Gradius references in other media

Gradius has been referenced outside of Konami games a few times, usually in the form of a gameplay demonstration or an appearance of either the Vic Viper or Big Core.

Non-Konami games[]

General references[]

In Dream Mix TV World Fighters, an arena brawler crossover featuring characters from Hudson, Konami and Takara, the Moai appears as a unlockable character. It also features the Artificial Sun stage as one of the arenas.
The Japanese version of Scribblenauts (Hirameki Puzzle: Maxwell no Fushiji na Note) features a few Konami characters as spawnable objects, including the Vic Viper.
In Skullgirls, the Moai appears as both a random drop from Peacock's Shadow of Impending Doom move, and as a transformation done by Double on her Megalith Array lv.3 blockbuster move.
The original, freeware release of La Mulana makes lots of references to the MSX and its games in general. One of the NPC characters, Elder Xelpud, makes references to various MSX games if you talk with him with no ROM cartridges equipped.
- The cartridges themselves are labeled after various MSX games, and much like in the original MSX you can combine them to unlock special effects in the game. One of these combinations (GR3+PR3) allows you to play a Parodius-style minigame.

Power Meter references[]

Manga[]

Anime[]

Yu-Gi-Oh![]

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! (series)

A few of the cards based on the Gradius series made their way into the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime series.

On Episode 46 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, the Gradius card is used by Duke Devlin at the end of his duel against Joey Wheeler.
On Episode 116, the card is used again by the antagonist Noah Kaiba during his duel against Seto Kaiba. He equips it with the Cyclon Laser and Matter Leveler support cards, and later equips it with the Gradius Option support card as well.
On Episode 71 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the antagonist Lorenzo utilizes a B.E.S. Deck, built around the Big Core cards and its support cards. He plays the Boss Rush card, which allows him to special summon any B.E.S. type card from his deck whenever a B.E.S. card in play is destroyed, but makes him unable to normal summon any monster as long as its effect is in play. His cards include the B.E.S. Armored Core, B.E.S. Crystal Core, B.E.S. Tetran, B.E.S. Big Core and the Shield Recovery support card. He is also shown to have the Moai Interceptor Cannons on his hand.

High Score Girl[]

A manga and anime series whose plot is centered around video games, High Score Girl naturally features numerous references to many classic video games from the 80's and 90's, which are shown not only as in-game footage, but also as the game's characters and sprites interacting with the protagonist Haruo Yaguchi. Both Gradius and Parodius get shown at a few points in the story.

Other anime[]

Gradius has also made small cameos in other anime as well.

In Episode 10 of Hayate the Combat Butler, a framed picture of the Vic Viper appears during a scene.
In the Pani Poni Dash anime, during Episode 15 a short scene plays where a bus with four Options trailing it fights a cat ghost in the Volcano stage. Later in the same episode, Ichijou, one of the main characters, is seen holding a Power Capsule while two Shields and three options hover around her.
In the Sky Girls anime (which was produced by Konami), the Vic Viper appears in several episodes, being a prototype fighter developed to fight the WORMs, the anime's main antagonists.
In Episode 3 of Blood Lad one of the characters is shown playing a Gradius-like game (curiously, the Double is spelled a "DOCBLE").
In the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, the protagonist Josuke Higashikata plays a Gradius-like game during the prologue of Episode 11.
- The same game also appears in the Episode 2 of the spin-off Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan.
The third episode of Pop Team Epic features the main characters inside of a Fantasy Zone parody, with lots of references to various shoot 'em ups and other games, including Gradius.