Falsion
Famicom Disk System
© Konami 21/10/1987 --
KDS-FAL -- ¥?
Notes: Compatible with 3D Glasses
No, not the Falchion Beta, the original Falsion, found in the 1987 Famicom Disk System game, aptly named Falsion.
Now there is supposedly a tenous link between this game and Gradius, mainly because of its name. The bad-ass purple ship in Gaiden might have its roots in this decidely boring FDS game.
If you haven't played Falsion, I envy you. It's basically a game like Star Fox, with the same kind of perspective, except it is choppy, repetitive, and lifeless (except for hilarious Engrish).
It does have some 3-D gimmick, but I haven't had a chance to try this out, and honestly don't think it would help much.
Anyway, there are some decent boss graphics, and some of them actually look like Gradius cores.
Now the ship itself looks nothing like the Falchion Beta, so I guess they totally remade the ship by the time the Gaiden rolled around.
This cameo and its role in Gradius history is uncertain, but the since the Falchion Beta is a BETA, it had to have an Alpha somewhere!
Thanks to King Moai