Battle of the Ports - Gradius II (グラディウスII -GOFERの野望-) Show No. 411 - 60fps 

The PC Engine has an 8 bit cpu, but the graphics chips are 16 bit. So it actually has dual bitizenship.

Love the Engine version, and the Famicom is absolutely amazing.

PC Engine version colors look more impressive than even the arcade. I still think it's amazing how a 8-bit console could comfortably trade blows with the big 16-bit boys.

The music in this game is just so amazing even 30 years later. I absolutely love this game.

My favourite game in the series. I still have my Vulcan Venture pcb.

Gradius II is just a badass sequel no matter how you look at it. The Famicom cart is unbelievable looking, easily one of the best looking games on the system. The Gradius Deluxe collection is absolutely flawless on either Saturn or PSX, too.

Thank you for this Battle of the Ports video! Yes, Gradius 2: GOFER's Ambititon on PCE Super CD is the best so far.

I love playing this on the PC Engine, but thet Famicom version is really really impressive.

PCE-CD version is the most true to the original, but the FC version is the one I like playing the most. Really impressed that they were able to make all that work on FC.

Gradius 2 and 3 have some of the best music to come out of the arcades in that era, and it's good to see that it held up well to ports. I believe there was also a PSP port as part of the Gradius Portable release which had the first four games on it. It's a great game, I wish I wasn't terrible at it.

PC Engine version is incredible!

Now this is a rare treat indeed. An episode where all of the ports are fantastic in their own right.

Excellent BOTP Mark. Not a bad one among them.

One of my favourite shooters at the time. I liked Nemesis (Gradius) but I much preferred this.

I see where Turrican 2 gets a lot of it's graphics from

I spent so many 10p's on this game, unfortunately i couldn't complete the final level. Gradius games shaped my youth 👍

Love that Konami Famicom sound!

I still mourn the loss of Konami as a top tier dev that cared about it's properties and handled them with care. Not a B.S. port in the bunch.

Top review Mark!.. I remember buying this on release on the pc engine Super CD... Blew me away, and the neat little sticker kit was kinda nice. 👍

I love this series! The PC Engine version also got an exclusive stage as well but I wish they would done an arrange version to the music though, I love it when CD games do that.

A fantastic game!

While I may not care for this game much as the original or Gradius 3, it's still impressive all the ports for this are competently made.

Konami in the 80's and 90's was a monster. I bought the games without seeing a review or image just because they were from Konami. And I've always been fine with that. I'm a Konami fan from that time.

Really shows off how the Famicom had practically become a whole different system 5 years after it was launched. Slow and filled with graphic glitches - and needing all the extra power an add-on chip could provide - but still the king of console gaming. And to think people complain when the Switch port of a game runs in a lower resolution or has to sacrifice background detail?

"X68000 daddy of all 16 bit micros".. I completely agree. I grown up with Amiga and I didn't know anything about X68000 until I follow your channel. X68000 is such a beautiful machine.. Of course my heart much warmer about Amiga for obvious reasons. But X68000 "daddy" of all 16 bits for sure.. I mean, including consoles too. at least thats what I m think. Mega Drive or SNES cannot match X68000 uniqe mainboard and custom chips.. maybe Neo Geo can accept challenge but I cannot tell. I m not that professional:)

Gradius 2 is one of the best sequals ever made! It improves on everything the first does! My favorite with G3, G5 and Gaiden!

Some sound effects from the original arcade version remind me defender like when ships explode

The pce was quite the hybrid console with its dual 16 bit video chips + 8 bit cpu...i own the ss port and yes it's amazing..i think i ll get the fc port sometime along the road....

Gradius II is a fun game. Very nice comparisons!

Impressive visuals for 1988 (nice flame). Good ports too. Cannot complain that Ocean Software botched yet another license 😄😄😄 Also, there was a PC Windows release on February 21, 1997. That's what it reads on wikipedia, at least.

FI-NA-LY! My years of waiting (not so patiently) payed off. Having this game reviewed in your words is a gift. Thank you so much.

this is probably the first time I hear PS1 is Arcade perfect LOL

wonderful

Now all we need is someone to make a One-Chip style X68000, or an FPGA recreation of an X68000 like computer.

Happy Easter, Mark. Thanks for the video.✌️✌️✌️

I love the Gradius series... and it's spin off Parodius.

