Handheld gaming is more than a compromise of power and portability. Whether it’s the ability to play anywhere, multitask or hold an entire console in your hands, it’s a special experience consoles have never replicated. In a world where high resolutions and teraflops reign supreme, we take a look at a portable relic every month and reflect on what makes it memorable. Be warned, spoilers may occasionally populate these articles.
With advancements in technology used to explore the universe and everything that occupies the space beyond Earth, it’s becoming clearer that the premise of some video games have no factual basis in reality. By examining photos taken from various satellites and other pieces of high-tech space exploration equipment, there seem significantly fewer giant monsters occupying the far reaches of the galaxy than certain media may lead one to believe. Games such as R-Type,Dariusand Gradius depict space as an environment filled with enormous monsters, alien warships and battle stations, and weirdly enough, many forms of spacecraft that resemble aquatic life forms on earth.
Pocket Power: R-Type
Gradius was a popular space shooter series back in the age of arcade gaming. Nemesis was an offshoot of Gradius that found its way to Game Boy in 1990. The name can be confusing, but its history helps make sense of it. Originally, when the 1985 Gradius was ported to territories outside of Japan it was renamed Nemesis, except for when it came to the NES in North America where it kept the Gradius name. Naming conventions for Gradius and its regional changes could probably be its own article, such as the Salamander spinoff getting renamed Life Force for North America, but tonight feels far too lazy to deep dive into any of that. Nemesis and Gradius are basically synonymous in this case, so for Gradius fans who are curious about how it translates to Game Boy, this is the game to check out.
There’s a Story?
Nowadays, when people play a game, they expect a compelling story. In 1990, expectations for a story were not high. There were exceptions to this, but in general, most games had the bare minimum to provide context for what’s happening on screen. This was also a time when the back of the box would give a story synopsis along with the instruction booklet. Localization standards of quality weren’t exactly high back then either, with mistranslated phrases and typos being a common occurrence. The story on the back of the box for Nemesis appears grammatically sound, but is rather absurd nonetheless.
As interplanetary chief of police, King Nemesis has put a bounty on your head after you put him away for his multitudes of heinous space crimes. He’s busted out, so you do what any person with that job title would do, which is fire up the Proteus 911 (likely a reference to Porsche 911) and go fly into space to take on the fugitive space king yourself. The story doesn’t really matter as this type of game from this era was all about action. It was a more mindless time for gaming, but that doesn’t mean that there still wasn’t plenty of fun to be had. The average gamer could complete this game and not even know it has a story and still enjoy themselves.
Space Force
One thing that is apparent when the journey to apprehend King Nemesis begins is that the Proteus 911 is the basic model with no options. As the player progresses through the stages and blasts little enemies into nothingness, different power ups will appear that will help soup the patrol spaceship. These upgrade include options such as multi-directional lasers, missiles and Options, which are orange blobs that follow the Proteus 911 and provide additional firepower.
They’re not actually orange in Nemesis, but based on playing other Gradius games, it’s safe to assume that they are in fact orange. The gameplay is straightforward; the ship travels from left to right across five levels, navigating perilous paths while trying to avoid being shot or crashing into numerous enemies. At the end of each level there is a boss battle, which are tougher than anything encountered leading up to it. There’s a secret level that can be accessed from the fourth level. There are some skulls that shoot balls at you. Directly under the third skull, fly to the bottom left of the screen and hang out for two seconds.
We’ve established that the story is pretty much inconsequential, so how is Nemesis otherwise? It’s actually quite good, especially given the limitations of the hardware. It’s more or less a downgraded version of Gradius. It’s obviously missing the colors, and it only has five stages, but it didn’t cut corners where it matters which is the gameplay. Nemesis offers a challenging experience, but one that’s rewarding to overcome. The missions aren’t entirely long, but these types of games aren’t known for their forgiving nature. But these two qualities work well together. The levels may lead to many game overs, but the brevity allows for multiple attempts as the player hones their skills. The soundtrack is also impressive for a Game Boy title and easy to hum along with while trying not to die.
One of the most impressive elements of Nemesis is how well it recreated the blistering arcade action on the small screen. Game Boy was still in its infancy when it was released. It was leagues ahead of other handheld gaming options at the time, but the hardware was still limited in what it could do. The developers did a phenomenal job of making Nemesis into something that showcases that, even with hardware limitations, Game Boy could be a home for fast-paced shooters. Because of the hardware, Nemesis is a still simplified version of the Gradius experience, but even with these concessions is still is able to recreate the thrill of what Gradius provided on the NES and arcade games.
