Gradius/Characters
There are characters in Gradius Series. However, few of them are enough information to be included in this page.
Heroes
James Burton
The hero of Gradius 1, Nemesis 2, Gradius Rebirth. He is a Wreekian, just like Dr. Venom. After defeating Venom in Nemesis 2, James becomes Emperor Lars 18th. He passes away in year 6718, but that doesn't stop Dr. Venom from going to the past and kidnapping a three-year old James. Thank goodness David Burton, a descendant of James, saved the boy from Venom.
- Ace Pilot
- Human Alien: James looks like a human, but he is a Wreekian.
- Recurring Character
David Burton
The hero of Nemesis 3. A descendant of the late James Burton, David repels Bacterian forces and discovers the Bacterians going back in time to change history. David saves a three-year old James Burton from the Bacterians and frees the Bacterian controlled planets.
Eddie Evans
One of the protagonists of the Salamander OVA series. He gets manipulated by Paula, a Bacterian disguised as a human, into destroying the Bacterian repellent: the Moai Statue. Eddie redeems himself by sacrificing himself(by flying into the mouth dragon named Salamander) to save Gradius.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Nice Job destroying the Moai statue, Eddie. Now the Bacterians will invade Gradius.
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Redemption Equals Death
- Unwitting Pawn
Stephanie
One of the Protagonists of the Salamander OVA series. In the second Salamander OVA, she had to destroy her own father (who was kidnapped and turned into a Cyber Brain by the Bacterians). In the third, she gets kidnapped by the Bacterians and almost got become a cyber brain just like her father, but gets saved in time by Dan and Lord British.
Lord British
One of the Protagonists of the game Salamander and the Salamander OVA series. He is the ruler of planet Latis. His personality isn't very detailed in the games, but in the OVA series, he's a Jerkass.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
Bacterians/Bacterions/The Bacterian/Bacterian Empire/Bacterion Empire/etc.
The main villains of Gradius who come from the Star cluster of Bacterion. This page is just going to cover the important ones.
Bacterion
Bacterion, the god of destruction. The creator of Gofer, the entire Bacterion Empire, and Zelos Force, Bacterion always tries to invade Gradius, home of the Vic Viper, the ship that always defeats him.
- Anticlimax Boss: It may be justified, considering how hard it is to get to Bacterion.
- Big Bad
- Brain In A Jar: Sometimes.
- Cosmic Horror
- Evolved into a Planet: In Gradius 3. Or maybe he have always been this way.
- Evil Is Visceral
- Hive Mind
- Nightmare Fuel: Sometimes, He's a Brain In A Jar. Sometimes He's a Genius Loci.
- Recurring Character
- The Emperor
- Spell My Name With an "S": Bacterion or Bacterian?
- The Virus: Bacterion's strategy of conquering planets; Bacterion multiplies, then Bacterion use pyschic controlling beings called Cyber Brains (for example,Venom and Gofer), or Bacterion uses his psychic powers to control those the duplicate cells and make them into fighter ships and monsters, called Bacterians. Combined with the intelligence of the Cyber Brains (or Bacterion), the Bacterians conquer planets into transform into whatever they like. If the Cyber Brains or Bacterion get blown up, at least the pieces would grow into more Cyber Brains, making the Bacterion Empire stronger.
- Zero Effort Boss: Barely subverted, as Bacterian at least tries to kill you, but his attacks are slow and easy to avoid.
Gofer
A Bacterian just like his master, Bacterion. Except lesser. And less powerful.
- Anticlimax Boss
- The Dragon: Lampshaded by Gofer himself.
- Dragon Ascendant
- Evil Is Visceral
- Hive Mind
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Gofer in Gradius IV states that he will be reborn in every single piece of Gofer's body. Fridge Logic would make his last words more of a warning than just mere words.
- Nightmare Fuel
- Recurring Character
- Was Once a Man: Until Bacterion turned Gofer into a giant skinless head.
- Zero Effort Boss: Subverted in the Salamander OVA series when Paula and Gofer combine into a phoenix, which turns out to be the first boss of Gradius II. Weird.
