GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-

GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-

Song Information

GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-'s pop'n music banner.

GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-'s jacket.

Artist: Mr.T
Composition: KONAMI Kukeiha Club
Arrangement: Mr.T
BPM: 160-220
Length: 1:58 (beatmania IIDX, pop'n music, ポップンリズミン), 1:40 (Toy'sMarch)
beatmania IIDX Genre: GAME MUSIC
pop'n music Genre: GRADIUS (グラディウス)
pop'n music Character: VIC VIPER / LORD BRITISH [11]
Movie: HES
pop'n CG designer: ミコシバ
First Music Game Appearance: beatmania IIDX 10th style
Other Music Game Appearances:

• pop'n music 11
• Toy'sMarch2
• ポップンリズミン コナミゲームパック1

Lyrics

None.

Song Connections / Remixes

• GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- is a remixed medley of various songs from the arcade version of GRADIUS.
  • The songs, in order of appearance: COIN→空中戦→第1ステージ→第2ステージ / 第3ステージ→第4ステージ→第5ステージ→第6ステージ→第7ステージ→BOSS→GAME OVER→RANKING BGM.
• A remastered, extended version of GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- appears as a bonus in Burning Heat!【2020 Re:build】's video.
• In the Toy'sMarch series, グラディウスメドレー is slightly shorter, lacking the RANKING BGM section at the end.

Trivia

This song has different backgrounds, banners, jackets, or other related images. For more information, please see this page.

• According to Mr.T's pop'n music song comments for GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-, the most difficult part of the song for him was choosing the opening coin-up sound. He notes it took him an entire day to get a sound that sounded just right.
• In GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-'s video, which consists of a playthrough of GRADIUS on the SEGA Saturn by HES, he gets a GAME OVER despite clearly having lives remaining on the life counter.
• By scratching the turntable when there are no scratch notes, the player can hear sound effects from GRADIUS.
  • When you finish GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- in pop'n music, you can play various sound effects with all nine buttons for a few seconds before the WIN/LOSE animation begins.
• GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- is a hidden song in pop'n music 11. To unlock it:
  • On any non-FINAL STAGE, enter the following code on the song selection screen: 4466373728. The GRADIUS coin insert sound will be heard if this is done correctly.
  • Then clear one of the following songs from "classic" KONAMI games: ぼくってウパ？, HOLiDAY, GOONIES "R" GOOD ENOUGH, or penguin.
  • GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- will be available to play on your next STAGE.
  • GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- is also one of the hidden song unlocks in pop'n music 11's POP'N TOURIST (ポップンツーリスト) event. It could be unlocked from May 19th, 2004 through June 30th, 2004 by reaching STAGE 25.
    • As of June 30th, 2004, it is unlocked for everyone to play.
• When selected in pop'n music 11, the GRADIUS coin insert sound (the beginning of GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-) is played instead of the usual "Here we go!".
• The 2P character of GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-, LORD BRITISH, was misspelled as LOAD BRITISH in pop'n music 11. This was corrected in pop'n music 12 いろは.
• Despite both pop'n music 11 and beatmania IIDX 10th style being released nearly at the same time, the pre-Sunny Park BEMANI category of pop'n music counted GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- as a pop'n music song instead of a crossover from beatmania IIDX.
• In Toy'sMarch2, GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- is titled グラディウスメドレー.
• グラディウスメドレー is one of the Phase 3 hidden songs of Toy'sMarch2.
• GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- received an EASY chart on December 12th, 2012 in pop'n music Sunny Park, replacing its old 5-Buttons chart.
• GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- can be unlocked from April 12th, 2016 on beatmania IIDX INFINITAS' Akashic Explore event.
• GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- also appears in Tokimeki Idol (ときめきアイドル) and SMASHSTADIUM (スマッシュスタジアム).
  • In SMASHSTADIUM, GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- is titled as グラディウス -FULL SPEED- on its banner.

Music Comment

This is a medley of a legendary shooting game masterpiece that is revived!

