Lastupdate: 2000/09/27
Lastupdate: 2000/10/15

Originally, I do not have much information on the oversea versions of Gradius. I even thought that they are all US versions which I find out to know later that most or many of them are actually European releases. This section cannot be done without the help of many people especially Chuck Cochems (from USA).

Chuck provided many information on the oversea versiosn which are unknown to me before. Actually the following information is extracted directly from him, except the last one.

The last one, Nemesis 3, is informed by Konami Man (from Spain).

The above picture is given by ic (from UK). It is rare !

ic: "..., the picture artwork is from a u.k magazine called computer and video games published in 1987 and is a full page ad promoting the imminent release of the u.k computer versions (look at the bottom left of the picture under the konami logo) for: (sinclair) spectrum, amstrad and commodore 64 home computers."

*** Check out the US VERSION section for the US releases of Gradius.

Vs. Gradius
This is the same as the Famicom version of gradius, but includes no codes, but does allow continue. This plays on the Vs. Unisystem. (arcade version of the Famicom)

Nemesis
European version of gradius. Has better title screen. There are two versions. One is hacked to give you about 10 powerup carrying ships in a row every time you die, the other is not. Present in European arcades. Also made for eurpoean MSX (identical to Gradius for MSX), and includes extra bone level, but not in arcade. ALso present on GameBoy.

Nemesis 2
Eurpoean version of gradius 2 for MSX. Also made for Gameboy.

Vulcan Venture
European/US version of Gradius 2 arcade.

Life Force (arcade)
There are two. One US verion which is very similar to salamander except that star backrounds have been switch for cell backgrounds. Otherwise, gameplay is identical. There is also Japanese Life Force, which uses powerup system like gradius, and has more enemies, and the enemies have a more "organic" look to them. What you saw was the US version of Life Force arcade. Japanese life force arcade is the one in salamander deluxe pack.

Gradius 3 arcade Asian version
This version has a shortened history, and has the dfifficulty of the easy game with the length of the normal game. This makes the game a bit easier. There is no game select screen.

Life Force NES version
Same as salamander (nes version), but for US market.

Nemesis 3
This is the European version of Gofer no Yabou (Japanese version) on the MSX system.