The first shooter that got me into the genre. (Actual: 7.75/10.0)
It also had a fairly decent enemy variety, though the bosses were a bit repetitive for the 7 worlds, minus the interesting final boss. The stages themselves are actually overall pretty unique and require slightly different strategies each, which will mean you may actually end up switching from bullets to lasers a few times throughout the game, even though the lasers seem far more powerful. There really isn't much more to say about the gamplay, it is a straightforward shooter with decent variety and the above-mentioned unique trait.
The game looks great too, with unique environments for each stage, though you'll also often see a lot of black backgrounds. To make up for this, there can be a lot of enemies and bullets on the screen at once, making things quite hectic at times.
The sound effects are extremely basic, and nothing worth writing home about. The music on the other hand, is well done and each has its own theme.
Like most NES games, you'll likely only come back to this game in order for trying to get a higher score, or just for the fun of beating it again. Luckily, the game itself isn't too long, and depending on your skill could be beaten in 1-2 hours. Considering the lack of save feature, this is a very wonderful thing. You will likely find yourself playing this game more than once. It would have been nice to have a 2-player mode that wasn't merely switching, but instead a proper co-op, but at least you CAN share the fun with a friend, which is nothing to complain about.
This is a classic shooter that you will definately want to get a hold of if you own an NES, though you could also play this through the Wii's Virtual Console or PSP's Gradius Collection (among other methods), so luckily this gem is not hard to come by. If you are into shooters, and are tolerant of older games, this is something you'll definately want to check out.
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Value: 7/10
OVERALL: 8.0/10 (7.75/10.0)