How to play Gradius V on Mac

Game summary

In Konami's fifth entry in the Gradius series, Gradius V adds changes to gameplay while keeping to original form. Of the most significant changes is the ability to direct the yellow pods (ambiguously but classically titled "option") direction of fire, using the PlayStation 2's analog joystick. While doing this, however, your ship cannot move. This adds a greater challenge for the game, and allows the designers to be more evil in their placement of enemy ships. Outside of that, the rest is standard fare for a Gradius game: don't you dare touch the walls or any enemy projectiles, but pick up upgrade pods to increase your arsenal
First released: Jul 2004

Play Gradius V on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Gradius V on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Gradius V installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Gradius V like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