Gradius Origins review for PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PC

You could arguably say that publisher Konami has been on a bit of a success streak lately, considering the excellent remake of Silent Hill 2, the amazing collection of Castlevania DS titles, and the recent release of Metal Gear Solid: Delta (check out our review!). Gradius Origins is another Konami hit you can toss into the mix, recently released for multiple platforms featuring an excellent collection of arcade Gradius titles, along with an all new entry in the Salamander series.

Of course, developer M2 is no stranger to excellent ports, and the attention to detail given to their previous collections is also evident here. This is as definitive of a collection that you’re likely to get when it comes to early Gradius, and while it doesn’t dip into the later releases like Gradius IV or Gradius V, it’s still an amazing collection of classic shoot ‘em up titles that’ll keep any fan busy for quite some time. It also packs in all the modern features you’d expect to see from classic collections nowadays, like online leaderboards, rewind features and so on, so even if you’re a Gradius newbie, you can learn the ropes and improve your game as you experience all the top-down and side-scrolling shoot ‘em up mayhem this collection provides.

Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to see in this fantastic collection of games. The original Gradius which includes 5 different versions of the game, covering two Japanese releases, one North American release, the European version, and a unique North American prototype. Next up is the first Salamander, split between the North American and Japanese versions of the game. The third entry is Life Force, followed by Gradius II, which again includes multiple region variations of the Gradius sequel along with the re-named North American version Vulcan Venture. Next is Gradius III, featuring two different Japanese builds of the game, the Asia version, and a trade show build of the Japanese rom. 1996’s Salamander II rounds out the list of original releases found in this collection, and then there’s the brand new Salamander III which was created solely for this collection.

All in all, it’s a hefty amount of games spanning over a decade of Gradius related releases, again making this the definitive Gradius collection. Being able to play arcade perfect ports of these games on consoles is certainly a treat, and the inclusion of all the different versions of the games, which often offer up different bosses, enemy patterns, difficulties and more helps make the experience feel more robust. I also love that they created a brand new Salamander sequel, keeping the design and gameplay in line with what the natural evolution of that series would have felt like in the late 90’s, as if it had actually been made back in the day.

Whether you’ve never played a game in the Gradius timeline, or if you’re a shoot ‘em up diehard, I can’t see a reason not to pick this collection up. It’s a great introduction to the genre as a whole, and the emulation work put into this release by developer M2 is as amazing a job as anything they’ve produced previously. It’s an absolute must buy in my opinion, so definitely check it out.

Note: Konami provided us with a Gradius Origins PS5 code for review purposes.