|platforms = Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, NES, Famicom Disk System, mobile phone, PlayStation

|release =

|genre = Tube shooter

|modes = Single-player, multiplayer

is a 1983 tube shooter video game developed and published by Konami for Japanese arcades. It was initially licensed to Centuri in North America for dedicated machines before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion kits for the game. Parker Brothers released ports for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision and Commodore 64 in 1984. An enhanced version for the Famicom Disk System was released in 1988, followed by the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989.

The gameplay is similar to that of Galaga, albeit in a tube shooter format, with the player's ship able to move around the perimeter of an implicit circle. Stars come into view at the center of the screen and fly outward, giving the impression of the player's ship moving through space. Gyruss is the second and last game Yoshiki Okamoto designed for Konami, after Time Pilot.

Ports

Parker Brothers released ports for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, and Commodore 64 in June 1984. A version for the ZX Spectrum was coded but never released.

Gyruss was remade for the Famicom Disk System in Japan, and later the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, released by Konami's subsidiary Ultra Games. These versions include several major revisions:

  1. The player can use a super phaser attack in addition to the normal guns, which cost energy.
  2. There are additional enemies, including boss fights when the player reaches each planet.
  3. Bonus stages after each planet's boss is defeated, for a chance to gain additional powerups.
  4. There is a definite ending to the game. In the NES version, it's a brief text about the Universe being at peace. In the FDS version, there is a full ending sequence with credits.
  5. In addition to the satellites providing the usual double guns and bonus points, they can also provide extra phasers, a smart bomb, and even an extra life.
  6. Instead of the arcade's 24 stages, there are 39, including Pluto (between Neptune and Uranus), Venus, Mercury, and the Sun.
  7. The player can enter the Konami code at the title screen for extra lives, but it must be entered in reverse (A-B-A-B-right-left-right-left-down-down-up-up).

In 1998, the game was included as part of the compilation Konami 80's Arcade Gallery (which was later ported to the PlayStation as Konami Arcade Classics in 1999). In 2002, it was again ported to the Game Boy Advance as part of the Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced compilation.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Gyruss as the seventh most successful table arcade unit of June 1983. Computer Games magazine gave the ColecoVision and home computer conversions an A− rating, calling it a "very good adaptation of the Galaga-in-the-round arcade game".

Legacy

thumb|right|The [[Game Boy Advance|GBA port, in Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced]]

The Famicom version of the game is included in the Majesco Entertainment TV Game Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced and was released for Japanese mobile phones in 2004.

Gyruss is included in the compilation Konami 80's Arcade Gallery, released for both the arcade and PlayStation (known as Konami 80's AC Special in western arcades and Konami Arcade Classics in the North American PlayStation version). It is also part of Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced for the Game Boy Advance.

The Konami Live! Plug and Play PC controller includes an emulated online Gyruss, as well as five other Konami titles.

Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2 contains a remix of the Gyruss music as a playable song.

Clones

A bootleg arcade version exists with the name Venus.

Gyruss was cloned as a mini-game in the games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (named "They Crawled from Uranus") and Contra: Legacy of War.

Record

The film Cannon Arm And the Arcade Quest directed by Mads Hedegaard follows the current world record holder Kim "Kanonarm" Köbke and friends in Kim's attempt to set a new world record. Kim "Kanonarm" Köbke sets the record of 70,736,950 during a game of 62 hours and 23 minutes in the summer of 2019.

References

</references>

  • Gyruss at the Arcade History database
  • Gyruss at Gamebase 64
  • Gyruss at centuri.net