''Gradius III'' is a 1989
scrolling shooter
In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...
video game developed and published by
Konami
, is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
, originally released for the
arcades in Japan and other parts of Asia on December 11, 1989. It is the third game in the ''
Gradius
is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper.
Games
*''Scra ...
'' series. The game was ported to the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan in 1990 and North America in 1991, and served as a
launch title
This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.
0–9
A
...
for the system in North America. The arcade version would never see the light of day in the West until it was included alongside ''
Gradius IV
is the fourth arcade installment in a series of scrolling shooter video games developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It was preceded by ''Gradius III'', released in 1989, although spinoffs had been released prior to it such as ''Gradius ...
'' in a two-in-one compilation (''Gradius III & IV'') for the
PlayStation 2 and in the ''
Gradius Collection
is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper.
Games
*'' Scr ...
'' for the
PlayStation Portable.
Gameplay
The player pilots the
Vic Viper
Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense) ...
starfighter to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire. There are a total of ten levels in the game, with stage 4 being something of a bonus level; here, the player controls the Vic Viper in a third-person perspective and must avoid colliding with walls. Though the level is completely devoid of any enemies, free floating power-ups are scattered throughout. There are also two hidden levels that are based on the early sections of ''
Gradius
is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper.
Games
*''Scra ...
'' and ''
Salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
''. The game contains the familiar weapons, level layouts, and enemies that have become trademarks of the series.
Unlike previous games in the series, ''Gradius III'' does not include a continuation feature; if the player loses their
lives
Lives may refer to:
* The plural form of a '' life''
* Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran
* The number of lives in a video game
* '' Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous ...
, the
game will be over. The Japanese version of the game contains a 'beginner mode' that allows the player to venture through the first three levels at a much easier
difficulty. At the end of the third level, the game will bid the player to try the game again at the normal difficulty ('technical mode'), which can loop endlessly. The Asian (non-Japanese) arcade release lacks the beginner mode and retrospective introduction sequence, but reduces the difficulty overall.
In addition to new pre-defined weapon schemes, ''Gradius III'' introduces the "Edit Mode"; players can mix and match missile, double, laser, shield and "special" ("!") power-ups into their own custom combination. Some of the weapons available in pre-defined schemes can not be used in custom schemes, and vice versa.
Release
A port of ''Gradius III'' was released for the
Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...
in Japan in December 1990 and for the
Super NES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...
in North America in 1991, with the option of reduced difficulty and additional armaments for the Vic Viper. It replicates the slowdown of its arcade counterpart and discards the pseudo-3D and crystal/"cube rush" stages. The cell stage is also swapped to being the final stage instead of the sixth stage like in the arcade version, it is also given a whole new layout and soundtrack. It also introduces a boss called ''Beacon'' which awaits the player at the end of the new high-speed stage, which is a counterpart of the high-speed stage in ''Gradius II''. The Super NES version of the game suffered from severe slowdown.
In 2019 Brazilian computer engineer Vitor Vilela created a
romhack version of the game that uses the
SA-1 enhancement chip that eliminates slowdown in the game.
Unlike the original arcade version, the Super NES port is the only one that allow players to continue when they lost all their lives. A harder difficulty called "Arcade" can be unlocked by inputting a code (quickly tapping the "A" button 16 times in 1 second) on the options screen, however, it is simply the same game at a harder difficulty, and not an accurate port of the arcade version. This port was also released for
Virtual Console
A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Uni ...
on April 23, 2007, in North America, and in September 2007 in Europe and Japan.
A soundtrack containing the original music as well as arranged tracks, was released by Konami on the
King Records label on February 21, 1990, composed and performed by
Konami Kukeiha Club
is Konami's sound team. It is often confused with 矩形波倶楽部 ( Kukeiha Club), Konami's in-house band that has released albums consisting of their studio performances. They are primarily responsible for the sound and music in the majorit ...
with
Miki Higashino
is a Japanese video game composer best known for her works in the '' Suikoden'' series.
Biography
Miki Higashino first began composing video game music as a student employed by Konami and contributed to various minor products, often uncredited ...
. Additionally, several albums containing arrangements of the music from this game were released in the years to follow. Konami also released a soundtrack album containing music from ''Gradius III'' as well as other ''Gradius'' games, entitled ''
Gradius Arcade Soundtrack'' on April 24, 2002.
The "Gradius III Symphonic Poetry" track was released by Kukeiha Club on June 5, 1990, and contains many
orchestrated
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...
tracks from both ''Gradius III'' and numerous previous games. A prime example of its diversity is the "Final Battle" track, which contains numerous variations on the "Crystal World" and "Boss Battle" tracks in ''
Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition''.
In 2000, Konami bundled ''Gradius III'' and ''
Gradius IV
is the fourth arcade installment in a series of scrolling shooter video games developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It was preceded by ''Gradius III'', released in 1989, although spinoffs had been released prior to it such as ''Gradius ...
'' together for release on the
PlayStation 2 video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...
, as ''Gradius III and IV''. The port is based on the arcade version and has an unlockable ''Extra Edit'' mode, which gives the player the freedom to create a weapon array from all included setups and adds the ''F-Option'', ''R-Option'' and ''Reduce II'' power-ups found in the Super NES port. The Reduce from the SNES port returns the player one step closer to the Vic Viper's original size when hit, giving it protection from two hits. As the PlayStation 2 hardware is more capable than the game's original arcade hardware, in certain technically demanding moments of the game the PlayStation 2 is able to maintain normal operating speed in situations that would normally introduce "slowdown" (half-speed operation) on the original hardware. To recreate this gameplay characteristic, KCET implemented an optional "WAIT LEVEL" regulator that can be adjusted from three levels at any point in the game, beginning from 0 to 2 (original rate). While the PS2 version doesn't have the option to continue as the Super NES version, it features the possibility to select any stage the player has cleared.
''Gradius III'' was later ported to the
PlayStation Portable in 2006 as part of
Gradius Collection
is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper.
Games
*'' Scr ...
. This version keeps the tradition of not allowing the player to continue after exhausting all reserve ships.
Reception
In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Gradius III'' on their January 15, 1990 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the month.
''Gradius III'' received positive to favorable reviews.
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave the game a score 8.5 out of 10 for impressive graphics and game-play.
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
give the game score 7.0 out of 10 for Virtual Console and criticizing the game for its high difficulty. On release, the Super Famicom version of the game was scored a 33 out of 40 by a panel of four reviewers at ''
Famicom Tsūshin
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
''.
According to ''
GamePro''s The Feature Creature, "''Gradius III'' is one of the most durable side-scrolling shooters. It wasn't a breakthrough when it came out in 1991, but it did approximate the great arcade shooters pretty well."
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' gave the game a C and remarked that it was similar to previous Gradius games, and thus not worth investing 50 dollars for.
Super Gamer reviewed the SNES version and gave an overall score of 78% stating: "Gradius III incorporates all of the features that make for a great arcade game!"
In 2018,
Complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
ranked ''Gradius III 46th on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time."'' ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' rated ''Gradius'' ''III'' 45th in it’s Top 100 SNES Games. They praised the visuals, the environments and bosses saying: "A true sight to behold."
Notes
References
External links
*
*
''Gradius III''at
Twin Galaxies
Twin Galaxies is an organization and social media platform for people involved in the culture and activity of playing video games. It facilitates their interaction as well as their competition and recognizes their achievements.
Twin Galaxie ...
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