This Week’s New Games

This week’s new games include a rerelease of one of the most important shmups ever made, rereleases of two of its sequels, rereleases of three of its spinoffs, and, oh hey, an actual new entry in that series. Yes, they’re all in Gradius Origins—the one new release Endless Mode will definitely be playing this week.

Gradius Origins

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: August 7

The highlight of the week—and, really, the only new game that we feel deserves the spotlight—isn’t even all that new. Gradius Origins collects seven games from Konami’s pivotal shoot ‘em up series in honor of its 40th anniversary, and only one of them, Salamander III, is a brand new game. That’s more than enough to get any shmuphead excited, though; the new title was developed by M2, the company behind the excellent ShotTriggers series of shoot ‘em up reissues, to look and feel like it would have if it was made in the late ‘90s. Alongside Salamander III are 17 different versions of the six Gradius titles that were released in Japan between 1985 and 1996, including one—Salamander II—that is getting its first American release in this collection. The full roster, in chronological order: Gradius, Salamander, Life Force (an updated Japanese arcade rerelease of Salamander using the name that Salamander was released under in the West), Gradius II, Gradius III, and Salamander. You can expect both the Japanese and North American arcade versions of the games those were made for, along with  multiple variations of the Japanese versions of the three official Gradius games. It’s not as comprehensive as it could be—it skips console versions, focusing solely on arcade releases—but it’s still more Gradius in more slightly different variations than most non-sickos would ever need.

Who cares about the non-sickos, though? Sickos keep the shmup alive, and that’s who this collection is for. M2 is the best possible choice to make something like this. They’re modern shmup masters doing vital work with those ShotTriggers releases, which aim to give players a deeper understanding of legendary shmups like Battle Garegga, Kyukyoku TigerHeli, and the Aleste series by putting a large amount of behind-the-scenes data on the screen. The best ShotTrigger installments also have an ingenious training option that breaks every level down into separate sections that can be played over and over, helping players internalize their patterns and layouts in hopes of working up to the single credit completion that is the goal of sickos everywhere. Gradius Origins includes that option for some of its games—there’s a little T on the menu screen next to the ones that have it—and it really is invaluable in understanding and improving at these notoriously challenging games.

I’ve already dumped a fair amount of time into Gradius Origins, and will have a full review up very soon. If you’re into shmups, you already know to buy this thing on day one. If you’re shmup-curious, though, or are a lapsed fan looking to get back into them, or even just an old-timer who remembers when this genre was one of the pillars of the video game industry and not a niche for insular fanatics, Gradius Origins is a wonderful collection that starts to give an idea of why this series is important. It’s not comprehensive enough—it doesn’t include any game released after 1996, any of the handheld games released before that, and any of the console versions (which, in America at least, is how most players know the series)—but hopefully it’s just the first in a series of Gradius comps.

The Rest of This Week’s New Games

Apex Legends
August 5
Platform: Switch 2

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
August 5
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
August 5
Platform: Android

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
August 6
Platforms: iOS, Android

Endless Legend 2 (Early Access)
August 7
Platform: PC

Fruitbus
August 7
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Switch