First Impressions: Gradius ReBirth (Wii-Ware World)

A portion of a WiiWare World feature… Gradius ReBirth is out now in Japan and the guys at Konami have done a good job bringing the classic series back for another outing, this time on WiiWare.

ReBirth isn’t an all new game, more of a remix of past Gradius titles, all presented in a lovely retro style. The first thing that hits you is the charming 16-bit graphics and sound, which are very much like what you would expect from a SNES game, with some sprite scaling and rotation and even some slowdown to help you get through some of the more challenging areas.

The Gradius games are notorious for their difficulty, but thankfully ReBirth isn’t as brutal as the older games and I think it ranks as one of the easiest in the series. That being said, it’s still not a walk in the park. Newcomers will find ReBirth tough, but with a bit of practice, anyone can finish it. Difficulty levels can be set from very easy to very hard, so everyone is likely to find a level that suits them….