Nemesis

Nemesis for Game Boy is Konami's 1990 horizontal shoot-'em-up for Nintendo's monochrome handheld. It is the first portable entry in the Gradius series, though the title varies by region: the Japanese release is Gradius, while the Game Boy game is known as Nemesis in North America and Europe. That naming can be confusing because earlier arcade and MSX releases also used Nemesis outside Japan; this is a distinct Game Boy production rather than a direct conversion of either of those games.

The player pilots the Vic Viper through side-scrolling enemy territory, firing at formations, obstacles, and large end-of-stage threats while steering through the tight spaces of each level. Its central system is the familiar Gradius-style power meter. Destroyed enemies can leave capsules that move the selection along a weapon bar, and the player chooses when to activate the currently highlighted upgrade. That decision makes survival as much about timing and planning as firing continuously.

The available upgrades build a flexible arsenal for the Vic Viper. Speed increases help with evasive movement, while missiles, double shots, and lasers change how the ship attacks enemies and terrain. Option satellites add supporting firepower, and defensive protection can preserve a carefully developed loadout. Losing a ship therefore has real consequences: the next attempt begins without the collection of enhancements that made later hazards easier to manage.

Nemesis presents five stages that draw on recognizable Gradius imagery while arranging it for the Game Boy. The journey moves through a cave, a Moai-filled area, an organic zone, a graveyard-like section, and a high-technology base. Each stage concludes with a major encounter, including a Core ship in the opening area, but the handheld game's bosses are not simply a repeat of the earlier series' lineup. The Game Boy format also opens with a stage-selection screen, allowing a player to practise any of the five areas and set the available life count as high as 99.

The manual casts the conflict as a fight to protect Gradius from the Bacterion forces, with the Vic Viper heading toward the Xaerous Superfortress. This compact campaign is built for focused solo play, retaining the series' weapons, spacecraft, and hostile mechanical-organic scenery within a smaller five-stage structure. Its later inclusion in Konami GB Collection Vol. 1 gave the game a full-colour Game Boy Color presentation under the title Gradius, preserving the regional identity of this early handheld branch of Konami's shooting series.