6/10, I was expecting a 7/10. A bit put off getting this, but I wil still consider a download someother time.

Yeah right, this is worse than Star Soldier R. When doggies fly! Nothing can crush my spirits when it comes to this one. Me want! If this isn't released this Friday... Grrrrr....

Well, that does make me more curious about Star Soldier... But still getting this first...

Disappointing.

@chunky_droid: Indeed. Corbie is the resident expert on shooters here!

@Damo
I'd like to challenge that notion... Even though I suck at shmups I do love them quite a bit.
Even though I do see the absurdity that I'm sitting here defending a game I've yet to play... Oh well...

Well, we're all entitled to our own opinion, and I've been having a blast with this one! The graphics and sound are nice, and the gameplay feels polished, if not incredibly punishing. The only other Gradius game I've played is the original, and this one's better overall. In my opinion, this is definitely worth the $10!

Also, I just placed 7th on Normal mode! Pfft, not like that will last very long...

I'm actually not a big fan of this retro thing on WiiWare, but I must admit that I quite like the colourful graphics of Gradius Rebirth for some reason. And 6/10 - not in the same league as World of Goo but it's not bad, isn't it? Not too bad at all

The game also features a fairly high level of difficulty, so if you find yourself easily frustrated, you might want to take that into account.
So how difficult is the game? Can you describe in more detail? I loved Gradius (AKA Nemesis in Europe) on the C64. Although, compared to most console games, with ridiculous graphics, I found it very playable and not too frustrating. It's about on par with the original 2 Gradius titles in terms of difficulty. Not brutal, but still very tough later on.

And I also liked Parodius on the GB, Gradius Advance on the GBA or R-Type DX on the GBC because they were bearable even for the non-shooter-experts.
But when it comes to games like Ikaruga (Gamecube) or R-Type III (SNES), I am missing the words. There are so many shots on the screen and so little space to move, I see no chance reaching the higher levels. Getting good at bullet hell shooters is just like any other. It's re-learning to play a shooter with emphasis on dodging more than shooting. Just takes time and practice.

As you progress through the game, you'll have the ability to start back at the last check point you reached in the game.
Okay, if you lose a life, you start on the last check point. But how exactly does the continue system work? Can you continue infinitely in Gradius Rebirth? Or only 3 times or so? There are several check points in each level. When you're game is over and you turn off your Wii, you can come back another time and choose to start at any level and checkpoint you've reached before.

I would really like to try another shooter. But be honest: Is the game appropriate for someone who likes to play only if the difficulty is not too high? Or can you find this game only to be good if you really think you are a Game God? You don't have to be a Game God, but you'd better be ready to put in some time to beat it.

I just wish it had more than 5 stages but it's still a good Gradius game.
Anyone who likes these games will have fun with it.

Looks like I should have gussed 1 lower than 7/10 instead of 1 higher. Oh well. Nice review, Mr. Shooter.

Don't get hung up in the number score. He mentioned very positive things abouth the game. It sounds like if you enjoy any of the past Gradius games then this one is a good choice. I am putting it on my wish list.

I still think it deserves a 7.

Doh. This is worse that Gyrostarr? (That means that retro-esque games do not equal instant hits. Innovation DOES have a purpose...)

Harsh. Though I can understand how one might feel playing an 80's remix after coming off a Treasure entry into the series. It would be like giving me Demon Attack right after playing Ikaruga. I'd look at you funny and ask what exactly you were taking when you thought Demon Attack would be a good follow-up.

I do have to say though, Gradius Rebirth does get more fun the more you play it. Also, reconfiguring the controls for autofire helps A LOT. So much so that it should have been the default configuration.

@Omega - Ikaruga is a lot easier for beginners than many other bullet-hell games IMHO. Just remember to switch to the correct color to absorb bullets and you'll do fine. The difficulty does ramp up rather quickly (I still can't beat the boss with the pistons you have to shoot) but the basic gameplay is very approachable once you understand the mechanics.

If you want bullet-hell games that have gone too far, look no further than Mars Matrix. If you can get past the first boss, you're not doing too bad. Outside of bullet-hell games is Border Down; a crazy, over the top, somewhat confusing, yet visually appealing shoot'em up that will test the patience of any player.

