Gradius gathered on PSP

Any hardcore Gradius player will tell you it's all about the power-up option, but for the series' PSP debut, Konami is making it all about the options.

Scheduled for release in Japan on February 9, Gradius Portable is a compilation pack of five games: Gradius I-IV and Gradius Gaiden. While the games will be straight ports of their previous incarnations, Konami is adding a few bonus features.

As has become standard for PSP ports, Gradius Portable will have the option for the user to stretch the game's screen to the handheld's 16:9 widescreen ratio. However, Gradius I and II will come with a widescreen mode, where the game uses the extra space to show the player more of the level. Gradius Portable also features a number of other elements, such as an option for the player to change his or her ship's hit-detection size, as well as to turn the game's slowdown on or off.

Despite that, the most significant addition is likely to be the new save system. Players can save and load the game's state at any time by simply pausing it, a convenient feature in any handheld port. And because the saved data isn't automatically deleted when it's loaded, players can also use the system to their advantages by restarting from their saves--with all their power-ups and lives--whenever they get shot down.

Gradius Portable also comes with a movie gallery mode and a music gallery mode. The movie gallery mode lets players watch the movies from the PlayStation Gradius Deluxe Pack and Gradius Gaiden--and from the PlayStation 2's Gradius III&IV. Soundtracks from all five games (as well as Gradius on the X68000) are also included in game.

An American release for the compilation has not yet been announced.