Song Production Information

beatmania IIDX

Mr.T

It has been a long time that I created a game music remix since IIDX 7th's "Burning Heat!", so I decided to go with the first GRADIUS, which I couldn't resist. I included all the songs in under two minutes, from GAME START to NAME ENTRY~.
When I intently played GRADIUS on the Famicom as a child at that time, the music of the arcade version that I listened to on the cassette tape was very thick and gorgeous.
For this recording, I repeatedly heard that soundtrack and made a perfect ear-copy of it to create the MIDI version. However, I couldn't replicate that unique detune as expected. That's why the melody and bass plays the same tune, so I created a very elaborate rhythm track.
Except for some cymbals, all the timbres are from FM sound generators. Maybe including the kicks.
The game's notecharts are quite interesting too, right?
That's right, it seems something good happens when you perform many scratches during the gameplay.

pop'n music

Mr.T

I finally did it~~! All of GRADIUS is included here.
When I told wac "I want to make something like this~", he gave me corn chocolate which melted from the heat of the canned coffee.
The most difficult part was the first coin sound. I couldn't quite make it sound right, and I created it in a day while eating corn chocolate.
The next difficult part was that the blue capsules didn't quite appear, and I searched for them in a day while eating corn chocolate.
The next difficult part was~,, huh? Is that enough?

Well, just like that, I created GRADIUS in two days and two hours. I wonder if my biggest worry is how well everyone will know what's in this song.+

Video Production Information

HES

The universe has fully appeared in 2004!

The special GRADIUS sound included all its songs.
I also created this clip while thinking about "synchronizing the video with the song".
I used the play screen from my playthrough, and I received the model data for the VIC VIPER which appears in this movie from SUZUKI, who created videos such as "YESTERDAY" and "CELEBRATE NITE".
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you once again.
Thank you very much.

Detailed explanation below.
I originally captured this video from the Saturn version of the GRADIUS DELUXE PACK.
The very first thing I captured was the boot screen from the Bubble System.
While filming until the countdown reached zero, I remembered at that time when "I dashed to the opening arcade in order to listen to this song", and I started the game when I felt a bit emotional. I cleared it around three times.

I first thought about creating the video using only game screens, but I felt that it was a bit lonely, so I unreasonably asked SUZUKI to provide the model data for the VIC VIPER.
The model data I received only had its textures adjusted in the style of a certain famous SF movie, in order to show the feeling of a weapon.

Since it was a song medley, so I didn't edit the footage too much, in order to show the feeling of actually playing the game throughout the entire song.
Although I paid attention to the SE sounds, it was difficult because just two parts didn't match.

The VIC VIPER dies after the boss song, so when you think of bosses, I (personally) thought of the BIG CORE, but I was worried that it'd be strange if the BIG CORE suddenly appeared during the final stage song.
Come to think of it, when I defeated the first boss while playing and taking footage many times, I remembered that the end result came when I had too much momentum and crashed into a wall~. Has everyone experienced this at least once?
I really wanted my remaining lives to reach zero and get GAME OVER, but I unfortunately couldn't do it...

I finally decided to have it fly towards Earth.
It's no exaggeration that I received SUZUKI's VIC VIPER data just for this purpose.
Also, as a minor detail, "MRT" is ranked in first place on the HIGH SCORE ENTRY screen.
"HES" is secretly ranked in second place.

I have special feelings for GRADIUS.
I tried to talk about this just a bit.

Character Information

In order to protect our planet GRADIUS, the super space fighter jet, VIC VIPER, has now taken off into the dark universe. You're the only one able to save GRADIUS. Filled with courage and focus, come on, let's launch!

Mikoshiba

Oh, it's beautiful. Both the music and visuals.
It's a really wonderful game. Once again.

I'm very honored to work alongside Mr.T.
It was nourishment for myself in various ways.

Staff Comments

masaru

This song was simultaneously created alongside IIDX, and I thought it'd be great if IIDX and pop'n released simultaneously.
I wish I listened to the Stage 6 song a bit more~, but was that it for Stage 2, 3? I also have some extravagant questions

TAMA

Speaking of GRADIUS, there's that command! That's why I tried to include a slightly strange hidden condition, so how was it?
When I completed it, I immediately requested to Murai that it needed to play a certain sound if succeeded.

