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"Classic Gradius action brought to the Gameboy's early years"

Opener:

Nemesis, better well known in America as Gradius for some reason was stuck with the European title in America. That aside what you are getting here is an excellent new Gradius game with a decent scent of the old school NES Gradius shooter mixed into this five stage game. As soon as you see the title and level one open up for you, you know this is going to be a challenging, yet rewarding and fun ride.

Graphics
The graphics for Nemesis, even in spite of the fact it is a very early Gameboy game are nothing short of beautiful. Every detail of the game is very well drawn except for the Vic Viper which has been scaled down a lot to keep the ratio of it to the enemy sizing right. The enemies, all of them are very well drawn and have a few frames of animation on each. The Vic Viper does have a fair amount of minor detail to it, and shading on its sides as well. The craft though only has one frame of animation, so it does not roll when you move it up and down. The screen can be I believe filled to the maximum moving objects allowed on the Gameboy, and without slowdown or graphical clipping. I wish all the shooters on Gameboy, as well as other games could have been this detailed back then, and even now in some cases. A perfect example of it would be the large bosses that fill the screen which are highly detailed, and unload of pain at the same time.

Rating: 4.0

Sound
The sound in this game is as lush as the graphics, and again even stuned me at first considering the time when the game came out. The music, plain and simple is typical beautiful Konami scores. Each of the pieces of music on the levels and pre game menu really get you into the feeling of what could happen next to you. The tunes have a good amount of playtime on most of them so you don't notice really easily when they loop which makes for a less boring musical experience. The sound effects from the game are also top notch as well. Both the Vic Viper craft and the enemies put out quite a few different sounds from the various weapons at their command. Each thing has its own unique effect whether its a simple explosion, laser fire, or an enemy's unique weapon effect.

Rating: 4.5

Theme & Fun
Games like this are what side scrolling shooters are all about. As I recall Konami was responsible with its original release of Gradius of making the side scrolling shooter genre gain all its popularity which lasts today. This game holds well to the name Gradius(Nemesis) as a worthy title in the line. With all the strange variety of enemies that you will encounter in each level this will remain quite fun. Added fun comes from the fact you can customize which level you want to start on, and how many lives you can have at your disposal. The only thing that might make it feel less fun is the fact some thing have been reused again in this game like the traditional familiar first level, and the Moah level which always seems to pop up in most Gradius games.

Rating: 4.0

Play Control
The play control of Nemesis is held together really well. The hit detection is accurate and fair so you know when you are going to die or not. The ability to bob and weave in any direction to open fire, or dodge an attack is there for you to attempt. In a few places though it can be a little difficult to tell if you are going to smack into something, or part of a boss as that part could be in the background. Once you get used to this little quibble you should be able to breeze through this game with confidence knowing you can make it to the end if you try.

Rating: 4.0

Challenge
This game is far from easy, but it surely isn't all that hard too. Thanks to the fact that you can pick up play from one of five levels before you start, and customize your lives from 0-99 spares the difficulty can vanish. If you are honest with yourself and play it with a standard rack of 3 lives from the beginning level you will have a good challenge ahead of you. The challenge really comes from the fact of what kind of gamer you are. If you love to jack all the levels up and go at it, it shouldn't be too bad. If you are someone who likes a challenge, set a standard compliment and try your best. Either way with the variety allowed makes for a variety in challenge.

Rating: 3.5

Replay Value and Closing Notes:
Due to the fact that it is a shooter, these games can either become classic or boring after awhile if nothing makes them stand out. This game being a title from the world of Gradius gives it fanboy replay value. The fact that you can also customize the level you start from and the amount of lives you have to play also increases the replay value quite a bit. Each time you play you can start at a new point with however many lives you like, or none at all but the one you start with.

Being a big fan of Gradius this game was quite fun for me to play and review. I have both of the Gradius titles for the Gameboy and still carry them with me when I want a shooter to play when I'm on the road over anything so far on the Gameboy Color. I feel if you can find this game and give it a shot you very well may agree with this sentiment too.

Overall Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/04