August was a productive month for the emulation experts at M2. Not only did the studio resurrect four Taito coin-ops from the 80s and 90s in Operation Night Strikers — recreating the arcade experience as faithfully as possible and providing several enhancements and modern amenities — but it had the honor of celebrating the early years of one of the most iconic shoot-'em-ups franchises of all time, Gradius. In Gradius Origins, which brings together seven games from the series alongside an extraordinary collection of bonuses, bells, and whistles, M2 demonstrates once again why it's the best in the business.

On the web page for Gradius Origins, publisher Konami advertises "18 versions across all 7 arcade titles in the series". Let's break that down. The collection includes the game that started it all, Gradius, in five different regional variants; its sequel Gradius II in four variants; another sequel, Gradius III, again in four variants; a spin-off called Salamander in two variants; an enhanced, Japanese-exclusive version of Salamander, called Life Force; its sequel Salamander 2; and another sequel, Salamander III, made exclusively for the compilation.

From the main menu, you can choose any of these games immediately. You'll most likely start with Gradius (1985), aka Nemesis, the seminal title that launched a franchise. In comparison to some of the more dynamic entries in the collection, Gradius is a little stiff and straightforward, but it holds up surprisingly well 40 years later. The presentation is clean, the controls are smooth, and the action is satisfying. Its biggest flaw, apart from some repetitive boss battles, is sound design. Some of the audio effects are shrill and sharp to a distracting degree.

The sound is far more crisp in its sequel Gradius II (1988), aka Vulcan Venture. In fact, everything is better in Gradius II — well, besides the difficulty curve. Players can now choose from four different weapon upgrade paths, offering greater flexibility. These include several new weapon types, among them a spread bomb that fires diagonally downward and explodes once it hits the ground, a rippling ring laser with a wider cone, and a tail gun that fires a shot behind your ship in addition to your normal front-facing shot. The game also boasts enhanced graphics. The opening stage, with its fiery stars and flaming, articulated dragons, is an absolute show-stopper. Regrettably, the game often doesn't know when to stop, throwing too many obstacles and enemies at the player.

The difficulty in Gradius II pales, however, in comparison to Gradius III (1989). It's just too punishing, which is a shame, because it has a lot going for it. While it's not a huge visual upgrade over its predecessor, it features more stages and many more weapon upgrade types, which are available as sets or à la carte. You can now choose the "free way" attack, which fires a shot in the same direction as your ship; the E. Laser, which fires energy shots that change in size depending on how long you hold the shoot button; and many more. There's also a brand new power-up category, signified with an exclamation mark. When triggered, it can remove all non-boss foes and enemy shots from the screen, or, if you prefer, consume your remaining lives to produce extra satellites around your ship.

Moving backward in time, we come to Salamander (1986), which Konami released between Gradius and Gradius II. While it retains many of the same elements and mechanics, it's really more of a spin-off than a sequel. It's still a scrolling shooter with several power-ups, but the way in which you obtain those power-ups is quite different. Instead of collecting red orbs to "spend" on weapons, you now collect them directly from fallen enemies. The game also changes the paradigm by introducing simultaneous two-player co-op, speedier gameplay, and brand new vertically scrolling stages. There's also a super cool synthesized narrator who announces each of your pick-ups and highlights the bosses' weak points. 

One year after Salamander debuted, Konami released an enhanced version in Japan called Life Force (1987) — not to be confused with the North American version of Salamander, also called Life Force. The 1987 version plays up the Fantastic Voyage vibes from the original, thanks to redrawn backgrounds and enemies. The biggest change is the return of the sequential power-up leveling process from Gradius. 

Even with those tweaks, Life Force isn't a true sequel. That would arrive a decade later with Salamander 2 (1996), the highlight of Gradius Origins. Salamander 2 takes the core tenets of the sub-series — fast action, two-player simultaneous co-op, horizontally and vertically scrolling stages, and lots of power-up drops — and kicks things up to 11. Visually, it's a delight. It starts with a stunning intro video that cuts between a writhing dragon silhouetted against a blazing sun and the Vic Viper (the signature ship of the series) being prepped for launch in outer space. Then it jumps into the game itself, which features both hand-drawn sprites and prerendered graphics. It bestows upon the game a sense of depth and heft that's missing elsewhere in the compilation.

