Gradius Origins is a collection of games from Konami’s influential Gradius series of side-scrolling shoot ‘em ups. The collection was announced during the Nintendo Direct presentation streamed today (March 27, 2025), and the collection will include the following classic Gradius games: Gradius (1985), Salamander (1986), Life Force (1986), Gradius II: Gofer No Yabou (1988), Gradius III: Densetsu kara Shinwa e (1989), and Salamander II (1996). Some of the classic Gradius games appear in multiple versions, including some Japanese versions, some North American versions, and some European versions, making Gradius Origins a pretty comprehensive collection of classic Gradius arcade titles. Better still, a number of modern quality of life improvements have been made to the games, such as save states, a rewind feature, an invincible mode, and a training mode.
But that’s not all! In addition to these classic Gradius games, Gradius Origins will also feature a brand new game developed by M2, in the form of Salamander III! The inclusion of This never before seen game brings the total number of games collected on Gradius Origins to seven, with some appearing in multiple versions.
Despite being announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation, Gradius Origins will be released not only on Nintendo Switch, but also on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC , with the release date confirmed as August 7, 2025.
