Gradius III was one of the first shooters for the SNES and years later remains one of its best. The console port would be my first exposure to the game and I’m pretty sure for many others as Konami pulled the arcade from stores at one point. In fact it would be many years before I would even play that version of the game. Although Konami had to do a bit of nip tucking here and there to bring the experience home I would say overall I enjoyed the SNES game a lot more than its frustrating coin op counterpart. Its flaws stick out pretty badly but this remains a great game still.
The Gradius weapon system returns with a host of enhancements. Much like its predecessor there are a number of preset weapon configurations to choose from with a number armaments new to the series such as the Back Double, Twin Laser, and the Crusher Laser. These setups are almost identical to Gradius II so for those who simply want turn their brain off and jump right in they are perfectly balanced.
That’s not what everyone is interested in however. What gamers everywhere wanted and what truly makes Gradius III special is its edit mode. Here you can create your own custom weapon loadout among a vast selection in each category. Many of the weapons in edit mode are exclusive and the most powerful in the game. There simply is no comparison as the edit mode selection is just a cut above your standard options. Weapons like the E. Laser are damn near game breaking. The numerous option formations such as rotation are also really helpful. There are even a few shield options although the best option is Reduce. Reduce shrinks your ship and allows it to soak up one or two hits before death. This mode is a shooter fan’s wet dream and Konami really delivered by offering so many options.
At ten levels Gradius III is one of the longer shooters on the market. The game covers a lot of ground and its greatest strength is the wide variety in its levels. While some are practically retreads from prior games such as the fire area and the requisite Moai stage the designers have done a good job of switching things up. The bubble stage can be incredibly difficult if you are reckless and try to destroy everything in sight. The high speed zone is one of the most difficult areas in the game as it is very enticing to overload on speed power-ups to keep up. The plant stage is probably my favorite as it is the most visually striking in my opinion.
For the most part nearly all of the arcade’s levels are represented in some form although Konami have changed the order and outright removed some. The crystal level has been excised completely. The high speed zone was expanded into a full stage rather than a brief segment for better or worse. The Cell stage replaces the base as the final stage and loses its life force inspired brain enemies. Two hidden levels from Gradius and Salamander were bonuses in the arcade but didn’t make the trip in the conversion. To make up for these cuts a few bosses from the second game have been added although that is little compensation.
In the arcade Gradius III was brutally difficult and I doubt anyone finished without spending ten or twenty dollars in quarters. The home port is a different story and better balanced. There are less enemies in every stage making your already vast arsenal of weapons seem even more powerful. More importantly like the Famicom version of Gradius 2 you can trigger slowdown if you have four options and spam attacks, buying you time to get out of hairy situations. You could say that’s cheating but honestly who really cares? That being said the game still puts up a valiant fight, especially toward the end. If you happen to die during the High Speed Zone or Boss Rush you might as well start over.
On the surface the SNES version of the game looks arcade perfect and in some ways it bests the arcade. There are layers of scrolling added to many of the backgrounds. Many of the flat starry landscapes have had level appropriate scenery added that really gives the game visual variety. However there are just as many cuts. A number of standard enemies have been removed, no doubt to cut down on slowdown. The extremely cool fire wyvern that served as a miniboss in stage 5 is also gone. There were two third person levels that resembled Galaxy Force that have also been removed. Granted these stages were terrible but it would have been cool to at least see them replicated using Mode 7.
The excellent visuals are only marred by severe slowdown. The SNES developed a bad reputation for slowdown and titles like Gradius III were part of the reason why. It really is that bad. Every level features a few moments where the game will almost slow to a crawl. Stage 2’s multiplying bubbles is the absolute worst, with the action frequently reduced to a slideshow. Much like the NES port of the second game you can use this to your advantage by forcing it to happen but that still doesn’t excuse how bad the game runs.
In Closing
Framerate issues aside I still absolutely love Gradius III and it might be my favorite in the series. Even with its slowdown this is still a great game and one of the better shooters for the platform.
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