@15. Link79
Only five levels? That's not very many, considering even the SNES Gradius III had more. Maybe they're doing it like other games, and the extra levels can only be played on higher difficulties. What difficulty level you play on?

I'll probably enjoy the game, myself, despite the "two steps backwards". The newest Gradius game I've played was Gradius III. So for all I know this might be one step up for me.

Also, from the video's I've seen, the game doesn't really look nor sound 8-bit. More like 16-big Genesis. (I'd say SNES, but if this were like SNES, we'd be seeing massive slowdown. )

@Draygone sez... if this were like SNES, we'd be seeing massive slowdown.

Actually, there are several parts where the game slows down. Other than to give that "retro-feel", I can't figure out why for the life of me. We're talking about a game console that can push north of a billion texels a second! Slowdown simply shouldn't happen. Adding it in merely for the purpose of being "retro" is just plain annoying.

This looks fun, but honestly I don't think it'll do well at this pricepoint. It's a retro game after all and it looks pretty stripped down; I know thats the point, but I think if your going to redo a classic like this it should have a lot of levels or some kind of extra, flashy online content or something (for 1000 points). otherwise keep it really cheap and everyone will snatch it up without a blink.
Interesting how the retro "look" usually still encompasses a lot of elements that weren't possible before so they often shape our perception of what a game was.
When you actually get a chance to play a classic game as it was it can be quite a shock. It's like watching a period film, vs. actually being there where you have all the smells and grunge of a given time.

Corbie, unless I missed something here, you mentioned absolutely nothing about power-up choices. From the screenshots, it looks like there are ripple lasers and normal lasers and whatnot. What about different types of missiles, like spread bombs and two ways? Are those included? Can you edit your power ups like you could in Gradius III? Or are there different "ships" you can pick from like Gradius II and IV?

Another thing worth noting that has gone unmentioned-does the game loop to a harder difficulty level when completed? (I assume it does since it's a Gradius game but you never know)

@ Draygone
Yep it really only has 5 levels. I've played through it twice and can confirm this. No new stages on higher difficultys though you do unlock a new ship after beating it once.

It should have been a bit longer and 1000 Wii points is rough considering better shooters on VC are only 800 pts or even 600. It's still a decent shooter though If you really enjoy these games.

Hmm... I'm still not totally sure if I should go ahead and get another 2000pts. to get this one. Well my little brother will probably get it so I'll try it out on his and see. The one big thing that puts me off is the only 5 stages thing. Ah well. Might not be too big a deal.

Bad news: Gradius ReBirth might sound like a comletely new game, but it plays more like a tight remix of previous Gradius titles than a full rebirth...
Good news: ...luckily, playing a remix of a classic shmup series like Gradius isn't half bad, and is probably still worth the 1000 Wii Points for many people.

Nice review! Some might disagree with the final score, but I think it's fair when you look at how many Virtual Console shmups are easily available, just as enjoyable, and even cheaper than this game.

It's still decent, so I will add it to my wishlist.

Gradius Rebirth is a remake, of the first Nemesis gameboy title more precisely. M2 add cinematics for msx Gradius fans (appearance of Venom, James Burton, Metarion...), 4 ships must be unlocked (With a Metarion type) and there are 3 endings.

@Sean Aaron (#20): That was what I have heard about Ikaruga (before buying it): It's approachable and if you spend enough time on it you can complete the game. But that's not true for me.

@TheWiiRocks (#21): Boss with pistons? Is this the End-Boss of Level 2 where you have to open the two caps which are guarding the weak points and then get in there and attack?

I manage to reach the fourth level in Ikaruga without continuing. But only if I SURVIVE the End-Boss of Level 3. This is the circular orbit station which must be defeated from the inside. I cannot destroy this thing but I can stay alive until the timer ticks down and eventually get to the fourth level.

But the Boss of level 4 is hell. You have to switch colours every 0.2 seconds and shoot while navigating through millions of black and white bullets. This is where I realised that I could never complete this game without cheating (continuing) even if I try it for 200 years.

I'm still not sure what to think about Gradius Rebirth. But when it has only 5 Levels than I guess it's not too easy. This was sadly the formula of the most early action games: Make them short and hard.

Well Life force only has 6 levels and it's still a great game while it lasts. I was a bit put off by the short length of Rebirth but shooters never were known to be very lengthy affairs. I just had to get this anyway cause I can never have too much gradius. It's good but could have been better.

