty much become a Gradius III machine since I added it. It never gets old :)
watching a this game, and having played it myself, it beats me why they are not still doing PS2 games, this was a very early PS2 game and looks and plays AMAZINGLY, I wish they still would do PS2 games, eitehr CD based games like this one, or a large great DVD game, by todays standars, I can only imagine how cool a PS2 game would look and I would also assume it would be easier to do them, PS2 late era games looked AMAZING.
Mmm handing out Silent Hill to other developers didn't work so well for Konami, but maybe that's the exception
Mike, I just wanted to say I love you and your videos! especially the reviews, that are getting better everytime. keep up the good work :)
Reminds me of Aegis Wing on the 360
I play Gradius Galaxies on GBA, glad you reviewed this series :)
I wish I grew up with this game :(
The shooters I grew up with are Ray Strom, Strikers 1945 series, Tyrian, and Giga wings. Those were awesome!
I'm not the greatest at shoot em ups, but I still love playing them. I find it pretty hilarious that I decide to take the plunge and buy this game on a physical disc for my PS2 (for a fairly heavy price considering it's age may I add) from my local retro games store a few weeks ago, only to be graced by a review for the same game by Cinemassacre. Great timing, lol. :P
You just own all the cool games, huh, Mike?
what a fantastic review, both in terms of the clarity and performance by mike's delivery, but also just the sheer amount of care, detail, and description that went into reviewing such a complex game that most people would dismiss as "just a simple shooter".
great review.
I bought this game for the PS2 just a few weeks before Mike started to cover it, I knew it was good but I did not expected it was that good! Gradius V is one of the best shmups ever, the perfect balance between the 80's classic shmups and the more modern bullet hell style.
Back in 2012, I discovered they made a Gradius V, which I found to be weird cause I didn't know they made any past 3 and Life Force, whichI also thought was meant to be Gradius 2. Discovering Gradius V, playing it, its what got me into collecting games in the first place. I said to myself, what other masterpieces have I missed out on. Sadly, I am still awaiting another game as breathtaking as Gradius V, which has to say something about the quality and replay ability of this game.
The intro, and the commentary. Perfect for a game like this. Shmups deserve reviews like these.
Great review. Loved playing Gradius back in the day.
It's awesome to see this game get the attention it deserves. I picked this up at a thrift store a few years back and is currently my favorite sidescrolling shooter of all time.
Such a refined and deep review of a great game. I like how you organize the review and peel it off layer after layer like an onion. This is definitely one of my favorite space/figher jet shooter games of all time, and your review have brought me back such good memories. Thank you very much.
great intro!!!
the only gradius i've played was on gameboy, but i loved that game like crazy!
I actually have Gradius V, and believe me when he says it's hard... IT'S HARD. also a lot of fun. Try it if you can find it.
I remember when I went to a local store in 2004 and picked this one up, just because it's Gradius and I thought: what could go wrong with this title.? It ended with me playing it for months because I was so excited about graphics, music and game play. Imo the best gradius by far.
Really liking these game reviews Mike. You make a strong case for their playability and enjoyment. Thanks for sharing.
Well done! Never heard of this version until now. I need to grab it. I love Gradius on the NES and .vs arcade as well.
I enjoyed watching you play this huge fan Mike
Looks good for a PS2 game. Not really my genre but it seems mildly fun.
Gradius V is the best shmup of all times.
Still my favorite Gradius and Hitoshi Sakimoto killed it with the soundtrack!
Great review Mike... I played Gradius on Nes last year for the first time and its a pretty tough game, I ran into the same problems you mentioned and found them really frustrating... for me it almost seems like the only way to make it far in the game is to never die and keep all your power ups... I'm happy to hear that Gradius 5 is still hard, but has removed these problems...
One of the best ps2 games, I have been playing it on and off for 10 years and still haven't beaten it. It's a joy every time.
seriously almost got this game the other day but I had never played any of the other games. but I have been looking for a fast paced bullet hell style shooter. so now I need to grab it. thanks for the awesome review!
Good in-depth review!
I grow up with commodore 64 Gradius and Salamanter. Funny that you didn´t mention anything about Salamanter (Life Force) which is spin-off of Gradius.
Play R-Type Tactics on the PSP. Its story is pretty interesting considering R-Type's background.
Shooters are all I really play. I have a salamander cab in the house. Gradius V is definatly a modern manic shooter style game but at the same time gives enough homage to the original fan-base to please both. Not one I frequently play but better than some others in the series.
You should review the Fantasy Zone series.
Damn good review, did not expect this at all! (CGR am cry)
Mike Dude, that was just awesome! Gradius V turned me into a Horizontal Shmup Fan and Gradius Gaiden is, besides V, my Favorite Game of the Series and the whole Horizontal Genre.
Thank you so much for this in depth Review.
Those asteroid levels remind me of the same sort of levels in R-Type where you had to shoot a path thru the debris, or maybe they were eyeballs, it was sort of hard to tell. I'd definitely get this for my PS4 if possible.
Thanks Mike, I bought this earlier today. Look forward to it arriving, just hope it is complete with manual!
Nice format Mike, it’s like a review / walkthrough 👍
You might think of this as a side-thing Mike, but Mike Reviews are actually my favorite thing on the channel