Vandal Hearts II is a fine turn-based strategy title for the PS1, and it's one with a curious hidden secret.
For a while, it has been known that a special 'Gradius' weapon exists within the game, and this is capable of unleashing Vic Viper from the famous shmup series – which then inflicts a super-powerful Ripple Laser attack on enemies.
As noted by ResetEra member OdjnRyu, the existence of this weapon in the game isn't new – it was discovered in the game's code using cheat devices. However, while various theories have been circulating online, nobody has understood how it was obtained – until now.
OdjnRyu reveals that the Gradius Sword is unlocked by downloading a special save file from the Japanese magazine Dengeki PlayStation's D22 demo disc, which was originally published back in September of 1999, a couple of months after the game launched in Japan. This fact was discovered thanks to Twitch streamer Karkalla.
The best thing is, OdjnRyu also includes instructions on how to make this save data file work with the North American copy of the game, so you can finally obtain the Gradius Sword legitimately.
You'll need the Dengeki PlayStation D22 demo disc, at least two PlayStation memory cards (a regular PS1 memory card and/or a MemCard Pro), a PS3 Memory Card adapter (this is not needed if you're using a MemCard Pro), a PS1, PS2, or PS3 that can run Japanese games and MemCard Rex.
Thanks to vgmuseum.bsky.social for the tip!