Gradius II (Arcade/PS1) Full Run on Very Difficult

Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition (グラディウスII GOFERの野望)
System: PlayStation 1 (Gradius Deluxe Pack)
Settings: Very Difficult (Hardest), Wait Control Off, Extend at 20K then every 150K
0:00 Start
1:00 Stage 1 - Burning Heat
3:53 Stage 2 - Synthetic Life
6:27 Stage 3 - Crystal Word
9:39 Stage 4 - A Way Out of Difficulty
12:32 Stage 5 - The Old Stone Age
18:12 Stage 6 - Maximum Speed
20:03 Stage 7 - Boss Rush
24:17 Stage 8 - Into Hostile Ship
29:02 Final Boss + Ending
This video shows a full run, one credit clear (1CC) of Gradius II arcade from the Gradius Deluxe Pack (PS1 import) on the highest difficulty. This footage was captured from real Playstation hardware (modded to play imports) using the legit disc. No emulators, cheats, hacks, or any of that crap was used in this video.
It was smooth sailing until the Moai stage where I take a stray bullet unexpectedly. Quite difficult to recover at that point, and I thought for sure I was done but somehow passed the boss.
This game actually took me only a handful of runs to beat, and I'd actually rank Gradius 1 as being more difficult (at least under the highest difficulty setting on the PS1 version). Unlike in Gradius III, turning the wait off doesn't really make the game much harder, except for perhaps the Crystal stage.

[@Khandaan]

I personally love the Famicom/NES version of Gradius 2 because the sound in that game resembles Contra.

[@PEG]

+Maverick Hunter X -- マーベリックハンターX The Famicom version definitely has some awesome music, I especially like the final 2 stages!

[@sammyyo461]

.. .. .maybe it's just the perspective but, I love how Horizontal "shoot 'em ups" feel more like side-scrolling action games more so than vertical "Shoot 'em ups"

[@sammyyo461]

@Zeke Spears *GASP* Oh My Gawd, you're right!! :D

[@csr2legend]

29:15 "I am the Strongest" 29:22 "I need small portion of the Empire Bacterian"

[@SuperViperT302]

At 29:22 he actually says, "I am just a small portion of the Empire Bacterian".

[@ZephyreSyx]

Oh thank GAUD, I have APD and couldn't hear worth a shit to make that out.

[@Pete_Hahn]

Nice recovery in the Moai stage!

[@PEG]

Pete Hahn Thanks dude!

[@GustlikRGZ]

Gradius games are so hard, but still cool and addictive. In Poland, we could buy some real Japan-only gems on a street market. As a kid, I've beat Gradius I and II several times on my Famicom clone (I still have that bootleg cartridge to this day), even doing a 1 life clear of each one, and when I was 14 and got my first laptop, I have found Gradius Deluxe Pack on an abandonware site and decided to try it out. I've managed to beat the first Gradius, but Gradius II owned me even on default difficulty setting, causing me to yell how I hate this game (while in fact I loved it) and throw my controller around the room - and that was before AVGN was a thing :) Great job doing a 1cc of this tough game, especially on this difficulty setting.

[@ReviewUA-jy7xi]

The Salamander boss music is my favorite part of this game. I think it's the best version of it.

[@nickz20]

What about In Gradius 3 soundtrack called Easter Stone..in this stage "🗿🗿🗿🗿"

[@beamsfromdaathsun2340]

Poison of Snake, one of the coolest boss music ever.

[@davidstowers1964]

Always loved side scrolling shoot-em ups, and would love trying to get past a particularly stubbon stage, as I had no concept that each one had in most cases, a unique system and instead just tried collecting all boosts rather than seeing what actually gave the best results.

[@MathieuPronovost]

29:14 You end up fighting a big brain in a lot of games from the 80s.

[@Persac7]

You mean alot of gradius games

[@roycrave2420]

back when "Konami" meant quality...

[@reozen8727]

why do i always find joy in the retro games like these?

[@SPM_STG]

Good taste ;)

[@Theshark15z]

Good job on the Teran Boss(Mechanical Spider) Seahawk the other person who did run on this game, took about five tries to get by this one. Although have trouble getting through the Maui Stage.

