Gradius
Gradius is a 1985 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for arcades. It is the first installment in the Gradius series. The player maneuvers a spacecraft known as the Vic Viper that must defend itself from the various alien enemies. The game uses a power-up system called the "power meter", based upon collecting capsules to acquire additional weapons.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1985
- Developer
- Konami
- Platforms
- 2 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 29 May 1985 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Konami |
| Publisher | Konami |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade |
| Genres | First-Person Shooter |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1324646, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Gradius? How long to beat it
Total play time for Gradius is about 3.9 hours to do everything, and around 1 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 1h | 131 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 1.7h | 10 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 3.9h | 8 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Gradius sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Gradius lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 36ahead of 2% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 32ahead of 74% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Gradius
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Gradius appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Gradius qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Gradius
What platforms is Gradius on?
Gradius is available on Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade. It first released in 1985.
Who made Gradius?
Gradius was developed by Konami and published by Konami.
How long does it take to beat Gradius?
about 1 hours for the main story, 1.7 hours with the main extras, 3.9 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.