Gradius Generation (Japan), also known as Gradius Galaxies (North America) and Gradius Advance (Europe), is a horizontally-scrolling shooter handheld video game published by Konami in 2001. The game, released for the Game Boy Advance, is the only Gradius Series title to be available for the system. Story-wise; the game is set between Gradius III and Gradius Gaiden. Bacterion was developing a powerful weapon to use against planet Gradius; but the evil entity was destoyed before finishing it. A few years later it crashes on a planet and it gradually starts changing it; appearently into a mechanical fortress. Before it can become a full threat; planet Gradius sends the Vic Viper to eradicate it; which in the game's ending destroys the entire deformed planet. (Taken from the game's manual.)
Gameplay
Gradius Galaxies plays almost identically to other titles in the series. The player takes control of the Vic Viper spacecraft attacking onslaughts of enemies. All the traditions of Gradius are present: moai, an undefended final boss, and the power meter. The weapons system remains mostly unchanged as the configurations available are identical to Gradius III, with the exception that the edit mode is missing. There are four different types of weapons configurations: balanced (traditional Gradius), wide area (Salamander), power, and air-to-ground. Each configuration has the Vic Viper in a different color. Unlike Gradius III, there are only two shield options: shield and force field. In addition, the S.Option ("snake option") is also not present in this version. The player can however choose to have the computer assign weapon powerups automatically or leave it manual. Also, this game allows the player to access any level they have reached, up to the checkpoint they have passed.
Stages
(Unofficial Names)
Stage 1: Asteroid Field
Stage 2: Glass Planet
Stage 3: Miniature Galaxies
Stage 4: Gradius 1 First Stage
Stage 5: Moai Heads
Stage 6: Bio Planet
Stage 7: Crystal Nova
Stage 8: Fortress Planet
Bosses
Stage 1 : Tierra Core (Terra Core) *Earth Core*
Stage 2 : Crystal Gust
Stage 3 : Volleone
Stage 4 : Bolboros
Stage 5 : Dogaltes
Stage 6 : Brachion Eye *Arm Eye*
Stage 7 : Perla Meralda *Pearl Emerald*
Stage 8 : Rexion Core *Resurrection Core?*, Cliff Core, Rotating Wall, Eleos Brain *Miserable Brain*