Not to speak against you, but did you just rate the game low just because it was a lot similar to the earlier games, which were good?

F**k this s**t... unless u like dying a billion times one minute into the first level on some cheap-ass flying rocks...

Downloaded this one last night. I'm enjoying it, though I'm starting to regret it- Life Force is just as good, and it has the 2 player option. I think the value would've been much higher had they included co-op.

Somebody said that the game doesn't have a second difficulty loop, when it actually does. o_o However, you need to be playing on Normal difficulty or up.

corbie didnt give it a 7 its the end of the world

yeah, this looks better than Gyrostar. I bought Gyrostar because i wanted a shooter, and it was AWFUL! I'd give it a 1/10.

Huh... That's interesting... I, on the other hand, have never really liked the R-Type series and it's the only shmup series off the top of my head that I wouldn't consider buying if I came across it in a store. To further emphasize my dislike for the series, personally I'd say that I like any version of the Gradius series (including the Gameboy games) better than any R-Type game. Perhaps I should note that I've turned my back on that series after III (and I didn't even give that one much of a chance either) so maybe it's improved but color me skeptical. So perhaps Gradius is your R-Type in which case maybe you were the wrong person to review it... I mean, I should never be given the job of giving a fair review to a R-Type game either... I'm just saying...

R-type and Gradius are probably my two favorite shooters but I prefer Gradius more. R-type is way too hard sometimes and just pisses me off to the point of screaming some of the most foul obsenities known to man. I don't like extremely fast paced shooters. It's no fun when 50 million things are flying at you from all directions and you don't have infinite continues. At least you do in R-type 3 but Gradius is a bit less insane and I can handle that.

Corbie, I usually agree on your shooter tastes (how could I not, considering you love Cave? ^^) and I, too, am no Gradius Fan by any means, but you can't be telling me that you prefer Gradius IV over III.
Despite the difficulty I loved Gradius III (the Arcade version present on PS2) and Nemesis on GB was rather nice, too. The other ones though, well, they aren't too much to write home about. I'll give you that.
But III was really, really good. No masterpiece, but certainly better than the ugly fourth one.

gasp

Wasnt expecting that. And I cant even make a 7/10 joke

Gradius V? Ah you must talk about Treasurius V! The Gradius with a grey ascendancy, no Moai and a manic spirit. What about Gradius Gaiden? Boring too? If you don't like old school shooter and more precisely Gradius, so why did you rate Rebirth? Because you are a "shooter fan"? A layman could'nt do it?

Honestly, I was surprised with the 6. The review led it up to be an 8 in the end.

Also, this is GOLD:

• "You can even record your scoring runs and replay them at a later time, a nice feature for those that like to show off a bit (you know who you are)."

Awesome feature!!

Interesting to hear that you enjoyed SSR because I loved that game. Definitely in my Top WiiWare. But considering how well-written this review is, it hasn't deterred me from getting it. It's still on my wishlist. I just need more points.

Nice review indeed.

Also, I really wanna see what else Konami has in store for WiiWare. The company itself has a lot of potential that can be explored through the WiiWare service. I'm looking forward to hearing about a music game, especially.

Man, you guys gotta quit lashing out at Corbie! The reviewers review in a turn based way, not by "who likes what". In this way it makes it more likely that the review won't be biased.

@Corbie - It's true, we asked Corbs to review Pong Toss and he happily did it. Now that's dedication for ya!

Wow, you own the PCBs of those games Corbie?

@Dazza: I'll say! XD
@Corbie: So Bit.Trip Beat was pushed back after all. What happened? Any explanation?

I reviewed it because it was my turn to review and this was the game that was released.

It was originally supposed to be Bit.Trip.Beat but it was pushed back so I didn't get to do it. It had been awhile since I reviewed a game as we were trying to let the new reviewers get their feet wet. Whatever they assign me, I review.

Is this really how you guy's operate at WiiWare World? I gotta say, that's a bit disconcerting. Games should be assigned based on preference and taste, not on some schedule. It really doesn't make any sense to have someone that doesn't like Gradius reviewing a new Gradius game. A review done by a fan of the previous games would have been much more helpful, don't you think?

@fixjuxa
...sigh... doesn't anyone read my comments anymore?