This game is better known as "Vulcan Venture" outside of the Japanese arcades. PS, the full English title for the Japanese name is Gradius II - The Ambition of the Gofer.

Love the channel

PSP had the Gradius collection on UMD I don't think it was released online.

Great game, one of the best arcade shooters. The PCE port is the one I own, it's mighty impressive, super close to the arcade, Konami made an outstanding work with it, even adding an additional exclusive stage. Well, because the console only have 1 background plane, they had to make some tricks to fake more layers, like in stage 2, the background use different tiles to create an animation depending of where you move, giving the impression of depth and movement. I know someone else can explain this much better, but yeah, it's something like that haha so the black corners are there in some tiles that aren't square shaped, it's a minor sacrifice.

Excellent! You have my request my man. This was my favorite Gradius game right next to Gaiden. Fun Fact: Gradius IV was designed by a guy who really loves Gradius II.

Konami really did an amazing job bringing their arcade games home, at least in many cases. Some of the best gaming on the NES was in the form of a Konami port (Contra, Gradius, etc).

Man, I have been waiting for this one to come out ever since I found your channel and first watched the BotP for Gradius 1. I personally own the PCE CD version and I love it, but I'd also like to get the Saturn version one day. No matter which version you play though, Gradius II is an excellent shooter all around. It's tied with Gradius V on the PS2 as my favorite Gradius title and is at least somewhere in my top 5 shooters of all time. Really glad to see you do this one, and I look forward to more awesome BotP videos.

Oh yeah baby

Holy smokes - I just watched the Time Scanner episode and this one is the quintessential opposite. Last one? Every port was awful. This one? Every port is FANTASTIC.

so nice to see that there are no "stinkers"!!!

That was amazing. One of my favourite series of all time, addicting and challenging game play set to some of the best game music ever composed. I had the foresight to purchase the PC Engine version back in 2008 or so when it was actually still rather affordable. Still have yet to finish it, haha Man the drums in Sharp X68000 version hit HARD! haha

You missed one...the Gradius 2 hidden bonus on the TG-16/Core Grafx Mini. It is an amalgamation of the arcade version mixed with the PC Engine port and it is phenomenal. As far as I'm aware it is the best part ever made.

daaaamn now we're talking that's the real good stuff right there thanks mark update: the best part about the sharp x68000 port is that the mt-32 sound variant actually mixes fm sound chip with some new instruments and oh boy it's really the best way to listen to the gradius 2 ost and as for the pc engine...it's honestly a bit easier than the original arcade and it's other ports honestly 😅😅😅 plus ofc it's replaced 8 bit sounds and the new intro what really defined the pc engine port and as for the nes port...yup I'm impressed that they retained some of the arcade voice lines into the nes cartridge like wow

So many memories with this one! I'm surprised there werent megadrive or snes ports of this one. Though of course, that's for Gradius 3~

VRC4 chip or not. The famicom version is an excellent jaw-dropping port developed by the very best of Konami. Man, do I miss the 80s and 90s Konami crew.

Missed the PSP port... but in all honest about that, is just the Ps1 Gradius Deluxe Pack version with the added option of saving mid-game in that game, as well as Gradius 1, 3 Arcade, 4 (Gradius 3 Arcade and 4 taken from their Ps2 port) and Gaiden (this one was the most damaged without the ability to play with a friend, but still is great that we got an official release of that Ps1 game).

Gradius II was ported to Windows 95 as well, under "Gradius Deluxe Pack for Windows." The disc can be found on Internet Archive, which included screensavers as bonus.

Great game. I play the Famicom version fairly often

the nes version of this game is what made me a gradius fan and started my shootemup journey. Love this game to bits. Hate the name vulcan venture lol. The pc engine cd port is also fucking awesome. The sharp x68000 port really makes me want to emulate that computer now lol.

I also believe Gradius 2 is also available for the MSX2 but, the port has been renamed to "Nemesis 3: The eve of destruction"

a interesting trivia: in the escape scene from the FC port, arcade, PCECD ,X68K version, the Vic Viper shown was the BP-8332 from Salamander instead of BP-827Z;Again,at the intro scene of Arcade, PCE, X68K version, BP-8332 was shown at the original gradius tribute instead of BP-456X. Man surely the Vics have so many inconsistent designs,where in the GB Nemesis,Metalion from Gradius 2(MSX) was shown in the ending instead of BP-456Y,which brings so much confusion.