Mechanically, it adds the ability to deploy options (those little satellites that surround and protect you) at enemies. This introduces an extra element of risk-versus-reward. Do you fire your options at will to rack up kills and points, or horde them for the extra firepower and protection?

Finally, it has some amazing set-pieces, including a scene at the tail end of the first level that's one of the most surprising things you'll see in a shoot-'em-up.

The last game in Gradius Origins is Salamander III (2025), created by M2 just for the occasion. Designed under the premise of "what if a sequel to Salamander 2 was released back in 1998?", it's a faithful, worthy follow-up to Salamander, and Konami shmups in general. It ditches the pre-rendered graphics of its predecessor and goes all in on sprites, although it experiments with some psychedelic warping animations. As for the level designs and shooting mechanics, they're mostly variations on pre-existing themes — with one exception. This new game adds a burst attack, which temporarily powers up your offenses. Once the attack stops, your ship will begin storing up energy until you're able to perform the attack again. Due to burst attack, and M2's more modern sensibilities, the game isn't too taxing, especially compared to the other games on offer.

M2 didn't just port six classic Gradius games and invent a brand new one, though. It also tracked down multiple variants for several of the games, some of which rely on different rules and expectations. The North American versions of Gradius and Gradius II, for example, allow for continues. The biggest coup by far, however, is the Japanese AM Show version of Gradius III, a previously unreleased prototype shown at trade shows in 1989 before the game's official release. It has plenty of technical and balance issues, but as a historical artifact it's priceless.

As for the emulation, it's flawless, for better or worse. In order to maintain authenticity at all times, M2 kept instances of slowdown present in the originals. For a preservationist, perfectionist company like M2, this makes sense. Still, it could have offered an optional toggle to smooth out the problem areas, something Limited Run Games did with Sparkster in another Konami compilation, Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked.

M2 helps make up for that omission with the inclusion of several modes for each game. Original Mode, unsurprisingly, is an exact reproduction of the original. Easy Mode shrinks the Vic Viper's hitbox and generally provides an easier gameplay experience. And Invincible Mode makes you impervious to enemy attacks. Finally, there's Training Mode, which is a godsend for the trickier games. In this deep and customizable mode, you can test out stages one at a time, in order to master them. You can select entire stages or individual areas, and set all your power-ups ahead of time. 

No matter the mode, you can tweak dozens of settings, including lives, difficulty, the number of points needed to receive an extra ship, control presets, screen size and flicker, and, best of all, hitboxes. That's right; you can peek behind the curtain and see exactly where shots will (and won't) land. And, because this is an M2 production, you have access to several gadgets: windows on the margins of the screen that provide behind-the-scenes information on your progress and status. The amount of control you have over the proceedings is incredible.

In addition to all this, M2 provides the ability to record and register your sessions, or download and view the sessions of the best players in the world, if you want an ego check.

Then there's the sub-menu, a separate area that houses achievements, a music player, a bestiary, and a visual gallery that includes concept art, stage proposals, instruction cards, models, and more for each of the Konami-developed games. 

While Gradius Origins is overflowing with customization options, game modes, and bonus content, it's missing something rather important: console ports. It's true that in many instances the home versions of arcade games are downgraded shadows of the original, but that's not the case when it comes to Gradius. In fact, many of the ports have unique content. It would be great if this compilation included the MSX and PC Engine ports of Salamander and the SNES port of Gradius III, which benefits from reduced difficulty (even as it suffers from increased slowdown). Note: while the collection is missing some beloved home console versions, it does include two secret games, for those players clever enough to crack the code.

A few missing console ports notwithstanding, Gradius Origins is a fantastic collection with a preposterous amount of bonus content. By preserving and enhancing six classic shooters and keeping the IP alive with its own Salamander III, M2 has demonstrated how much it reveres and understands the franchise. Hopefully the studio will return in a follow-up collection to tackle subsequent games like Gradius Gaiden, Gradius IV, and Gradius V. Clearly, it's up to the task.