It feels very nostalgic to enter the commands to access this hidden song.

tera

This is a tiring song where you quickly clear all the stages, but Mikoshiba recreated the character animation fight from the Famicom version. His effort was highly praised by the team, but he couldn't fix the obvious errors until the very end.

shige

It's nostalgic~~ I couldn't get enough of the Famicom~ (but I was bad at shooting games~)

wac

KONAMI means GRADIUS. This has been true since long ago, and won't change in the distant future.
This time, the production time of IIDX and pop'n were nearly around the same time, so unfortunately, new songs by dj TAKA and NAOKI couldn't be included in pop'n.
When we thought about what the mustache man can do through adversity, we decided to include this song in both games simultaneously.
He asked me whether to include Stage 3 and 5, but anyways, I told him to include everything, and gave him corn chocolate.
He told me that it wouldn't fit in two minutes, but anyways, I told him to increase the speed, and gave him corn chocolate.
As a result, although it's filled with perfect sounds, speaking of extravagant, I also wanted the hidden stage.

Difficulty & Notecounts

beatmania IIDX difficulty rated 1 to 8 in 10th style, 1 to 8+ in IIDX RED, and from 1 to 12 from HAPPY SKY onwards.
pop'n music difficulty rated from 1 to 43 through pop'n music 20 fantasia, and 1 to 50 from Sunny Park onwards.
Toy'sMarch difficulty rated from 1 to 5. Renda notes are counted as 1 note.
ポップンリズミン difficulty rated from 1 to 10. (Ratings and notecounts from Pop'n Music Fever, BEMANIWiki 2nd, and tminfo.)

beatmania IIDX

Game	SP Difficulty					DP Difficulty
	BEGINNER	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA
Notecounts	172	385	643	1074	-	385	643	1074	-
beatmania IIDX 10th style	-	4	6	N/A	-	3	6	N/A	-
beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED	1	4	↑7	N/A	-	3	6	N/A	-
beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY	1	4	↑8	10	-	3	↑7	10	-
beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD→14 GOLD	-	4	8	10	-	3	7	10	-
beatmania IIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS→Present	-	4	8	10	-	3	7	↑11	-
beatmania IIDX 10th style CS	-	4	6	6	-	3	6	6	-
beatmania IIDX INFINITAS	-	4	8	10	-	3	7	11	-
beatmania IIDX ULTIMATE MOBILE	-	4	8	10	-	-	-	-	-

pop'n music

Game	Normal Mode				Battle Mode		PSP Exclusive
	EASY	NORMAL	HYPER	EX	NORMAL	HYPER	5B HYPER	7-Buttons	7B HYPER
Notecounts	313	369	663	995	509	641	309	368	650
pop'n music 11→20 fantasia	11	19	32	39	25	32	-	-	-
pop'n music Sunny Park→Present	※6	25	↑40	45	25	32	-	-	-
pop'n music 11 CS	11	19	32	39	25	32	-	-	-
pop'n music 12 いろは CS	11	19	32	39	25	32	-	-	-
pop'n music portable	※9	19	32	※39	25	-	15	18	32

※ Denotes chart has been revised from the corresponding AC chart:

• pop'n music portable 5-Button NORMAL chart: total notes: 167.
• pop'n music portable EX chart: total notes: 993.
• EASY chart: total notes: 167.

Toy'sMarch

Game	Level
	Easy (かんたん)	Hard (むずかしい)
Notecounts	193	395
Toy'sMarch2	3	5

ポップンリズミン

Game	Difficulties
	Normal	Hyper	EX
Notecounts	228	391	557
ポップンリズミン	4	7	10

POP'N TOURIST (ポップンツーリスト)
ROUTE A	おれはジャイアンさまだ！
ROUTE B	ANAHONIKUY -雪の華PuzzLeMix- - 烏 - 夜間行殺法
ROUTE C	monde des songe (HYPER/EX) - YOUNG DREAM (HYPER) - ロマンス
ROUTE D	INNOVATION (HYPER/EX) - Line Times - School Life
STAGES 20-25	クラゲータ (STAGE 20) - テンプラ揚三 (STAGE 22) - A change of probability (STAGE 23) - GRADIUS -FULL SPEED- (STAGE 25)
STAGES 26-30	D-groove REQ (STAGE 26) - でんがなマンガナ (STAGE 28) - ワルドック船長のブルース (STAGE 30/GOAL)