They do it on a turn based basis for that very reason. Obviously if they picked someone who was a huge fan of the series then it would've been biased greatly. Picking on a turn basis vs. by who likes what let's you see what a random gamer would think.

With that being said, it might be a good idea to put what type of games each reviewer likes from greatest to least on a chart of some kind. I remember Nintendo Power used to do that in their "Now Playing" section where they would put all the reviews of many games.

I really liked SSR. Glad to it did better than this (actually, isnt SSR the highest rated shump on WWW?).

@Corbie:Im sure you reviewed Pong Toss due to it being your turn. Suuuurrrreeee

I'll get it someday. I love all of the Gradius series, and I still play the original regularly.

Good review Corbie. Since I haven't bought any shooters lately on the VC, I rather much concentrate on that and hold off from getting Gradius Rebirth.

I still play the PSP Gradius Collection even though its not the best translation of Gradius I played.

@Corbie - Says you! I always get to the second level, then die immediately. I don't last long under the onslaught. Technically speaking, no shooter is all that hard once you get the hang of the mechanics and controls. But part of the challenge is always getting those mechanics down pat. Some games allow wider margins of error than others...

@Omega - That's the one I'm talking about. It sounds like you're doing a lot better with Ikaruga than you let on. Being able to beat the game has never been a measure of the quality of shoot'em ups for me (probably because I rarely beat them ), but I suppose everyone has their own viewpoint.

@tasthomas - Indeed

This is why you dont give a game hype because it will end up crapy

I'm not insulted in the slightest. Merely stating my own difficulties and viewpoint. You wouldn't believe how happy I was just to get to level 3 on Soldier Blade. (Doh!)

This is why you dont give a game hype because it will end up crapy

Yeah, but the guy who wrote the review doesn't even like Gradius. Have you played Gradius? If you have, and you enjoyed it, you'll like this because it's more of the same with some new stuff sprinkled in here and there.

I simply don't understand the logic behind assigning the review to someone who's predisposed to not liking the game . Why would you not cater to the people who are actually interested in buying the game(i.e. fans of the series) and get someone who likes the series to review it?

The reviewer has admitted that his favorite game in the series is the one that strays farthest from the classic games that hooked most fans. Why in the world would you assign this person to review a game that's basically an homage to the earlier 8/16 bit classics? It just doesn't make any sense. Of course, I understand that people are going to review games they'd rather not play, like all the shovelware that's constantly popping up. But don't ask a guy to review a game from a series he doesn't like because it's just dumb and serves the interest of no one, because what's the point in saying "I've never really like this series so this game doesn't really do much for me. 6/10". What would be better would be a review that says "I've always like the Gradius series and this is a good/bad Gradius game".

@fixjuxa - Seriously, give it a rest. Corbie's review was fair and spot on. Regardless of whether or not this is his favorite type of shooter, he was dead on with both his praise and criticism of the title. We could not ask for a better review, no matter what Corbie's biases might be.

I don't care about the score it received. I'm just making the argument that it's a bad idea to assign somebody to review a game from a series they don't care for because the only people this caters to is people that probably won't like the game anyway. That's it. Can anybody explain to me why it would be preferrable(or at the very least tell me the upside)to have a person who isn't a fan of a series reviewing a game from that series? It just seems illogical to me.

I'd have to bump up the score from a 6 to a solid 8, but Corbie's main point remains very true: If you like/love the other Gradius titles, you'll definitely get a kick out of Rebirth. It's more of the same but that's certainly not a bad thing.

I will however take exception with one particular annoyance: Star Soldier R a better game than Gradius Rebirth? Not by half. SSR can't even be qualified as a full shooter gaming experience; merely an arcade scorefest. Rebirth, thanks to its traditional level-to-level shmup makeup is a much more engrossing game.

"If you own a PSP, don't forget to check out the three Konami "Portable" titles: Parodius Portable, Twinbee Portable, and Salamander Portable. All three are excellent. They go wherever my PSP goes."

No mentioning of Gradius Portable?

If you like the Gradius series this game is about an 8/10, which means it's not perfect, it's not great, but it is good. Here's your fan review.

