Vandal Hearts II is an obscure technique RPG sequel produced by Konami on the finish of the PS1’s life. Few performed it however many who did will cherish it eternally. Now it’s oldest and weirdest thriller has lastly be solved. A reference to Konami’s traditional shoot ’em up sequence Gradius talked about a particular sword within the sport’s information that nobody may ever get to spawn with out hacks. Followers thought up all kinds of untamed theories, together with needing very particular save information from different Konami video games like Suikoden to unlock the key. It seems that they really wanted a super-rare demo disc.
The Gradius Sword in Vandal Hearts II isn’t only a enjoyable little Easter egg. The weapon incorporates a robust spell referred to as “Ripple Laser” that summons an precise 3D mannequin of Gradius‘ actual Vic Viper to fly across the battlefield and blow up enemies. It’s fairly highly effective and a surprisingly ornate animation for one thing that nobody was ever capable of uncover within the sport naturally. The outcome has been a long time of random threads throughout message boards like GameFAQs and elsewhere as followers tried to determine what you can truly do within the sport to set off the Gradius Sword to seem.
Three years in the past, the tiny YouTube account Dragon Quarter reposted footage of the Ripple Laser ability in motion that was initially uploaded in 2010. Then final evening, Dragon Quarter returned with a significant replace. “After getting a tip from a follower (who I realize now got their tip from a recent post on GameFAQs) of Twitch streamer Karkalla, who is currently playing through Vandal Hearts II for the first time, I have confirmed the Gradius Sword was originally unlocked by downloading a special save data file from Dengeki PlayStation D22 (SLPM-80471), a demo disc included with Dengeki PlayStation Magazine Issue 116 (dated 1999-09-24),” they posted on ResetEra on Friday.
In response to GameFAQ consumer Kern, the invention got here after discovering a reference to the demo disc on an older Japanese website. “Someone on a discord who had some old discs found the file on the D22 disc (which you can get from ebay),” they wrote. “I wasn’t able to verify it personally myself but he posted images of the file, and he was able to open the save file on an English copy and the Gradius sword was available for purchase.” Dragon Quarter has since confirmed it as nicely.
That is the type of deep gaming lore I thrive on. For years, random gamers on forums have claimed to have discovered the weapon early on in Vandal Hearts II simply by probability. Is it potential there’s some one in one million probability for it to only spawn randomly with out the demo disc information? Who is aware of. It appears clear that Konami at the least meant for it to be an unique bonus for house owners of the demo disc, just like the deluxe version pre-orders of immediately that allow gamers start a sport with distinctive upgrades and equipment.
Essentially the most absurd idea by far was that you just wanted to have a remaining Gregminster save level from the unique Suikoden on a reminiscence card to get the Gradius Sword to seem within the store. When that was debunked a few years in the past, many gamers had resigned themselves to the weapon solely being out there by way of some hacked save file from “Jean” that was uploaded to GameFAQs over a decade in the past. Now gamers can get it the “official” means by downloading a copy of the demo disc save and utilizing a PS3 reminiscence card converter to get the information onto a PS1 reminiscence card.
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