A Slave is an accompanying NPC that provides the player extra firepower. They can be acquired by picking up the Slave power-up (icon with a large S on it).
In most cases, you may have up to two slaves at once. Picking up more slave power-ups will only give you points; they do not repair your slaves.
Slave types[]
Standard Raiden F[]
These are standard slave ships used by most ships. They have a steady rate of fire and take quite a bit of punishment. Certain ships such as Tengai and Solvalou have uniquely skinned slaves that follow the same behavior as the standard slaves
Upon picking up a Slave powerup when you already have two Slaves by your side, they will assume special formations. The Slave formation is determined by the ones digit of the sum of your lives and bombs remaining. Their formations are as follows:
- Front Formation: Slaves fly in front of the player, firing twin V shots. The result must be 0, 4, or 8.
- Shadow Formation: Slaves follow the player's ship like Gradius Shadow Options, firing double shots. The result must be 1, 5, or 9.
- Cross Formation: Slaves cross over each other, firing three-way shots. The result must be 2 or 6.
- Orbit Formation: Slaves orbit around the player's ship, firing single shots. The result must be 3 or 7
When your Slaves are in a special formation and you lose one, picking up a second Slave will have it adopt the formation you currently have. You can only change the formation when you have two Slaves accompanying you.
Gradius Shield Slaves[]
An exclusive Slave type of the Vic Viper, Gradius Shield Slaves follow normal Slave movements. It also assumes a rotating formation depending on the player's lives stock and number of Bombs. The Gradius Shield Slaves do not attack in any way, but they have 4 times the hitpoints of normal Slaves.
Tractor Beam[]
A slave type exclusively made for the Gyaraga. With the Tractor Beam active, the player can catch up to four weak enemy ships and use them as slave ships. They do not have the formation capabilities of the Standard Raiden F slaves. If the Gyaraga doesn't capture anything or gets at least 3, then it will capture a Boss Galaga. Any surviving captured enemies at the end of the stage will become Boss Galagas in the next stage in Story Mode and Path Mode.
Legendary Wings support fighters[]
Kevin Walker and Michelle Heart have clones of each other as slaves. Instead of assuming different formations like the Standard Raiden F slave type, the support fighters equip different weapons based on the remaining lives and stock of bombs.
| Game mechanics | ||
| Game modes | Story Mode ● Path Mode ● Conquest Mode ● Boss Rush | |
| Core gameplay | SP Ability (Xeno Overdrive) ● Miclus ● Fairy ● Slave ● Fighter weapon modes ● Combo system and scoring bonuses ● Medal system ● Rank system and difficulty levels | |
| Lore | BRES ● ATHENA ● The Keto | |
| Game information | Game development history ● Public release history | |