The graphics are actually quite a bit better than any 16-bit shooter. They are not pixelated, in fact, they look blurry. It looks like the enemy ships were pre-rendered from 3D models instead of being hand drawn. I would have preferred higher contrast sprites and sharper edges, but the game overall does look good. The organic and moai bosses are incredible.

There are five levels with familiar themes: volcano, organic, moai, desert, and base, plus a secret level. Unlike the older games the levels are quite dynamic. For example, at the entrance to the volcano level there is a pair of force field generators. Leave them alone and you get a brown earth level with two volcanos before the boss. Destroy the top generator and the level freezes over with ice. Destroy the bottom generator only and the level turns red with volcanos all over the place. The game's difficulty settings also affect the layout of the levels, which adds quite a bit of replay value to the game.

The weapons are the standard Gradius fare, however there are only three choices initially and there is no select mode to mix-and-match. Beating the game unlocks new ships with different weapons. The first 5 configurations have only the standard options that follow you around, no rotating options or anything weird like in Gradius 3.

The biggest problem for me is that the ship is too slow. It starts too slow and doesn't speed up fast enough. You need all five speedups to reach the equivalent of three speedups in Gradius 2 or 3. This means no teleporting around the screen at warp speed, which is doubly unfortunate in light of the replay feature

There are four checkpoints per level and unlimited continues from the most recent checkpoint. You can start the game from any checkpoint on any loop that you have been to, at any difficulty setting. On "very easy" difficulty the enemy ships are very slow and do not fire at all. On "easy" you can destroy their shots. Normal is about what you would expect for a Gradius game. On harder difficulty settings the enemy ships are faster, there are more of them, and they shoot more, including extra shots when they die.

A little word about slowdown. It's part of every Gradius game, and it's there for a reason: you need it to survive. On the harder difficulty settings Gradius is very much a "bullet hell" shooter. Sometimes you can't kill everything and the best thing to do is to let the enemies shoot like crazy and dodge shots and collect power-ups. A lot of people just don't get this, and after they die they keep trying to play the game the same way. You can't.

@thewiirocks (#66): I always try to beat a game. For me, it is an important quality characteristic, whether the majority of players can beat a game or not. The only exeptions are games such as Pac Man oder Tetris where it basically is just about High-Scores. But of course you're right: Everyone has his/her own view.

@Zork2: This is an interesting new perspective on the game. Thank you for that.

As I understand in Corbie's review, the main drawback of Gradius Rebirth is, that Konami didn't tried something new and have instead rehashed the same formula of the old games. Seeing it in this way, the score of 6/10 is surely justifed. But what is with Mega Man 9? Has Capcom not also recycled the formula of an age-old Jump and Run game with no real improvements? And this gets 9/10?

I do not see quite why. I mean, Gradius and Mega Man are both popular classics.

I've played a great deal of this game over the past couple of days and I have to say that there's actually a lot more to it than it first seems....

1. The first level has three different "styles," depending on which of the bases at the start you blow up: white, orange and red. White has the mountain UFO boss at the end, orange replaces it with the erupting volcanoes from the original Gradius, and red has that AND all the mountains in the level are erupting too, making it much more difficult.
2. There are a good number of secret areas, it turns out, although they're pretty hard to find.
3. Most importantly, loops 2 and 3 (which can be accessed from the start as Hard and Very Hard mode) actually have different level layouts! The basic theme of the stage is the same, but the terrain and enemies have been shifted around. The change on Loop 2 is relatively subtle, but Loop 3 shifts its levels around rather a lot. (It's also incredibly difficult....)

Just bought a Points Card, so I'm ready for Friday...though I'm probably bound to be disappointed by Nintendo who can't be ar*ed to release it. .

@Zork2 Can you explain some more about the secret level? Is it an entirely new level as long as the others?

Thank you, Corbie, for your new comment. This proves that everyone has their personal taste. Although, if I only had read the review without looking at the score, then I would have thought you also like it a lot. But, as you say, it is good that there are different opinions. What would the world be if everyone had the same opinion?

I understand what some people are saying, but seriously, I kind of have to fixjuja.

Also, I'm finding it a bit hard to find Gradius Rebirth worse than Star Soldier R and Gyrostarr. o.o

This game is my second favorite WiiWare game... Ah Corbie, you should've given it a seven. You guys know you can insert the Konami Code (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right 1/A 2/B) on the pause screen to get four multiples right? Really makes things easier on you.

