Gradius ReBirth

Gradius ReBirth
Developer: M2 Publisher: Konami Platform: WiiWare Released in JP: September 2, 2008 Released in US: March 9, 2009 Released in EU: July 3, 2009 Released in AU: July 3, 2009 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences.

To do: Check for more possible unused content. Compare the changes to the initial game and it's update. There might be more differences with names and graphics, double check to see which are different. Weapon Select text has developer text, Vic Viper sprites have one as well.

What would happen if you took all of the games in the series and put them in a blender? The result would be Gradius ReBirth, a fruity twist of all the best parts of Gradius.

Unused Graphics

Aoba Anoa

Aoba Anoa from the Otomedius series appears in the files for the Vic Viper, vic_viper_red.bmp. There is also a silhouette of her sprites found in vic_viper.bmp. Judging from her amount of sprites, she might have been considered to be a playable character. It appears she was cut late in development though since her sprites are incomplete and lack the rotation frames the Vic Viper does.

Further evidence can be found with a shield graphic resembling the Otomedius series' style of shield appearing in a range of colors.

When overlaid on her sprite, it fits rather snugly as well.

She even has a life icon hidden in font.bmp.

Crawler X

The Crawler X is animated with multiple segments in-game, however, an assembled version can be found in stage2_boss.bmp. It could have been used for a reference guide on how it should look, or may have acted more similar to the Crawler found in Nemesis on Game Boy.

The very same graphic has an damaged version named stage2_boss_damage.bmp where the shell is colored orange along with the eye. In-game, only the eye becomes orange when the boss is hurt. Perhaps the developers just recolored everything orange to save time, you be the judge.

Other Sprites

A rather plain and boring title screen can be found in _title.bmp.

Unused Sound

\sound\gra_sound.brsar\2WAYMISSILE.wav

Despite all the announcer voice clips for Gradius III being in the game, the voice clip for the 2-Way Missile is missing and reuses the voice clip for Missile. However, in the game's data, this sound can be found and reuses the sound of the cells dying in the Stage 2.

Developer Text

Hidden in \map\stage3_01.bmp is some text presumably by one of the artists.

Regional Differences

Meter Select

Japan	US

Like with Gradius II and Vulcan Venture, the weapons pods that follow your ship are called Options in Japan, and Multiples in the US.