[@marioghernandez4960]

Can't tell whether the Alien stage or the Crystal stage was the most memorable overall. (I know this is a more subjective question, but still)

[@MajinErick]

I was looking for this one...so PS One? I was wondering where some of the bosses came from in Gradius 3. I'm also looking for Salamander 2

[@Bloodreign1]

Great old school classic, got this on the Gradius Deluxe Pack for Saturn and PS1 (this PS1 version doesn't go well with PS2's, Gradius 2 runs slower in spots, makes me kind of sad). Also have this Gradius title on the PCE CD, pretty damned nice port job too.

[@PEG]

Absolutely, one of my favorite games! I only play it on my PS1 (modded), so I don't experience any slowdown issues. I also have the PC Engine versions of Gradius I & II and eventually will do runs of those as well. Thanks for the comment!

[@Bloodreign1]

You are quite welcome.

[@606808909]

Gradius 2 pce disk system is gradius 2 to me ♡

[@METAL1ON]

A lot of safe spot in this game that you dont know of.

[@TheBLBShow]

Is there an optimal route for the moai stage? Because every time I play it I feel like taking the most difficult path then I die

[@fluffyfox3360]

The story is actually pretty good.

[@Warblefly41]

When I killed the Salamander boss that splits into three (kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqupZ3uYitWGeLc), its boss music continued playing when I fought the Armored Core! Is that a bug or is it working as designe?

[@Persac7]

It's called covered core kid

[@florindamian6610]

You are good but I need some help because I don't complete this game in version nes !

[@florin-ionutdamian4987]

Hi me from past just watch his videos(also me:I finally finished NES version but almost PC engine)

[@SoulBlazer08]

I always wondered why the the Famicom version of Gradius 2 never came out in the West. Instead we got Life Force -- don't get me wrong, I love that game, but there was room in the market for both.

[@Grillman45600]

vrc4 because the nes console didn't have this hardware so this game never able to release outside japan

[@Neky_Hina]

You might have wanted to cry at 17:00~18:00...

[@SILVER19451945]

勇者でごわす

[@RetroRupp]

I wish Konami would have ported the first two Gradius games to the SNES like they did with 3. That would have been so epic.

[@musican67557]

Interestingly, Konami ported the first two Gradius games (and Salamander) to the PCE, but not Gradius 3.

[@Bloodreign1]

3 on SNES is a remix of sorts of the arcade game, though the speed stage is definitely from Gradius 2, altered somewhat (the giant metal orbs you shoot at are gone), the Crystal Rush and 3d stage are removed, and a couple other stages got added in their place.

[@tartuffethesprywonderdog5883]

Why? It would just be a bunch of slowdown. SNES can't handle shmups like Genesis and TG-16 can.

[@Bloodreign1]

@Tartuffe the Spry Wonder Dog, the arcade version had tons of slowdown, the Genesis wouldn't have fared much better (after all, it too ran an X68000 under it's hood, just like the arcade version). The bigger sprites would've slowed that version down too. Only the PS1, Saturn, PSP, and PS2 could handle it, the former because Gradius 1 and 2 have what is called a No Wait option in them when one credited (aka the No slowdown option), and the PS2 and PSP versions of Gradius III have that same option when beaten. Someone even redid the SNES version of Gradius 3 that removes all slowdown, so it was possible to run Gradius 3 SNES without slowdown (the oatch is out there on the net for the game, and trust me, the game blazes along full speed the entire way). I'm sure maybe some day someone will homebrew a Genesis version that will also run without slowdown, but alas, that hasn't happened.