Does anyone know of a Konami game that DOESN'T use the Konami code in any way shape or form?

Well, actually, I read through the review again and I pretty much have the same feelings as you do towards ReBirth. There could've been something more but... it's still fantastic, and I'm standing behind my 7/10 rating.

Also, the Konami code doesn't work with Castlevania I on the NES either.

fixjuxa seems to have quited while he was ahead.
Glad everyone's enjoying this. General opinion seems to be 6-8/10 making it a good buy for 1,000 Points.

Listing every Konami game that does not feature the Konami code would take a lot longer than listing those who do...

I am sooooooooo getting this when it is released in Europe! I'd say the Nemesis / Gradius franchise is probably my favourite of all time, so on reading that this edition is something of a retro-styled mish-mash, I will now start impatiently waiting for the chance to buy it...

Then I can get back to waiting for Axelay to get a European release!

[i]fixjuxa seems to have quited while he was ahead.
Glad everyone's enjoying this. General opinion seems to be 6-8/10 making it a good buy for 1,000 Points.[/i]

Well, I hadn't planned to comment further but since I've been called out for "quitting" I guess I will.

Sure it's possible that, as Corbie said, a fan might overrate the game, but I still think it's better to error on the side of a game being overrated by a fan of the series than being underrated by somebody who never really cared for the series in the first place. Plus I think that often times fans of a particular series are the hardest to please because they have a certain expectation of quality given that they enjoyed the previous games. In the end I still think it would be better if WiiWare World didn't let a person review a game when they already have a negative predisposition towards it. At least give the game to someone who expects to like it for what is, or at least what it's expected to be, which in this case is another 2D Gradius shooter.

We can't always pick and choose that carefully, not to mention that we have no way of knowing every reviewer's exact likes and dislikes when it comes to video games.

There's no way to know? How about asking "Hey, what are your thoughts on Gradius games? Oh, you never really liked them much? Okay, we'll get somebody else to do the review then." Seems easy enough to me.

And I'll state again, I really have no problem with the score or what the reviewer said in the review. I only have a problem with the idea that people that don't like a particular franchise are being assigned to review games from that franchise. The whole idea just seems backwards to me.

Darn it. What have I done! LOL.
Well I suppose I'll add my .02 cents worth, then.

• "In the end I still think it would be better if WiiWare World didn't let a person review a game when they already have a negative predisposition towards it."

Very interesting that you mention that even though they've mentioned before that it's purely on a rotation basis and it was mere coincidence it was Corbie's turn. But if someone has a predisposition towards a game I've been looking forward to and they underrate it on poor terms, then of course I'd be miffed! Which is why I avoid having a strong predisposition towards games, especially WiiWare games. They could always turn to to surprise you. You just need to have the right attitude going into a review. And in a way, I'm using this comment you made to further something I've been trying to explain to many but they can't seem to get the message. I think that such an attitude would make for a*better* reviewer, don't you?

• "Hey, what are your thoughts on Gradius games? Oh, you never really liked them much? Okay, we'll get somebody else to do the review then." Seems easy enough to me."

I like how you mentioned earlier that you'd prefer a game get overrated than have it underrated. It's very debatable. What if a game was overrated like say Hockey All-Star Shootout. Do you know how many people would be downright ticked off? Meanwhile, if that same reviewer underrated a game, then those that are more likely to try it may end up saying "Hey, nice review. It coerced me into getting it and I'm enjoying it a lot more than what I thought based on your review". So in the end, they'll be happier so it's a win-win in the end.

But yeah, it has been mentioned before that there should be a Second Opinion thing like GameInformer has and this would be the PERFECT opportunity to test if such a system would work for the best - maybe with the integration of DSiWare Reviews!

Guys, I really think it would be worth at least trying for the betterment of reviews, reception and, by extension, the community as a whole. Whaddya say?

Anyway, thank you for expressing your feelings, fixjuxa.

So no controllable options like in Gradius V, I take it? I'll still probably get this since I'm a big Gradius fan, but I really liked that feature in the last game, even if it was a little cheap.

WHY ISN'T THIS OUT IN EUROPE!?! Flippin table tennis dung...

When I first got here I was afraid to express myself, then I felt comfortable, then I stepped back a little and now it's a bit of both.

