Speed up is a basic recurring power-up in the Gradius series.
Types
- Speed Up: The most common speed power up; increases the ship's speed. Once it reaches max speed, the speed up icon becomes empty. In case of certain games, activating the first empty icon (in Gradius V, the "Init Speed" icon) will reset the ship's speed to its default value.
- Speed Down: Allows to reduce the ship's speed. Often found as part of the "!" power-up slot in Gradius III. In Otomedius Gorgeous and Otomedius Excellent, it is called Reverse Speed although it is called by its original name in the former case.
- Hyper Speed: Allows to increase the ship's speed by twice the regular amount. Only appeared in the Japanese version of Life Force.