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Gradius II Nintendo
The direct follow-up to Konami's arcade shoot-'em-up classic Gradius, introducing customizable Power Meters with new power-ups. It had no official release in North America for 18 years.
Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou (sub-title loosely translated to "Ambition of GOFER", known in the European arcade and NES releases as Vulcan Venture, not to be confused with the MSX game of the same name) is a sci-fi side-scrolling shoot-'em-up developed and released by Konami for arcades in both Japan (on March 1988) and Europe (on May 1988).
The sequel to Konami's 1985 game Gradius, Gradius II puts players back in control of the starfighter Vic Viper two years after the destruction of the Bacterian super-fortress Xaerous. A new Bacterian force, led by the mysterious GOFER, is making their way to the planet Gradius, and Vic Viper is sent to stop them.
The game retains most of the gameplay from the original, with multiple new additions (including the Power Meter Select system, which allows players to choose from multiple power-up configurations prior to playing the game). Some of these additions were carried over from the original game's spin-off Life Force.
Gradius II is notable for not receiving an official release in North America, both in the arcades and in home releases, until the Gradius Collection compilation for the PlayStation Portable 18 years after the original.