Gradius IV: Fukkatsu (ver JAC) - Gioco MAME

Videogioco arcade pubblicato 25 anni fa:

Gradius IV - Fukkatsu © 1999 Konami Company, Limited.

Gradius IV is a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up in which the doomsday planet of Bacterian is now long-forgotten and Planet Gradius enjoys peace and prosperity. Then suddenly, without warning, a massive attack force appears and quickly overwhelms the Gradius Defense Forces. When it seems that all hope is lost, a lone fighter screams across the sky and the battle for freedom is joined once more.

As with previous games in the series (with the exception of "Salamander") Gradius IV features a power-up system based on a selection meter at the bottom of the screen called a 'power meter', that enables players to buy weapons and upgrades. To achieve this, players must destroy special individual enemies - usually red in colour - or enemy waves that then drop orange capsules. These can be collected and used to upgrade the Viper's weapons. Each collected capsule advances the power meter by one step. Players can activate the highlighted item at any point, after which the power meter resets.

Occasionally, destroyed enemies will drop blue capsules, these act as single-use smart bombs that kill all on-screen enemies when collected. Game difficulty increases depending on how many power-ups the player has equipped, so it is sometimes advantageous to NOT power-up the player's ship too much.

Gradius IV features nine stages, with a large alien boss or ship waiting at the end of each. The end-of-game boss is the giant head of Gofer; the alien Being intent on controlling all life in the galaxy.

DATI TECNICI
Konami Hornet Hardware

CPU: PowerPC 403GA 32-bit RISC @ 64 MHz
CPU sonora: Motorola 68000 @ 16 MHz
Chip sonoro: Ricoh RF5C400 PCM 32Ch, 44.1 kHz Stereo, 3D Effect Spatializer
3D DSP: Analog Devices ADSP-21062 (SHARC) 32-bit floating point DSP @ 36 MHz
Graphics Chips: 3DFX Voodoo 2 Pixel processor with 16meg RAM, 3DFX Voodoo 2 Texture processor with 32meg RAM
Interface: Jamma +

Giocatori: 2
Controllo: Joystick a 8 direzioni
Pulsanti: 3

CURIOSITÀ
Anche se la schermata del titolo riporta 1998, Gradius IV è stato rilasciato nel Febbraio 1999.

Il titolo di questo gioco si traduce dal giapponese come 'Gradius IV Revival'.

This game is known as "Gradius IV" in USA and Europe.

Konami ha pubblicato un album della colonna sonora in edizione limitata di questo gioco il 05/03/1999 (Gradius IV Fukkatsu Original Game Soundtrack - KICA-7947).

CONSIGLI E TRUCCHI

• Power meters:

1) Option 1: Nemesis

• Missile: Falls to the ground, then slides along it until it hits something.
• Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.
• Laser: Replaces your bullets with a blue beam.

2) Option 2: Mega-Destruction

• Spread Bomb: Large explosion of death.
• Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.
• Laser: The infamous Toothpaste Laser.

3) Option 3: The Third Way

• Photon Torpedo: Similar to standard missile, but goes straight through enemies.
• Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.
• Pulse: Salamander's ripple laser.

4) Option 4: Salamander

• 2-Way: Bombs fall up and down.
• Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.
• Pulse: Salamander's ripple laser, in a nice shade of red.

5) Option 5: Harbinger of Doom

• Vertical Mine: Detonates after a delay in a large vertical explosion.
• Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.
• Armour Piercing: Powerful bullets that pass through multiple enemies.

6) Option 6: Vanguard of Chaos

• Flying Torpedo: Twin missiles shoot forward after release.
• Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.
• Twin Laser: Last seen in Gradius III, twin sets of short beams.
• 2nd Loop Start: in Power Meter selection screen, input Up(x2), Down(x2), Left, Right, Left, Right, Button-2 (Shot), Button-3 (Missile). You will be able to start the game with 2nd loop and the password will be displayed in Game Over screen. This password was required on 'Gradius IV Internet Ranking' (now, this was finished though).

SERIE

• Gradius [Modello GX400] (1985, ARC)
• Gradius 2 [Modello RC751] (1987, MSX)
• Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou [Modello GX785] (1988, ARC)
• Gradius III - Densetsu Kara Shinwa-e [Modello GX945] (1989, ARC)
• Nemesis '90 Kai [Modello GS-166] (1993, X68K)
• Solar Assault - Gradius (1997, ARC)
• Gradius Gaiden (1997, PSX)
• Gradius IV - Fukkatsu (1998, ARC)
• Gradius Generation [Modello AGB-AGAJ-JPN] (2001, GBA)
• Gradius V [Modello SLPM-62462] (2004, PS2)
• Gradius Neo (2004, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Neo Imperial (2005, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Wide (2007, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Rebirth [Modello RVL-WGDJ-JPN] (2008, WII)

STAFF
Producer: Hiroyasu Machiguchi
Programmatore principale: Ken Midorikawa
Game Programmer: Yasuyuki Nagatomo, Naoki Niihama, Takeshi Asaki, Ken Inagaki
Creazione personaggi: Daisuke Yoro, Daisuke Chiba, Ayumu Hasegawa, Jun Omoto, Naoki Morita, Hiroyuki Ashida, Hiromichi Iwashita
Compositore musica: Harumi Ueko, Atsuki
Effetti sonori: Yoshihiko Koezuka
Hardware Producer: M. Okada
DSP Programmer: NWK
Software Tool Support: Kami
Hardware System Design: H. Konishi
Hardware Design: T. Kobayashi, H. Yamashita
Document Design: Hideaki Minoda
Product Design: Masaaki Uematsu, Kenji Fujinaka
Mechanical Engineer: Yuji Tamura, Yoshinobu Kitami
Director: Hiroyuki Ashida

CONVERSIONI

• CONSOLE:

Sony PlayStation 2 (2000, "Gradius III & IV")
Sony PSP (2006, "Gradius Collection")

CONTRIBUISCI
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