I like how konami were able to get the fmv on the saturn which lacked the ps1's fmv chip to allow fmv in hardware.

Gradius Was my Childhood But I Didn't Played too Many Credits Games!! Just Gradius 1 and 3!

Really would like a sharp x68000

PC Engine Rules!!!!

The Pc Engine CD version is the best!!!

Great video, I prefer the Sharp X68000 port better, it has pretty sophisticated audio options such as MT-32 but all ports are great.

thanks dude.

Always loved this game 🤠✌️

I have to admit, the mixed FM+LA from the MT-32 option sounds quite nice. Gives it more of an enhanced arcade sound.

Must check this out on mame. The nes version is graphically very good, yeah the flicker and slowdown Do detract from its overall looks but for a nes very good 6800 version just stunning too

Pleased we are in agreeance that the PC Engine is an 8-bit machine Mark, it's actually an overclocked 8-bit CPU with an 8-bit data bus, despite having a 16-bit graphics chip :)

With inflation in mind and currency conversion done today, Sharp X68000 hardware back then was modern Mac priced, so it did make sense to get that performance for the price. I only want to get an ATX/mATX chassis in its look and style, mobo-etc in one half, graphics card in the other.

No duds this week. I'd have been happy with any of those versions of Gradius II, though happier with some than others. Good job on all the footage you captured, you clearly put time into all the versions. I do love classic Konami games, great soundtracks that you instantly recognise and some distinctive design quirks... Even in the early 2000s they were still putting out a really interesting lineup of games after that they changed direction sadly.

One thing to note, Gradius II will run in slow motion on a PS2 due to incompatibility. Got on PS1, Saturn, PSP, and PCE CD.

What an amazing bunch of ports! Famicom one, that I played, is very meritory. The soundtrack of the Sharp and the PC Engine are incredible. Saturn japanese pad are the best ever made, and european Saturn consoles went with it from 1996 onwards, when I bought mine ; )

!!F'ING YEAH GRADIUS!!! .*jeyeah

I've always enjoyed this series, just wish I wasn't so bad at playing it. lol.

I have played all these versions except the Sharp X68000 one. Would love to get a Sharp X68000, but it's not cheap.

Master piece Version Gradius 2 . Vulcan Venture Definitive arcade, it's our face

It baffles me we never got the Famicom port in the West, given how well-liked I remember Life Force being. I wonder if it was one of those situations where the NES didn't play nice with the enhancement chip, like Castlevania III, and the game just wouldn't run acceptably without it.

I don't think this ever got a proper pre-emulation release outside of Japan.

I'll wait for Battle of the Ports: Super Pang, but it'll be sometime in the future.

Wow, all these versions look really good. Konami really knew what they were doing back then, and the experience stays relatively the same no matter which platform you're playing on. Unfortunately, I've never really been a fan of Gradius's power-up bar, and wish they would have kept Life Force's system instead, but that's really the only complaint I have about this game.

Mark, I think this may be this first game review where you felt that all of the ports were solid!

Mark is good at this game🎯

Awesome battle cheers Mark and one I thought you'd done already, one of the staples of my days out at the seaside, we had a amazing arcade in Hornsea on the British east coast called rainbow islands, it had everything you would want as a shooter fan but it was Gradius 2 & 3 placed side by side which I couldn't resist playing. I can't pick a favourite shooter but some days Gradius 2 could be No1.

Did you omit the MSX version because it came out before the arcade game?

Awesome BOTP video Mark, that Sharp X68000 version looks incredible not to mention how you can select 3 different sound modules within the options?! That's amazing & a very rare feature in games from what I remember!

Fun fact: you cannot play a bad version of this seminal game. Every version is excellent considering the host hardware.

I don't know if I'd miss Gradius III from MSX here, as it has many stages that are very similar: the "Suns" of the first stage, the Moais, even the ship selection screen is the same... but it has many other stages that seem deferent.

What about the msx2 port called gradius part 2 or Nemesis 3 eve of destruction depending of region not to be confused with gradius 2, an msx2 exclusive original gradius game also known as nemesis 90 kai when ported to X68000

TY! Great footage as always, Sir. Was there ever a C64 version or was it an altered title or Gradius or Nemesis or something. Confuses me Lol! Also I was just playing on the PSP Gradius Collection (1,2,3,4 & Gradius Gaiden) yesterday and Gradius II has word Gofer in the title logo. Anyway, soz to waffle on and cheers to you

Great job mate! I really enjoy these battle of the ports episodes you do. Your dedication really shows! So many good ports of gradius 2. Ive got the famicom version only besides the sharp and the arcade version what would be your next best choice?

