Gradius Gaiden

The stage 5 music is an absolute banger, and the level design feels perfectly tuned for the PlayStation hardware. I’ve already sunk hours into mastering the tighter hitbox on the Vic Viper.

Been a Gradius fan for decades and this is the one I keep coming back to, the way it uses the PlayStation’s power for those layered, almost 3D-looking backgrounds is a real treat. Everything just feels so tight and responsive, like it was born for this console.

The stage design in this one feels tailor-made for the hardware, with layers of detail that never slow down even during heavy enemy spam. It's the most polished I've played in the series, and the extra freedom the devs had really shows in how smooth everything flows.