When it comes to Konami’s Gradius series, it’s very particular on what consoles they get released on. As much as the first game got ported to almost everything in the U.S. and Japan, its sequel unfortunately didn’t get the same treatment.
Gradius II didn’t even get a home port in the U.S. until 2005/2006’s Gradius Collection, with a Wii Virtual Console release as well around the same time.
Sadly, another bummer for Gradius fans was that none of the games in the series ever made it to a SEGA console. As much as there was great shooters on the Genesis, it was practically begging for a Gradius game. It looks like times are about to change, as a certain Japanese homebrew developer aims to bring Gradius II to the Genesis/MegaDrive.
Enter Japanese developer Nendo16, who as of three months ago, has started work on a port of Gradius II for the Genesis. From what it looks like, this guy’s been working on a couple homebrew Genesis games, including a port of Taito’s Darius, and what looks like his own game, Ixion. So far, all that exists of the Gradius II port is some footage on YouTube.
It looks to be a very promising port, especially in the graphics department. The video that I have watched showed off a couple of enemies, and two boss fights, no stage footage yet. On his site as well, are some mixes of the Gradius music made off of a Genesis soundboard, which sound great and almost as good as the originals.
All in all, this port is definitely something to look forward to. It may seem like a little long development time, but considering how big of a game Gradius II is, I would love to see how this plays on the Genesis when completed. Also looking forward to Nendo’s Darius port too, as that would make an awesome release next to Gradius II.
[Via RetroCollect]