[@Persac7]

@@Bloodreign1 bro I ain't reading all that

[@Sonicxtremer]

Music and voice quality is good but the sound effects are muffled which of course the ps1 can't replicate the pound sound effect from the arcade

[@Sonicxtremer]

I mean sound effects

[@MetalSonicodraco7342]

I dont see any difference actually :p

[@Sonicxtremer]

if you can hear the sound effect, the arcade/x68000 version is loud while this and the sega saturn sounds muffled

[@MetalSonicodraco7342]

+Sonicxtremer The music is the same for me, SFX is the same...there is another relevant like non-sense slowdown? or bugs? now...so who cares? Just play the game :p lol

[@xtremer_daredevil5950]

The Reason why the SFX aren't as blatantly loud and clear as the arcade version is because of two reasons, one the PS1's SPU has a 24 bit sound channel outputs 44.1 KhZ which the arcade board outputs at a different rate (I forgot the rate). This also goes to the Sega Saturn version as well as the SFX is indeed muffled and isn't as loud despite the SCSP has a better out than the PS1's SPU (that's not saying much though as both perform different tasks). Second, the SFX are recorded and compressed so therefore the SFX isn't loud and due to the limitation of the ps1's SPU, but you have to consider that the only way they could reproduce the sound fatefully is through audio compression and decompression. I get what you're trying to say here but you're not going to produce the same result on a 32-bit system from an arcade board. If you're wonder why PS4 arcade archive (Gradius II) has what the arcade has, well let me tell you....it's emulated.

[@bleedorange1998]

Thumbs up if Last Gamer brought you here.

[@ReonLeon]

is it me or the gradius gaiden stages looks alot like the stages from gradius 2...?

[@MetalSonicodraco7342]

I think is only you lol

[@Bloodreign1]

Gaiden took some of the past games ideas, and flipped them on their head, doing different things with them. But Gaiden also had a lot of fresh ideas.

[@darkerfalcon3747]

I prefer more the arcade compressed voice, ngl.

[@Persac7]

I got to the cube rush in gradius 3 arcade and gradius 4s organic stage but I can only get to the second stage on this I guess I play the other games more? But I should be better by now

[@DanielFranco-xo8su]

I love this game so much, I think Gradius Gaiden was the only one that surpassed it. I only finished the nes version though. I could only reach the moai (hell) stage in the arcade version. I don't know why they made this version so hard, like, there are parts that are literally bullet hell sections lol. I wonder if it is possible to a normal human being to beat this game using the other sets, because it seems that the 2 way missiles are mandatory to beat this game, and that is a shame, 'cause i love some spread bombs :/

[@musican67557]

You could try out the PCE CD version. It seems much easier than the arcade

[@Bloodreign1]

@@musican67557 Not if you put it on the hidden Arcade difficulty, then the PCE CD version will eat you alive, and like the arcade version, that setting nets you no continues to use.

[@beamsfromdaathsun2340]

@@Bloodreign1 could not agree more: PCE version is pure hell.

[@tomohikosatoh8897]

10:13 25:24 27:45

[@daviddyer3543]

3:48 "Oh my Celestia! THEY KILLED PHILOMENA!"

[@bigoof9654]

Get that out of here. B E G O N E

[@user-lk4lz8dg2i]

愛新持栄隊総館超久保田勉ゲーム新大臣!安全対策大臣!地方活性化大臣!

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

P A C M A N - 30.○° 0

[@stellazuniga598]

This game Is for PS1?

[@masterlee1988]

Yes, on the Gradius Deluxe Pack that was only released in Japan.

[@Bloodreign1]

Also on the Saturn, PSP, Famicom, PC Engine CD, and Sharp X68000.

[@CabalisOrder]

ps1 ? looks like Amiga version 😅

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

T A R Z A P0 0

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

GRADIUS V

[@メジャー年金]

18:38

[@Sonicxtremer]

Best arcade port ever will be the sharp x68000

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

Channa`_00

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

ㅡㅡㅡ 사용자 디렉토리

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

ㅁㅂㅈㄷ.ㅎ ㅎ ㅎ

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

S P Y_

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

-

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

ISCOSAHEDROX'CREDIX'4321+00

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

Z//`_.)+

[@abasagha6657]

هر کس PCB این بازی را داشته باشد به قیمت خوب خریدارم .

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

#-

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

0D.u.c.k.s.@.+

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

Z/.)/+!_.` _

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

.0-'.ZX'CVBA 00\_4321+ 00

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

Akribadelfisjande_head_fearing%gundem~sex'gears@/00 0

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

-',!ㅎㅎㅎ.00).0

[@vegapthalo03yuioplo.j.i.u25]

}is ~○.6_uioplo up and down 0440TOILETS 0 0