In an interview with the game's producer Yasushi Takano on the promotional DVD, "Gradius Breakdown", Takano said that he felt the traditional "Gradius" formula had become stagnant and expressed a desire for a new direction for the series to remain relevant, he also admitted that some of their early work was not as impressive as it would later become. The game went through several iterations and the game was subsequently delayed and made frequent appearances at trade fairs including the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Tokyo Game Show. Plans were also made to produce a counterpart for video arcades alongside the console version, but it was canceled because of time constraints.