Gradius/Enemies

Fans
Fans are the very first enemy that you will even encounter. They travel in packs ranging from five to nine, and follow each other in a trail. They appear high or low on the screen, move up or down to another row closer to you, and retreat away from you at the same horizontal plane as your ship. They will leave a power-up capsule behind if you destroy the entire formation, so try not to allow any to escape.

Rugul
Ruguls are a form of attack ship. They appear on the right side of the screen and they don't move very quickly. They will, however, hone in on your position, flying up or down, or even turning all the way around to chase after your ship's position in space. They are easy to destroy since they commonly ending up lining up with your line of fire. They also come in a red variety that leaves power-up capsules behind when destroyed.

Garun
These spinning attack ships tend to fly in groups of two at a time, weaving through space on a sine wave trajectory. They never deviate from this trajectory, and they are rather fast. Try to destroy them early on when they are far away, and avoid them once they get too close to your position. They are easiest to hit at the top and bottom of their wave path. Garuns also come in a power-up capsule dropping red color.

Beans
Beans are another formation enemy. They appear in two different squadrons that criss-cross each other, almost creating the illusion of a figure eight. They travel quickly across the screen, but they don't fan out too high or low, so they are easy targets as long as you have a couple of Options to assist you. Like the Fans, they will leave behind a power-up capsule if you destroy every Bean in the formation.

Rugul MkII
The second variation of Ruguls are much faster and much more dangerous than their original design. Their speed allows them to catch the Vic Viper, even after several Speed Ups, due to the limited screen space. But like regular Ruguls, they share the same weakness that tends to put them directly in front of your weapon range. Take them out quickly before they have a chance to gang up on you.

Fose
The Fose is another formation type enemy.