Coin op was forward thinking and acting at the time. NES is spectacular offering. X68000 leaps and bounds above the coin op. TurboGrafx 16 has great music and gameplay. PS1 is near identical to coin op. Saturn is superior to PS1.

Would have been great to see the PC Windows version of the Gradius Deluxe Pack represented here.

Awesome game & one of my favs in the series. How come you didn’t include the psp version, which is interesting because it has a wide screen option

The thing that always annoyed me to this day was why, in 1996 when the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn deluxe packs were made that BOTH their U.S.A. subsidiary branches (which in turn hold the gate for the NTSC-U region of North America aka Canada and Mexico) decided to just skip releasing or hyping this. Don't say that 2d graphics were in a decline... those are lies... American gamer magazines and the U.K. Edge gaming magazine were mostly hyping the 3d graphics bandwagon but those are unofficial and multi platform... I can understand Sony's S.C.E.A. being slow to develop their own official PlayStation magazine in North America but Sega of America? Lmaooo what an embarrassment to the history of arcade and home videogame systems. Sega of America during the 1990s had some really idiotic management staff who decided not to copy what Nintendo of America was doing since 1988. That said Gradius II did not get a North American release but that can be forgiven because Konami may have judged sales of Gradius and Life-force probably... given that the FamiCom ROM cartridge with that extra chip must have had an added cost. Still I got Gradius III for SNES despite the reviews because at that time it really looked like it matched the arcade, until you saw it moving... mainly due to early programming efforts and experience not being as experienced as later games. That NEC PC-Engine Super CD-ROM2 intro in pure 2d pixel sprite art is still aging like fine wine and impressive af... I will say.. PCE had an 8bit CPU but the graphics were still having some type of 16bit hardware component... Which is understandable that NEC America tried to use the 16 number too much but that was the problem here... even Sega's Dreamcast claimed to be the first 128bit game system in 1999 launch... Yet a year or two later and Sony nor NGC, etc ever bothered with "bits" marketing until the PC platform around 2007 where dubious fan "persons" journalists and websites were claiming that Crysis 1 for PC was somehow a 64bit CPU and Direct X 10 GPU using PC game... The 64bit executable is just that... an executable, not a true coding effort and the same is true for the XboneX and PS4/Pro Crysis collection where the octa core, (eight CPU cores), far more powerful in Teraflop computational power beyond any, ANY PC graphics card from even 2009 which alone were finally reaching 1Tf and could not handle the framerate dips in PC Crysis and Crysis Warhead unless you paid more for the scam of SLI/Crossfire and finally both those consoles had 8GB of RAM... Basically proving that if game developers and companies don't really put an effort into the basic PS4 and Xbone consoles to port their games to... then it's a rubbish effort. But more importantly that marketing can make suckers of people... both the people calling PCE 8bit only, like as if the CPU is handling the graphics workload or the Dreamcast being what killed the Sega hardware plus had a bad name and hardware to boot.

I'm truly impressed by the Famicom version. I didn't even know it got a port.

I was waiting for a mention of MSX's Nemesis 3... Now I'm sad.

Nice video but a little shame you didn't show the PSP version as I thought that was pretty close to the arcade as well.

I'm not the biggest fan of the NES and ok, there's an extra chip on the cart, but damn, if that NES version isn't bloody impressive for the hardware it's running on..

Good job like usual, Yakumo, though I feel like there coulda been a bit of PSP coverage, cuz the Gradius Collection gave it a neat extra, since it's a full port. *WIDE SCREEN!!!* And I get the main PCE processor is 8 bit, but the GPU IS 16 bit, so it is a big ol geshtalt of tech forming a big Sentai combiner robot, especially with the CD unit attached. And alongside the arcade accuracy, there's an extra main stage added to PCE Gradius 2 with a unique CD quality track

I'd be all for a modern release of a Gradius Collection with all the games and all the versions of the games, the idea is quite plausible now, thanks to the announcement of the Cowabunga Collection which has all the classic Ninja Turtles games and all the version of them too. Plus the Castlevania and Contra Collections as well. Never say never. :)