Publisher Konami has certainly made some missteps in preserving and re-releasing its older games. Silent Hill and Metal Gear “HD” collections of old have soured some players on Konami’s attempts to reproduce beloved games, but more recent efforts — many of them led by emulation experts M2 — have delivered retro collections that go above and beyond.
One of Konami’s best collections of classic games, Gradius Origins, dropped earlier this week, and it too is excellent. And once again, we can thank M2 for that.
The Gradius series began in 1985, building on side-scrolling shoot-’em-up concepts established by Konami’s 1982 arcade game Scramble. There are five mainline Gradius games, multiple spinoffs, and a side-series called Salamander (or Life Force) that alters the power-up system and adds vertically scrolling stages.
But Gradius has largely been dormant since 2008’s Gradius ReBirth, a WiiWare-exclusive game developed by none other than M2.
Gradius Origins recreates in painstaking detail six classic arcade games: Gradius, Salamander, Life Force, Gradius 2: Gofer no Yabou, Gradius 3: Densest kara Shinwa e, and Salamander 2. Across those six games are 17 variations, perhaps the most impressive of which is a version of Gradius 3 that only appeared at a 1989 arcade trade show. That version of Gradius 3 was markedly different from the arcade versions that actually shipped, making its re-appearance in 2025 an immense gift for retro gaming fans.
Those six games come with a wealth of gameplay options, including invincibility modes and automatic rewind options that let you replay sections you fail at, giving Gradius and Salamander fans a chance to finally finish some truly challenging experiences. There’s also plenty of archival content, including early illustrations of levels and enemies from the games’ development, as well as high-res scans of official artwork. Players can listen to music — go ahead, put that classic driving Gradius boss tune on repeat — from throughout the series in sound test modes.
M2 goes pretty deep with options aimed at hardcore players. Gradius Origins includes a variety of settings that recreate the original games’ bugs and simulate CRT filters, which players can fine tune to their visual preference. It’s all incredibly, respectfully granular.
But the biggest draw in Gradius Origins may be an all-new game: Salamander 3. Like last year’s Castlevania Dominus Collection, M2 has revived a classic Konami franchise with an original sequel. Salamander 3 looks and plays like it was created in the late ’90s, featuring a mix of sharp sprites and early 3D-esque and pre-rendered visual tricks. The gameplay is classic Salamander/Life Force, featuring a mix of challenging side-scrolling and vertically scrolling stages against alien ships and organic lifeforms. Salamander 3 delivers a strong bolt of nostalgia, while feeling like a logical follow-up to Konami’s shoot-’em-ups of yore.
If you have any love for the Gradius, Nemesis, Salamander, or Life Force games, or simply have an affection for expertly developed retro game anthologies, you simply can’t miss with Konami and M2’s latest collection. It’s a gorgeous, carefully crafted homage to a beloved series that, while not exhaustive in its scope — it focuses solely on the arcade games — is comprehensive (and additive) in the most impressive ways.
Gradius Origins is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
