Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Big Core is one of Gradius’ most iconic bosses.

This video focuses exclusively on Big Core / ビッグコア, showing how it appears across official ports, unlockable variants, reimaginings, and inspired versions throughout the series’ long history.

Known as Gradius / グラディウス in Japan and Nemesis in Europe, the game spawned a wide range of adaptations across arcade hardware, home computers, consoles, handhelds, and later reinterpretations.

Rather than covering full gameplay, this video isolates a single moment to highlight visual, technical, and design differences between versions.

Platforms included:

- Official Versions

00:00 Intro
00:10 Arcade (1985)
00:29 MSX (1986)
00:52 NES / Famicom (1986)
01:21 Arcade (PlayChoice-10) (1986)
01:43 Arcade (VS. System) (VS. Gradius) (1986)
02:03 NEC PC-8801mkII SR (1986)
02:39 Sharp X1 (1986)
03:19 Sharp X68000 (1987)
03:38 Commodore 64 / C64 (1987)
03:54 Amstrad CPC (1987)
04:11 ZX Spectrum (1987)
04:23 MSX (SCC+ Version) (Konami Game Collection Vol. 3) (1989)
04:48 TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine (1991)
05:21 PlayStation, Saturn, Windows (Gradius Deluxe Pack) (1996)
05:45 PlayStation, Saturn (Konami Antiques MSX Collection Vol. 1) (1997)
06:06 J2ME / Java Mobile (2004)
06:22 PlayStation Portable / PSP (Gradius Collection) (2006)
06:46 Nintendo DS (Konami Classic Series: Arcade Hits) (2007)
07:05 J2ME /Java Mobile (2008)

- Unlockables

07:25 Super Nintendo / Super Famicom (The Legend of the Mystical Ninja) (1991)
07:44 Game Boy Advance / GBA (Kessakusen! Ganbare Goemon 1+2: Yuki-hime to Magginesu) (2005)
08:02 TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine Mini (Near Arcade) (2020)

- Reimaginings

08:41 Game Boy / GB (1990)
09:11 Game Boy Color / GBC (Konami GB Collection Vol. 1) (1997)
09:33 Nintendo Wii (Gradius ReBirth) (2009)

- Clones & Homebrews

10:10 Master System (1987)
10:32 MSX2, MSX2+, MSX Turbo R (Gradius Enhanced) (2017)
10:49 Amiga (Tynius) (2021)
11:09 Pico-8 (Picodius) (2022)

Which are your favorite ports or conversions?

⚠️ DISCLOSURE / CREDITS

All gameplay footage in this video was captured, synchronized, and edited exclusively by Retrosutra.
No third-party footage, compilations, or reused material from other channels has been used.

Educational Value & Methodology:
This video is an original comparative analysis created to document and explain visual and audio differences between multiple versions of the game.
All scenes have been manually aligned, labeled, and edited to illustrate how different hardware specifications (color palettes, sound chips, resolutions, and performance) influenced each port.

This production is 100% original, created solely for this channel for educational and historical preservation purposes.

🎵 Music: “Retro Game Music Pack Level 1” by Juhani Junkala (CC BY) 🔗 soundcloud.com/juhanijunkala/retro-game-music-pack-level-1-loop-ready-free-download

#retrogaming #retrogames #oldgames #gradius