Editing Gradius (video game) (section)

===Famicom/NES===
The first home conversion of ''Gradius'' was released for [[Nintendo]]'s [[Famicom]] console on April 25, 1986, in Japan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-konami-code-celebrates-its-35th-anniversary-today/ |title=The Konami Code celebrates its 35th anniversary today |first=Chris |last=Scullion |date=25 April 2021 |website=[[Video Games Chronicle]] |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref> Due to the hardware limitations of the Famicom, many of the level designs were simplified (the Moai stage, for example, lacked the vertical scrolling present in the arcade game) and the maximum amount of options that the player can upgrade to was reduced from four to two. This version added a cheat code that could be entered while the game was paused that granted the player's ship almost all the power-ups. This code appeared again in many later Konami games on the NES and other consoles (such as ''[[Contra (video game)|Contra]]'' and ''[[Salamander (video game)|Life Force]]''), ultimately becoming known as the [[Konami Code]].

The [[NES]] version of ''Gradius'' was released in [[North America]] in December 1986. It was the first NES game to be released by Konami in the region and, unlike the original arcade game, the title was kept unchanged between regions. The NES version was made available in arcades as a [[Nintendo VS. System]] board (under the title of ''VS. Gradius'') and as a [[PlayChoice-10]] cartridge. ''VS. Gradius'' was distributed to arcades by [[Nintendo]].