Celebrate 30 years of Gradius with this Gradius X Aretha Franklin mashup

Let Gradius free!

Today is the 30th anniversary of Gradius hitting arcades in Japan. I imagine this is the party theme when the Bacterions (or whatever the hell you fight in Gradius) are finally defeated. Although, considering that a new Gradius in nearly ten years, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Konami headquarters is actually just a large warehouse with bums living inside it, maybe this song is a cry to Konami to sell the rights to a good, loving company while they still can.

I had no idea Aretha Franklin was singing about an alien invasion. I hated sitting on this song. This song has everything. The R&B VGM mashup I've been dying for, not to mention the highly underutilized tunes from the Gradius series. This is the kind of track that gets me so hyped about running this blog. It hits the sweet spot of two of my passions, early 90's shmups and late 60's blues and rock & roll.

I have a lot of passions.

I don't even have a clue who created this strange but beautiful fusion, but it really feels like they had me in mind. 

Too bad the person who created this strange but wonderful mashup hadn't merely left this on the front porch of the internet before running off. If anyone knows the whereabouts of this mashup producer, please inform me.

Thanks for spending Gradius week with us! Share your favorite Gradius memories with us in the comments and on twitter or facebook!