Gradius V

The legendary horizontal space shooter series Gradius returned after years of dormancy in the form of Gradius V, created by the acclaimed studio Treasure, renowned for its technically brilliant and visually spectacular shoot 'em up titles. The game preserved all the series' traditional elements, namely collecting power-ups through the iconic gradual upgrade-selection system, the accompanying Option modules orbiting the Vic Viper ship, and the notoriously high difficulty that forced players to memorize enemy layouts and traps.

A new addition was the ability to choose, at the start, one of four ways to control the Option modules, ranging from a fixed lock direction to rotation around the ship, which fundamentally changes tactics in individual stages and gives the player room to find their own style. Treasure also brought its own distinctive signature, evident in elaborate boss battles, a dynamic camera changing angles during stage flights, and extremely dense waves of enemy projectiles typical of the studio's work.

Visually, the game ranked among the most technically impressive 2D shooters on PlayStation 2, with intricately detailed backgrounds, transparency effects, and smooth animation even with an enormous number of objects on screen. Despite the genre's relatively low commercial potential during a period dominated by 3D action games, Gradius V earned praise from both the specialist press and loyal fans of classic arcade shooters as one of the peaks of the genre for its generation, and proof that a traditional 2D shoot 'em up can still find an audience on modern hardware. Studio Treasure also brought its tradition of extremely elaborate boss fights requiring precise recognition of attack patterns, which is why the game remains one of the most-cited showcases of this development team's mastery to this day. It's also the last major entry in the classic Gradius line, so Gradius V is viewed as a fitting full stop to one of the oldest shooter franchises of all.