Otomedius

Otomedius (オトメディウス) is a side scrolling shooter by Konami which featured personification of space fighters from various Konami games. The main characters are mostly females, designed by Mine Yoshizaki, with a set of equipment resembling space fighters from the side-scroller games by the same company Gradius, Xexex, Salamander and Parodius. The name is a pun, being a portmanteau of the terms "otome" (meaning "maiden" in Japanese) and "Gradius". The music was composed by Norihiko Hibino, who also serves a producer on the game.

It is Konami's first arcade shooter since Gradius IV in 1999. The arcade title was announced in AOU2007 Amusement Expo in 2006-02-16, with test version available.

It features touch screen input and e-AMUSEMENT.

Unlike previous Konami's arcade shooters, player can continue after losing all lives using a single credit. Player can choose which stage to play, with maximum of 3 stages playable using 1 credit.

When using an e-AMUSEMENT PASS, player gets following features:


 * Character statistics records. The e-AMUSEMENT PASS saves player's name, obtained Otome cards, stage performances.
 * Character development. When playing a character, the character gains experience points (ST) that allows the character to raise ranks, which allow more difficult missions to be chosen.
 * Online features. Player's scores are compared with others via online ranking database.

It is an item obtained when the game ends. The following cards are available:
 * Weapon card: Allows players to choose power up type in a fighter's power up slot before the beginning of a mission. Levels 2 and 3 cards allows weapons to have further power increase, but the power increase is time-limited.
 * Illustration card: An illustration card contains a fragment of an illustration. After obtaining multiple illustration cards, an illustration is obtained. It comes in colour and monochrome variants. When obtaining 2 monochrome pieces, they are converted to 1 colour piece.
 * Miracle gift: The selected character gains 1000ST.

Each character has its own rank and ST points, and the ranks are raised by gaining ST points. ST points can be gained by following:
 * Retrieving various Elements in the game. The difficulty rating of collecting a given quantity of Elements affects the earned ST points. However, when a fighter dies in the game, the Elements obtained is halved.
 * Rating bonus. High mission rating gains ST points, while low rating loses them. If player continues a mission or fails a mission, the rating drops.
 * Using Miracle gift card.

Characters

 * Aoba Anoa: Vic Viper pilot (Gradius-themed fighter)
 * Eru Tron: Lord British pilot (Salamander-themed fighter)
 * Emon Five: Xel Viper pilot (Thunder Cross-themed fighter)
 * Madoka: Murdoch Viper pilot (Twinbee-themed fighter)
 * Diol Twee: Serenity Viper pilot (Xexex-themed fighter)
 * Tita Nium: Bigcore Examiner pilot (Gradius/Salamander boss-themed fighter)
 * Esmeralda: Jade Knight pilot (Gradius Gaiden-themed fighter)
 * Poini Coon: Falchion Beta pilot (Gradius Gaiden-themed fighter)


 * Mermaid's Pet Seal:San Salvador Boss
 * TiTi XIV: Alexandria boss
 * Eliza: San Salvador boss
 * L.B.Gofer, R.B.Gofer: Tokyo bosses. In the test version, they are the San Salvador boss. In Otomedius Gorgeous!, they are also bosses for the Valhalla stage.
 * Meta Lium: Canadian Rockies boss
 * Crystal core D-X02: Antarctica boss
 * Yoshiko & Yoshio: Easter Island bosses


 * Big Core
 * Tetran
 * Viva Core
 * Space Manbow
 * Big Core Mk-II
 * Rolling Core
 * Covered Core
 * Death
 * Abadon Warship
 * Mayhem Warship
 * Z.F.F.(Zeros Force Fortune): Area E boss.
 * Odin Core

Missions
There are 4 stages in each game, with 4 (normal, hard, expert, ultimate) difficulty settings.

When the game starts at date 2009-08, player can only choose mission 1 with normal difficulty, mission 2 with hard or lower difficulty, mission 3 with expert or lower difficulty. Playing early missions with higher difficulties require a higher level fighter. To unlock Ultimate difficulty, at least 1 Expert mission must be completed.

Player can choose which mission to complete in any order within a game, but a completed mission cannot be chosen more than twice per game.

At the end of each mission, the fighter is given a rank from S (highest) to E (lowest) based on score, obtained element, collected capsules, received damage, life loss. The rank determines ST points earned by the fighter. ST point is also determined by:


 * Difficulty. Higher ST points with more difficult mission, lower otherwise.
 * Continues.
 * Death. Every time the game is continued, obtained elements are reduced by half.

If the mission is completed with poor performance, it is possible for the fighter to lose ST points.


 * San Salvador
 * Alexandria
 * Tokyo
 * Antarctica
 * Easter Island (2009-08): Paid downloadable level in Otomedius Gorgeous!

There are 5 areas in the game. The difficulty of each area depends on player's average skill level. Player has infinite fighter stock, and the burst gauge slowly recovers.

Each area consists of grunt battle, followed by treasure hatch (except area E), then boss battle. The boss of each area (except area E) changes between games.

In treasure hatch region, opening hatch causes enemy to appear. The hatch shows the icon type for a given hatch, but when a hatch is destroyed, a different icon appears, which causes different effect:
 * Points icon: Increases bonus points.
 * Element icon: Causes Enemy that releases element to appear.
 * Capsule icon: Causes Enemy that releases power capsule to appear.
 * Sky icon: Releases indestructible iron ball.

At the end of each game, overall rankings between players were given based on bonuses decided by the ranks of collected element, collected capsule, received damage. The overall highest ranked player gains ST points, while 2nd rank player gains no ST points, and 3rd rank player loses ST points.

Plot
Thousands of years have passed since the war of Planet Gradius and sub-space Bacterion. The legend of the combat aircraft has become a myth...

In 21st century Earth, the mysterious Bacterion visits Earth and continues the war. The St. Gradius high school 2nd grade student Aoba Anoa was sought by the secret anti-Bacterion organization 'G' for her talents, and became the maiden 'Angel'. She was given a Riding Viper named Vic Viper.

Millennia from the legend, new myth has begun.

Reception and legacy
Eurogamer editor Jonti Davies rated Otomedius Gorgeous! 7/10 for unbalanced Gorgeous Mode game play, slowdown in Gorgeous mode, has more personality than Choaniki.

MMS2nd
In 2008, Konami released a set of figures based on the main characters of the game. These designs use the Konami MMS2nd figure as their base, the same used in their Busou Shinki line. The sets also each contained 2 penguin mascots which are common enemies in the game Parodius.

Otomedius Another Dimension
It is a series of digital comic serialized on Weekly Konami Magazine, based on Otomedius characters. First issue was released on 2007-10-19.

First volume was released free for i-revo subscribers.