Gyruss was a favorite of mine in the arcade back in the 80s. After playing the likes of Gradius and Space Invaders it was a nice change of pace in terms of its viewpoint and mechanics. Of course the younger version of me could never hope to finish the game on one quarter but it did not stop me from trying. Konami’s home port for the NES not only brings the action home faithfully but also improves it in certain ways. Although it lags behind the more popular shooters of the time Gyruss remains a quality game still.
What little semblance of a plot is laughably bad. Evil exists in the universe and so mankind embarks on a quest to rid the galaxy of it. What this amounts to is a lone ship being sent on a tour of the galaxy from Pluto and finally the Sun. Think about that. One ship against all the evil in the universe. Even by shooter standards that is ridiculous.
Gyruss is a tube shooter like Tempest except it does not use vector graphics. What that means is the viewpoint is from behind the ship as you have full movement around the screen in a circle. It can be confusing at times and the controls when switching directions can be annoying. But with practice it becomes second nature. Although its viewpoint is closer to Tempest the gameplay is similar to Galaga. Enemies appear in set waves and move about the screen. Any enemies that are not shot down linger in the middle of the screen. After the waves are done any enemies left will slowly come back to attack. Some evolve while others move erratically. Generally any given stage has four or five waves and goes by quickly. It sounds short but Gyruss is long by shooter standards.
In the arcade Gyruss had twenty-four stages. Each planet has multiple levels. You began at Neptune and worked your way to Earth. For its NES debut Konami takes you on a tour of the galaxy. Now you start at Pluto and visit every planet. In addition there is a bonus stage after each planet. That comes out to thirty-nine levels. You certainly get your money’s worth but in some ways the game’s length works against it. Each planet plays out the identically. Three warps to the next planet that play out like this; the first level has four simple waves. The next adds four satellites in addition to the waves and the last culminates in a boss battle. It never deviates and even though the levels are only a few minutes long at most the repetition sets in quickly. This is in spite of the additions to the game.
Konami added many new elements to Gyruss that honestly feel like they should have been there in the first place. The game has an intro that provides context to your journey as well as an ending. In the arcade once you reached Earth it would loop. New enemy types are introduced every few waves and their behavior differs, adding some variety to a repetitive game. Satellites are a new enemy type that appears in front of you. If you have no weapon than its core will give you the new double shot. In addition they can give extra lives, a screen clearing smart bomb, or a charge of the powerful laser. Possibly the biggest extra are boss battles at the end of each planet. Granted they start to repeat half way through but the gesture is appreciated.
The additions help Gyruss feel more like a fully featured game. But they have the side effect of making the game too easy. The double shot makes mowing down enemy waves easier than it should be. If you die chances are a satellite will appear within seconds to replace your double shot. More than likely you will die by accident rotating around the screen. But the penalty for death is minor as extra lives come frequently. It is like the game does everything in its power to hold your hand. I can appreciate toning down the arcade game’s difficulty but I feel Konami might have gone too far.
In Conclusion
Gyruss is a good port of the arcade game that improves it in many ways. Yet I am still reticent to recommend it. While good Gyruss flaws, namely the repetition place it below most NES shooters. Buy it cheap but only after its better competition.
