GRADIUS ORIGINS Release Date

LOS ANGELES – March 27, in the year of our Lord 2025 – Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (KONAMI) today announced the GRADIUS ORIGINS collection will release on the PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™, and PC via Steam® on August 7 with digital pre-orders starting later today. Physical versions of the game will be available through Limited Run Games with pre-orders starting on March 28 through May.

GRADIUS ORIGINS is the definitive collection of the earliest games from the GRADIUS series – 2D shoot ‘em up classics that embody nostalgic gaming from the 1980s.

GRADIUS holds a special place in gaming history - not just for its side-scrolling spacecraft battles, but also for introducing a legendary cheat code. First appearing in the original 1986 Japanese FAMICOM version, the now-iconic code (activated once players pushed the ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A buttons on their controllers) gave players a crucial power-up boost, and would later go on to become a staple in gaming culture. With this new collection, players can relive the challenge of GRADIUS while paying homage to the origins of one of gaming's most famous secrets.

The collection also introduces Salamander III, a new entry to the franchise in over 15 years. Salamander III’s storyline takes place after the events of the Salamander Wars that played out in Salamander (1986). Bacterian troops once again attack the planet Lattice. Forced to face the enemy amongst the stars, a fighter pilot from Lattice flies off to fight the Salamanders alongside the Big Viper - Type R.

Staying true to the 1990s aesthetics of GRADIUS titles, Salamander III features 2D sprites and backgrounds as players traverse different stages using power-ups from the Salamander series.

GRADIUS ORIGINS includes the following titles:

*The following list of titles shows the names which were originally first released.

· GRADIUS

o GRADIUS JP ver

o GRADIUS Bubble System ver

o NEMESIS NA ver

o NEMESIS EU ver

o NEMESIS NA Proto ver

· GRADIUS II

o GRADIUS II Gofer no Yabou JP Early ver

o GRADIUS II Gofer no Yabou JP Mid ver

o GRADIUS II Gofer no Yabou JP Late ver

o VULCAN VENTURE NA ver

· GRADIUS III

o GRADIUS III Densetsu kara Shinwa e JP Old ver

o GRADIUS III Densetsu kara Shinwa e JP New ver

o GRADIUS III ASIAN ver

o GRADIUS III Densetsu kara Shinwa e JP AM Show ver

· SALAMANDER

o SALAMANDER JP ver

o LIFE FORCE NA ver

· LIFE FORCE

o LIFE FORCE JP ver

· SALAMANDER2

o SALAMANDER 2 JP ver

· SALAMANDER III

o SALAMANDER III

A total of seven games with 18 different regional versions are complimented with modern-day quality-of-life features, including competitive online leaderboards, rewind abilities, quick save/load functions, reduced hit detection, and more.

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