Zelos Force
This Bacterian is a red gigantic eye created as a Living Weapon by the forces of Bacterion to transform planet Latis, a neighboring planet, into Bacterian territory.
- Anticlimax Boss
- Degraded Boss: Zelos Force went from final boss to boss to a regular Mook.
- Evil Is Visceral
- Eye Scream
- Living Relic: In Gradius Neo and Gradius Neo Imperial, the Bacterian Empire doesn't exist anymore. All that's left is the Bacterians' technology, the Crystal Moai, and some wild Zelos Forces.
- Living Weapon
- Nightmare Fuel
- Recurring Character
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zelos Force is a red eye.
- The Virus: That's what Zelos Force is designed for.
- Villain Exit Stage Left: At the end of Salamander, Zelos can be seen escaping.
- Zero Effort Boss: Subverted in Gradius II Nes and Gradius IV.
Paula
A female Bacterian who is the Big Bad of the Salamander OVA series.
- Human Alien: That's actually Paula's disguise.
- Magnificent Bastard: A female version of that of course; she poses as a boat person from the 5th planet and manipulates one of the protagonists into destroying a Moai Statue, which allows the Bacterians, who were repelled by the Moai Statue, to come in and mess up the place.
Life Force/Zelos(Not to be confused with the other Zelos)
A Planet Eater that eats planets. Usually, you have to destroy him from the inside.
- Big Bad: Of the game Life Force.
- Evil Is Visceral
- Genius Loci: Or so it seems to be at the ending of NES Life Force.
- Cosmic Horror
- Planet Eater
- Covers Always Lie: ...maybe. One would assume Zelos, based on the description, to be the flaming dragon depicted on the cover of the game, whose mouth is the size of a few planets in front of it. However, the same cover first originated with the arcade Salamander, the plot of which did not involve a planet eater.
Big Core Series
A series of large Bacterian Warships that mostly serve as the bosses of the Gradius Series. So far, there are Big Cores MK I, II, III, IV, and many variants.
- Cores and Turrets Boss: The Trope Codifier.
- Degraded Boss: Big Core MK I went from a boss to a mook.
- That One Boss: Some of the Big Cores.
Other Characters
Dr. Venom
The Big Bad of Nemesis 2, 3, Gradius Rebirth and V. He constantly tries to destroy Gradius for using his people, who became an endangered species thanks to a future version of Venom and Gofer, only for their ESP powers.
- Anticlimax Boss: in Gradius V.
- Because Destiny Says So: The Latisian prophecy in Salamander MSX states that a devil with green skin and five eyes will cause two catastrophes. Guess who's the devil.
- The Dragon
- Dragon Ascendant
- Evil Is Visceral: In Gradius V.
- Nightmare Fuel: In Gradius V.
- Recurring Character
- That One Boss: Subverted in Gradius V, where Venom has become a brain who is just as weak as Bacterion, Zelos, and Gofer.
- Was Once a Man: Venom became a cyborg in Nemesis II but was still a Wreek. Now all that left of him is a Bacterian Hive Mind.
Doom
"I'm going to scare you like you've NEVER been scared before!" .
Doom, a subversion of the easy Gradius final boss. He was the most recent leader of Salamander, an elite Bacterian army that was previously led by Zelos Force and Venom. He only appeared in Salamander 2.
- Anticlimax Boss: Averted.
- Humanoid Abomination
- Nightmare Fuel: While Doom isn't a brain-like guy or a giant eye, Doom is a giant three-headed humanoid.
- Spell My Name With an "S": Doom's name is often confused with Giga.
- Taking You With Me
- That One Boss
O.V.U.M (Original Visions of Ultimate Monster)
O.V.U.M, the main villain of Gradius Gaiden. He transforms into several entities from the Salamander Army before exploding.
- Anticlimax Boss
- Boss Rush: O.V.U.M is a Boss Rush. A harmless one you don't have to fight.
- Continuity Nod: O.V.U.M is a Continuity Nod.