Games

Arcade アーケード

Solar Assault Gradius - ソーラーアサルトグラディウス

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Solar Assault Gradius ソーラーアサルトグラディウス （ＡＣ） コナミ アーケード So-ra- Asaruto Guradiusu (AC) A-ke-do (AC) Konami Arcade PCB Dedicated Upright, Cockpit and Simulator -- Ver 1 -- 3D Shoot'em-up 07-1997 -- Code? -- ¥0.00 Unknown 2/1

Main

Not much is known about this game, this is not the same as the Solar Assault Gradius also listed in this section, it could be a show release version that was modified when it was actually release.

Solar Assault presented in two cabinets: regular (top) and a deluxe simulator (bottom)

Review

Vic Viper is back but this time in 3D

Fire and Lava level

This full 3D version of Gradius will be welcomed by those fed up of Parodius da! sequels

This tunnel will have an especially hypnotic effect when seen from the inside of the Speed King cabinet

The most major advancement in Solar Assault, though, lies in the capacity Konami has introduced for play with its infamous Speed King cabinet, where players sit in an enclosed pod and get violently lurched and jilted in correspondence with the on-screen action.  A low-cost, bog-standard cabinet option will also be introduced but the nature of the game lends itself so perfectly to Konami's hydraulic technology that anyone playing the stripped-down version will surely fell left out in the cold.

The player is under attack even while negotiating natural structures

With a true 3D environment (there is scenery all around your craft, not just below) putting the icing on the cake, Solar Assault's future is rosy.

The most prevalent space-based Selections are almost as striking, with dauntingly beefy alien craft lunging at your ship

Konami's Gradius series will always be fondly remembered by shoot 'em up devotees as a pioneering one: its power up system was truly revolutionary and its boss characters especially memorable.

Now Konami has done the decent thing and followed the likes of Taito into polygon territory with Nineties update fit to stand alongside titles such as Ray Storm and Xevious 3D/G.

Though Solar Assault's appearance represents an extravagant overhaul, its nuts and bolts remain largely untouched, the range of power-ups in particular bringing back old-school items such as the speed-up, missile, double and the option (the extra pod which surrounds the player's ship, mimicking its actions).

Solar Assault's subterranean Selections are set to be most visually alluring

Below the classical power-up indicator now lie two new gauges for speed and shield level, thankfully revealing the information that remained hidden to players of the 2D Gradius games.

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