Video Game / Vulcan Venture

Following

Vulcan Venture is a 1988 arcade shoot 'em up developed by by Konami. Like other Gradius games of the time, it's once again an alternative sequel to the first Gradius, this time on Konami Twin 16 arcade board. In Japan and some compilation releases, it's known as Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou ("Gofer's Ambition"; Gofer is the name of the final boss in this game).

This installment introduced the weapon configuration system, picking one of the four available weapon sets with different and unique assets for the Vic Viper. Many elements like the Boss Rush, the dedicated "speed zone" level, and the invincible walker mech bosses were codified in this game.

Vulcan Venture / Gradius II was ultimately the one that Konami recognized as a main sequel, as the publisher released mainline games after this game: Gradius III in 1989, Gradius IV in 1998, and Gradius V in 2004.

Releases:

Not to be confused with Gradius 2, a completely different game on MSX; that game was released in English as Nemesis 2.

This work provides examples of:

• Adaptation Deviation: While the NES version is mostly faithful, there are a few changes. Stage 1 has an additional level that erupts fire flare like the Salamander games, the volcanos and the Crystal Landscape were merged into one big stage, and the boss rush has the Zelos Force from Salamander in place of Gaw and the Intruder.
• Adaptation Expansion: The TurboGrafx-CD version adds a new stage between stage 5 and 6, full of desert ruins, evocative of the similar level from the NES Life Force.
• All There in the Manual: The story takes place two years after the original game, though you wouldn't know this unless you read the manuals. Not helping matters is the Famicom version's story being very different (see Distant Sequel below).
• Alliterative Title: The English arcade version is known as "Vulcan Venture".
• Antagonist Title: The Japanese version of the game; Gofer is the new commander of the Bacterian forces.
• Bandit Mook: This game introduces the Option Hunters, which don't directly attack you, but steal your Options on contact. Given the difficulty, they can seriously kneecap your ship.
• Boss-Only Level: Stage 7 is a Boss Rush level that features bosses from the first Gradius and Salamander. The sixth and last boss is, however, an unique one.
• Brain Monster: The titular Gofer has a giant exposed brain attached to cords, which must be destroyed to complete the game.
• Distant Sequel: The Famicom version appears to be one to the original game. Long after the first battle with the Bacterians, the Vic Viper is put into a seemingly eternal slumber. However, when four planets, including Gradius, were in a once-in-a-10,000-year planetary alignment, a dark gas cloud appeared in the center of them, causing the surrounding space plants to burst into flames; during this, Gofer began his attack on Gradius.
• Easy-Mode Mockery: The TurboGrafx-CD version has progressively longer endings depending on the difficulty setting, and the Professional difficulty is the only one that unlocks the exclusive animated ending. The easiest one doesn't even display credits.
• Fighter-Launching Sequence: The TurboGrafx-CD version adds an opening movie where the Vic Viper is shipped to the pace with various monitors reviewing its weapons. This movie has an exclusive CD music for it, which feels out of place considering the rest of the soundtrack recycles recording of the arcade version.
• Infinite 1-Ups: In Stage 4, the Moai stage, the four Jumping Moai are worth 60,000 points total. By shooting enough of their rings to total 10,000 points and destroying the four Moai, dying on purpose, and repeating, the player can exploit the "every 70,000 points" threshold for extra lives to infinitely rack up points in that specific section. This is why later revisions of the game severely reduce the Jumping Moai's point values as well as increase the amount of points needed to earn extra lives.
• Kaizo Trap: The final corrider to Gofer's is suddenly shut off by indestructible bionic walls. You have no choice to die if you didn't move to the right before. Thankfully, they are slow enough that you can probably still make it without knowing beforehand. However, the NES version is not as kind.
• Nerf: In the initial release of the arcade version, the jumping Moai enemies are worth 15,000 points each. Later revisions reduce them to a mere 500 points.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Lose all your lives on Stage 6 (the high-speed stage) or later and instead of the standard "You need some practice" line from the announcer, you instead hear a bone-chilling Evil Laugh.
• The Phoenix: Stage 1 is concluded with the fire bird boss, which is actually named "Pheonix".
• Updated Re-release: The arcade version received two subsequent versions to reduce coin turnaround times. The first revision reduce the Jumping Moai's point value from 15,000 points to 500. The second one adjust the default "extra life every x points" thresholds and patches out some more scoring tricks.
• Weird Sun: Stage 1 is full of mini-suns, which are impossibly close to one another in a way that simply wouldn't happen in real life. They're also resided by fire snakes, who are sometimes actually larger than the suns themselves.