By Samantha “Kitten” McComb
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is excellent even by today’s standards. The game opens up with a fleet of ships being attacked by a giant core ship, then allows the player to control the Vic Viper’s escape from said ship by narrowly flying into a cave and presumably losing it. One of the most interesting things about Interstellar Assault is that there are no traditional level transitions, and the whole game pans out somewhat cinematically. After the first boss, you’re captured by the core ship, then the second level is breaking free of it from the inside.
Each stage has a transition letting you know how you got from one place to the next, the most impressive being between the 3rd and 4th stages where the boss you just defeated burns up in the atmosphere you’re entering. Very few games feature something like this and have it work well, and for a Game Boy title to have transitions like this is very impressive. More than just being impressive for a hanheld game, Interstellar Assault’s use of storytelling is honestly some of the best you’ll see in the entire genre.
The game also features an original score (instead of just familiar tunes, like Nemesis) that sounds great and meshes great with the Gradius universe. I’ve always considered Gradius games to have a very unique sound to them, and this soundtrack will instantly feel familiar to any fan of the series. I don’t know what it is about Gradius music that makes it distinctly Gradius music, but Interstellar Assault certainly does.
| 
| 
Each level features original elements, as well as homages to the design of previous games, and like the best Gradius games, it does not come off as derivative despite its similarity to its brethren. It also features multiple options for how you’d like to play it, allowing you to customize which missiles, lasers and double shot you would like to use. The difficulty increases with each loop, seeming to cap at around the “extra, extra hard” loop. I’ve only managed to clear up to the end of the hard loop without dying, and given the game’s variety, I think I can safely say I’ll be coming back to this one.
It’s probably the best handheld Gradius (Although Galaxies is also quite good), and likely the best shooter on the Game Boy (although there are several I haven’t tried yet). I’m glad I finally got ahold of a copy, as it had been a game I wanted for myself for quite some time, yet never got around to purchasing. If you’ve ever considered yourself a Gradius fan, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up – don’t let the fact it’s on a Game Boy convince you otherwise.