Nemesis (MSX)

Nemesis
Also known as: Gradius (JP) Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Platform: MSX Released in JP: July 25, 1986 (original), January 27, 1989 (Konami Game Collection Vol. 3) Released in EU: 1986 This game has hidden developer credits. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

The first game in Konami's Gradius spinoff series on the MSX, being merely a port of the arcade version with an extra stage and some bonus stages thrown in.

Regional Differences

In Europe, the game was released as Nemesis. Note that the game itself features region detection for both regions, and will display the appropriate title depending on the region of the system detected.

Japan	Europe

However, in Japan when the game was rereleased a few years later as part of Konami Game Collection Vol. 3, for whatever reason the game was rereleased as Nemesis instead, using the same title screen as the European release. This version does not feature region detection and will display the same title screen regardless of region.

Version Differences

When Gradius was rereleased with Konami Game Collection Vol. 3, like the other games included it was enhanced with SCC support (specifically just for the Sound Cartridge bundled with Snatcher). However, just like with TwinBee, it is one of two games where both music and sound effects were upgraded, rather than only the music like with other titles in the Collection series. Additionally, the music and sound effects use both the SCC and PSG simultaneously, rather than just the SCC only.

Music

While the original PSG music for Gradius featured no percussion, similar to the arcade game's soundtrack, the SCC version completely overhauled the soundtrack to add percussion from the PSG in a similar manner to Konami's other SCC-enhanced MSX games at the time.

Track titles are taken from Gradius Ultimate Collection (LC-1949~56).

Track title	PSG	SCC + PSG
Historic Soldier (Demo)
Beginning Of The History (Air Battle)
Challenger 1985 (Stage 1 BGM)
Beat Back (Stage 2 BGM)
Blank Mask (Stage 3 BGM)
Free Flyer (Stage 4 BGM)
Bone Stage (Stage 5 BGM)
Mazed Music (Stage 6 BGM)
Mechanical Globule (Stage 7 BGM)
Extra Stage (Extra Stage)
Final Attack (Stage 8 BGM)
Aircraft Carrier (Boss BGM)
All Pattern Clear (Ending)
Game Over (Game Over)

Sound Effects

To do: Rip the sound effects for both versions and upload them here.

Like with TwinBee, the sound effects were also updated to take advantage of SCC support, utilizing one channel of the SCC and one channel of the onboard PSG together.

Hidden Developer Names

Hidden in the lower-right corner of the opening demo screen are the names "NAOKI" and "YUTAKA". This is in reference to the two lead developers of the MSX port, Naoki Matsui and Yutaka Haruki.

(Source: Arc_Hound)