Mega Man's not the only old-school hero who's decided to return to his roots; Konami's Vic Viper, the "star" of the Gradius series, has taken a step back into the past as well. Where Mega Man 9aims squarely for the glory days of the late '80s, though, Gradius ReBirth has a bit more of the 16-bit feel about it. The sound is pure arcade, with jangly synths playing almost-but-not-quite familiar tunes, and the visuals look more or less like they were cribbed straight from the later Super NES days -- lots of pastel colors, and lots of slowdown when the screen's full of moving objects.

SCREENS: Click the image above to check out all Gradius Rebirth screens.

ReBirth's first two levels won't win any awards for creative design, as they're derived almost entirely from previous games in the series. The first stage is a redux of the first level of the original Gradius, from the waves of enemies in space to the placement of obstacles and enemies to the eventual volcano showdown. The game does throw a few wrinkles into the mix, though, including a flash-freeze that ices over the entire level and transforms it into a snowfield, and how the volcano sequence features a troupe of ground-hugging robots rather than a random spray of magma. Still, these are simply riffs on the familiar, similar to PlayStation classic Gradius Gaiden, but far less inventive or impressive. The graphics are oddly blurry, clearly not having been designed to make use of the Wii's full resolution, and the animation employs a combination of recycled sprites and visual cheats (sprites being rotated, rather than being drawn through a full range of motion). No one will be surprised when you clear out the volcano section and move along to a showdown with a core ship, complete with an announcer exhorting you to shoot the core!