Big Core Custom

Big Core Custom
Japanese name	ビッグコアカスタム Biggu Koa Kasutamu
Affiliation	Lars Empire (defected)
Appearances	Gradius NEO Imperial

The Big Core Custom (ビッグコアカスタム, Biggu Koa Kasutamu) is the player ship in the mobile game Gradius NEO Imperial. It is a modified Big Core created by the Lars Empire which escaped their control.

Weaponry

With the power bar reading SBMLN?, the Big Core Custom is armed with additional weapon choices, a Speed Up option in the first slot, and a Shield in the last slot to recover lost barriers one at a time. Pressing the upper left button over the keypad will activate the highlighted slot, and the upper right button will change what weapon you use.

• Beam Shot - This is the Big Core's iconic four-shot laser weapon with two levels. It starts as a two-shot with little rapid fire, then upgrades to the four-shot which fires at a rapid rate.
• Missile - This three-level weapon shoots a stream of up to six medium-sized missiles across the screen. It starts at two missiles, then goes to four, and finally to six.
• Laser - This three-level weapon shoots a powerful red laser that is similar to the Force Viper's Wide Laser from Gradius Neo. It starts out small, but at its full power following two power-ups, the laser is as large as the Big Core itself.
• Area Napalm - This two-level weapon sets up a 3 ✕ 3 grid that stays in position relative to the ship as you move. Pressing a button from 1 to 9 on your phone's number pad will bomb the corresponding grid square, and any target within that grid will be hit by a small spread blast. Powering up this weapon increases the number of napalm blasts fired.

While the biggest advantage is that the Big Core Custom can destroy enemies just by slamming them, care must be taken as any enemy can destroy its barriers and if not careful they will end up destroying the core, causing a game over.

Trivia

• It is unknown why exactly this Big Core is escaping. Unfortunately, it is destroyed by the Force Viper at the end.