Regardless, it's comforting to hear you say that Corbster.

Correction, there are 3 secret levels. This youtube video will show you where to find them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb-NNirrxBk

If you don't want spoilers, generally speaking you need to fly into strange nooks and crannies.

A. Jungle Speed is hardly forgettable.
B. What's criminal is you guys being forced to pay an additional 300 Points for Family Table Tennis.

RE: Comment 1:
"6/10, I was expecting a 7/10"
Congratulations on not finishing that sentence "...because Corbie was the one reviewing it"

I just downloaded this game. I am very happy with it. In fact I think its one of my top favorite Wii Ware games. Of course I also like Gradius games as well with Life Force being my favorite.

That's great to hear Tony.

Imagine a new Parodius with 3D graphics but still the classic side scrolling gameplay.

Now that would be sweet!

I just want to say this game is awesome! easily a 9!

it's a shame!

@Corbie: That game does look fun. Is it out in Europe I wonder...

Good review. It gave me enough info to help me decide whether to buy it or not.However, from your review, it still seems to me it should've scored a 7. It doesn't matter though, a 6 or 7 would've still make me draw the same conclusion as to the purchase, so thank you.

BTW, I'm NOT downloading it.

I´m a Gradius fan since of 1990 years.
I played every single Gradius games launched to date, except Gradius Galaxies for GBA.
See my micro-review of this game here: http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wiiware/my_gradius_rebirth_micro_review_a_gradius_fan_perspective

First off, I've been a huge fan of Gradius III, yes oldschool, since it first came out in the 90's. Secondly, I have been addicted to Gradius Rebirth for a few months now. I've been greatly enjoying the game but also pretty upset over certain parts that I couldn't get past. It took a long time and a lot of playing as well as trying out different weapons but the other day I finally beat the game! I think they graded this game poorly by comparing it to other recent shooter games when it was obviously designed to be comparitive to the older versions, hence "Rebirth." I would have given it an 8 out of 10 myself. Of course, like he said, if you like the older ones, then you'll probably like this one.
I don't know if the game creators read this or not, but I do like the fact that you have more powerups available in this game, esp. after you die. I also like being able to upgrade your weapons, but...most of the upgraded weapons don't look or work much differently anyway. In addition, I don't like the fact that you have to choose your weapons by row. In Gradius III if you went to the right then you could pick individual weapons. In that way you could take your lasers from the first line, shields from the second line and missles from the third line. Lastly, I don't like how all of the multiples follow you around everywhere. In Gradius III you could chose to have them stationarily placed above and below your fighter. In that way you didn't have to risk flying into a rock to shoot an enemy. They also provided a level of shielding in the manor as well. Oh, yes, also, is there any chance of coming out with a longer version in disc format? I'm tired of having such limited space and these great downloadable games taking up so much of it. Thanks!

Ed

"it still looks like it would be more suited to running on an NES"

Err...what? The NES couldn't produce graphics like this in its wildest dream!

I got this mixed up with Contra ReBirth when I saw the review date I was confused now I know

i would give 8 or 9, cuz its SO hardcore and well made. the only counterpoint is that it isnt full screen. that makes a lot of difference, take Eduardo samurai toaster and FFIV, it makes the difference

The gameplay is balanced well for a truly rewarding game. I agree that this game could have been rated higher, because if you're looking to try out a classic style shooter, this game should probably be the second game purchased (Star Soldier R being the first ... because it's a nice introduction to the value of high-scores and the pursuit of perfection).

After having this game for 4 months now, I just keep coming back to it. It's really a 9/10 for fans of old-school Gradius. The graphics and music are impeccable, and the re-arranged levels add tremendous replay value to the game. It's really not the same game when you try to beat it on hard. Like every Gradius game, it takes a while to learn it and find your way though all the sections. Then it's really fun to play. So if you're looking for a difficult 2D shooter that will challenge you for months to come, for 1000 points you can't go wrong.

I think the hardcoreness of this game has put me off. I used to enjoy hardcore side scrolling shooters like Gradius (I believe I've played one or two of the Gradiuses on the PS2), but I'll pass.

6/10?
Well i guess if you're a gradius fan(like me) you'l lthink about getting it ^-
If i loved gradius 2 : Gofer No Yabou, i'm gonna enjoy this one :3