This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Ununnilium: You don't have to add which category you're putting it in when you edit a trope - that only creates a redundant listing at the bottom.
Ray Ayanami: Retracting my own edits because they don't really fit the defintiion of a Gaiden Game. Yes, they have gameplay that's different from the rest of the games in their respective series, but they're not what the trope calls for: side stories (which is what gaiden means in the first place). Maybe it's time to make a new trope? Spinoff Game perhaps?
- R-Type Leo has gameplay significant from a "real" R-Type game. Instead of a Force Pod, you had two smaller pods that provided additional firepower and had a homing charge attack.
- Gradius Gaiden, the only Gradius title that allows the player to rearrange the power meter, and the second non-Parodius game to have multiple selectable ships (the MSX title Nemesis 3 being the first).
- And for that matter, the MSX version of Salamander, and MSX exclusives Nemesis 2 and 3. The MSX Salamander plays more like a Gradius title, and has several new features such as a powerup that temporarily stops the screen scrolling. Nemesis 2 is an original title with the ability to fly into about-to-be-destroyed boss ships and obtain new powerups such as an upward-firing laser, at the cost of having a longer power meter. Nemesis 3 is a retelling of the more mainstram Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou with Nemesis 2-style gameplay.
- The DJ MAX series has primarily been a beatmania-like game, but the newly-released arcade game DJ MAX Technika is a much different game, with touchscreen-based gameplay combining elements of Osu Tatakae Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents and Lumines. Due to its similarities to the former and its harsh Life Meter, it's a very Nintendo Hard game; you can easily fail a song in the first 10 seconds.
Someguy: I added R-Type Leo back because it is a side-story. (It takes place before any of the other games and you fight an insane computer instead of the Bydos.)
