Konami Announces A New Gradius Collection Featuring An All-New Sequel To Salamander

Wait, are they seriously going from Salamander 2, to Salamander III? Why not 3?

My autism disagrees!

I love everything about this except having to wait until August to play III/3.

And as this is PS5 only (not PS4), I'll have to buy it on Switch due to Sony nonsense about controllers, such as my arcade stick not working on PS5 games.

Looks like a great collection though and I'm looking forward to playing the new game

Will have to play Salamander 3 for sure, definitely at some point

Are they all Arcade versions?

Haha, I thought they said available later today, but I misheard--it's just preorders. Very excited for Salamander III!
Oh yeah: I guess this is M2's second or third appearance on Steam, after Operation Night Strikers & Night Striker Gear? More M2 on Steam!

I LOVE Gradius games, but am so bad at them lol. My favorite is Gradius III on SNES, probably because of the extreme slowdown which helps me survive a little bit longer 😂

Konami, put this complete all on a switch cart with decent performance and I’m there!!

Also Konami, please, please, for parity sake, patch in Rewind on the first Castlevania Anniversary Collection!!!

It’s not a feature I would have thought I’d miss but now with the later collections having it…it’d be nice. And I’d say that the early games are the toughest!!

It is a bit of a shame we won't be getting some of the console versions too like the TMNT collection [everyone who only knows Gradius III on the SNES is in for a rough time when they try the frankly unfair arcade version lol] but this is still a day one purchase for me. Konami have been killing it lately. Maybe we'll get a Gradius Origins 2 with Gaiden, Rebirth, 4 and 5.

Tough sell for those if us with four of the games already on ACA.

@Blast16 check out the SA-1 version on Snes, you'll be begging for the slow down lol 😆

Would be nice to get Gradius V, Gradius Gaiden and Gradius Rebirth in a collection.

@Jimgamer8
Pretty sure it will be on the next compilation together with IV and Gaiden
Awesome news btw. I absolutely love Salamander 2. M2 sure knows how to handle these classics.

Parodius 6 next please! Konami can pay homage to all the Great New characters that they must of lovingly crafted the last few years.

@Quick_Man would of loved to of seen the MSX, NES and PC Engine version of the games included too.

PLEASE don't use limited scam for a Physical....

@Daniel36 Why not 3 spelled phonetically with nonsense kanji while they're at it?

@Quick_Man I've only somewhat recently learned arcade Darius II and Sagaia are more localization than just a title change.
Arcade Sagaia might be even more brutal than Arcade Gradius III in what it asks out of the player the moment they start the game. Game Over being Sagaia can even finish its cheesy opening monologue is a very real possibility.
(they rearranged the level order between the versions, from what I've heard the Zone A in Sagaia was like Zone N or O in Darius II. In effect, dropping the player right into a Round 5 stage immediately, and it sure feeling like it.)

I honestly wish they didn't put rewind in games. Its to tempting to use, and then if you beat a game using rewind you lose motivation to play it legitimately because you already "beat it". But beating a game using rewind is no accomplishment, and gives me no satisfaction.

I can understand 4’s absence due to the complicated hardware but I for the life of me cannot figure out why Gaiden isn’t here, especially when you consider m2engage (the emulator they’ve since been rolling with in recent times) was used for the metal gear solid port this past year.
The only route I could in theory see them take is they update this collection with CS releases, of which Gaiden is a part of

@SaturnHero there is such a thing as “player choice” you don’t have to use it, you can even unbind the button in certain cases for that extra triumph and satisfaction

@mjparker77 typically people gun for m2 ports for the extra bells and whistles they typically add as opposed to a 1:1 low frills port

@PopetheRev28 If only you knew how bad things really are

i really wish theyd have just released salamander III as a standalone game rather than saddle it with these tired old classics ive bought many times before.

or Gradius V.

@-wc- life force/salamander origins would have been a better package. Maybe throwing in the brand Gradius doubles the sales and sets up an easy collector’s edition. They could have made a pitch for a narrower focus, because whether it’s Gradius or something else the genre remains a niche

@Zeebor15 OH I KNOW

Hopefully they do a physical in Japan which they probably will, Operation Galuga got one.

They're all on Switch in the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, except for:

• Gradius III (in Arcade Archives)
• Salamander 2
• Salamander III

@MontyCircus Is Gradius now the Sonic 2 of Konami?

Oh cool, they made a game based off the vampire movie with Mathilda May! 😂

@Axelay71 lol will do!! I NEED that slowdown 😂👍

@PopetheRev28 they did.

No Gradius V? Would have been day 1 for me