This is one of the best NES games, a little hard, good graphics and excellent music

The NES was no stranger to excellent shoot 'em ups like Life Force and Xevious, but Gradius has to take the crown as the best shoot 'em up for NES! There's a reason it's a classic that spawned a franchise still in development today!

Gradius is a space shooter game made by Konami. Gradius is a popular series of games that still exists today. It all started with the original, which is still a very good game today. The ability to choose your own power-ups separates this game from others in it's genre. Gradius is somewhat short, and doesn't have a ton of cool bosses. The soundtrack and solid gameplay make up for this though. It's still a classic, and belongs in everyone's NES collection.

Gradius for NES is exactly what you'd expect; a spaceshooter that takes you through many assorted caves, planets, and space sectors in order to save the universe. The control is fluid and intuitive - this game is one of the easiest to pick up and play; it reminds me of the aged Galaga/Galaxian series and more recent shooters, such as R-Type and even its counterpart on the NES, Life Force. This genre is so successful because the games are so fun, yet so simple and act as an button-mashing alternative to other stress-reliever games such as Street Fighter II.

While not a terrible game, there are better shooters available on the NES. The levels are quite challenging and should keep even the most experienced gamer busy for at least a week.

This game is pretty good...hard at times, but good. The downside is 2-player mode sucks. If you want this style game with better 2 player mode, get Life Force.