You know, it’s rare to find a game where the port is just as good as the arcade version, and it’s even more rare to find a game where the port is better than the arcade version. Today, I review a game that in my opinion is better than it’s arcade counterpart.

Box art for Gyruss on the NES

Gyruss was made by Konami back in 1983 for the arcade, however the game was ported for the NES in 1988 with the help of Ultra Games, to create the (in my opinion) best version of the game. For the NES version, the graphics were made slightly larger, extra levels were added, the game now had mid bosses as well as bosses in general, phasers were also added to your weapons list (and trust me in some of the levels they are absolutely needed.)

Face various bosses as you make your way across the solar system.

In the original version of Gyruss there was only one song, which was a slightly remade version of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The song was still used, however, that was also remixed into 8 bit gloriousness, as well as adding extra songs to the soundtrack.

Destroy your enemies to save the universe.

Gyruss was a very innovative game for your basic shmup (shoot em up) because it featured a tunnel-like style for gameplay, in which you would rotate around the entire screen and shoot inward, with the enemies going through and if you miss them, they will go into the background (you can still shoot them while in the background, but you don’t get the 1000 pt bonus for it.)

Battle all kinds of crazy enemies.

I know what you might be thinking. You might be thinking that a game like this would become repetitive right? Well, you’re wrong. While in essence you are doing a lot of the same thing throughout the game, with each set of levels you play, new types of enemies show up and they all have various patterns that you must learn. Also, you need to be able to beat the game with one continue, because that’s all you get. If you get a game over once, you need to go through the entire game again. That might seem frustrating, but in all actuality the game is so enjoyable that you want to keep playing just to get better and better.

Ultimately, Gyruss is just an awesome , addictive, and innovative game, so I have to give it a 5 stars.