May 2019 Shmup Club - Gradius III (SNES/Arcade)

[EZ Racer]

Gradius 3 has continued to grow on me throughout the month. Died on the final boss of the stage 8 boss rush. I dabbled in this one as a kid but had never put serious time into it, and boy was I missing out. It's tough, but it feels like one of the most rewarding games in terms of progression. There's good variety of levels, and there's enough powerups to continually build upon. I'm trying to remember how many games before this had a customizable powerup system, it's a welcome feature.

I also love all the little extras in the game. The secret stages and ways to manipulate certain powerups. This has been one of the most enjoyable shmup club months for me.

And I have to add one last comment. This was a launch title, part of arguably the best launch in terms of how the games aged. Like it's other snes launches, great music, great graphics, and even though there's slow down, I really don't think it detracts from gameplay, in fact at times it helps.

(Sorry the pic doesn't show the score the best, tried three times to get a pic and this is the only one that came out)

[MetalFRO]

Great scores, everyone! Definitely loving this participation, and all the good feedback on the game. I'm with you EZ Racer - I had kind of dismissed this as a hard game I'd never be any good at, but I've found myself not only enjoying the challenge, but with reasonably consistent progression, I've found that it's difficulty curve might be the most forgiving and organic of any Gradius title. I'm really enjoying the SNES game, and I could see myself going back to it more than I ever thought I would.

Also, Ser Flash of Studio Mudprints, who has been playing the game alongside us this month, gave RF Generation a huge shout-out in his review of Gradius III that just debuted today, so I thought I'd share it with everyone, in case you're not subscribed to his channel:

[Jam Master J]

Comment for the show:

For me, Gradius III made the Super NES such an exciting console to own when my older brother finally got it around 1995. Although I had played the first Gradius on the NES several years prior, Gradius III really grabbed me with it's familiar Konami start-up chime, the awesome Vic Viper launching sequence, and the upbeat music that plays on the title screen.

The game's difficulty was just right- challenging enough to keep me on my toes, but also fair enough to keep me coming back to play it and try to improve. I loved the colossal bosses and their laser patterns (especially the stage 3 boss) and the Moai stage that just seemed insane at the time.

But what I loved best about Gradius III was the music that the series is known for. It had that signature Konami sound you wouldn't find anywhere else, and I loved how the upbeat and dramatic music score has been a fixture of the series in each Gradius game.

I prefer the SNES version over the arcade original which is super tough, even on the easiest setting. That being said, I surprised myself in my playthrough recently and made it well past the 3D turbo bonus stage! Never accomplished that prior to now. And I have you guys to thank for covering this game and thereby getting me to try it again and succeed! Love the show! Here are my scores below:

Arcade
[img width=480 height=640]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47937281776_8638af6e4f_z_d.jpg[/img]


Super Nintendo
[img width=480 height=640]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47940155787_b8f6c0b58a_z_d.jpg[/img]

[zoydo]

I got me a cheap SFC-copy of the game and gave it a try yesterday.

It went quite good, i took a few tries on the Stage 3 Boss, but luckily the game gives you enough power ups to get back on track quick.
In Stage 5 that a-hole enemy stole all of my options, so i lost a live or two there also.
After all i made it to the Stage 6 Boss, but i didn't have enough lives left to learn his attack pattern.

[MetalFRO]

Great showing, you two! Impressive score in the arcade original, Jam Master J! That's quite an accomplishment, given how insanely hard the game is. Which difficulty did you play the arcade version on for that run? I managed to reach the 3D bonus stage a few times last night on "easiest" and couldn't manage to get through it, but even on "easy" it was super difficult to really get very far. There's just so much going on. It really is a game you have to memorize, and that means lots of trial and error to find the right path through a level.

Also, I'm not sure exactly who started it, but apparently today is #GradiusDay on Twitter, so anyone who hasn't put time into the game in a couple days, now's the perfect opportunity!

[MetalFRO]

I forgot to post this a week and a half ago, but this was from my stream on the 18th. I believe it's my highest Gradius III SNES score so far:
[img width=640 height=366]https://i.imgur.com/dIHzsM1l.png[/img]

Still not the highest, but I thought I should at least document my best legit 1-credit score thus far.

[Normatron]

So I finally got a chance to sit down and play the PSP version of the game. There is alot of difference between the 2 games. I enjoy far more but that is probably due to the PSP being to small for my hands. Both games from the ones I played both had slowdown but the SNES was the worst of the 2, but I didn't consider that to be a problem for me. And the boss definitely have somewhat different patterns.  There are different types of enemies you run into on the arcade and I must say that I missed my V option formation on the arcade version as well. I played on normal the entire time on the SNES version and the arcade I start on difficulty 3 and had to knock it back to 2 just to get anywhere. The arcade you can clearly tell that it was a quarter muncher (as most arcade games can be).

[Normatron]

This is my score on difficulty 3 for the arcade version.

[Normatron]

And this is mine on difficulty 2 on the arcade.

[Normatron]

I may try a little more if I can but I had alot of fun with this one. I also had fun watching off and on GBG's streams on his YouTube channel.  Hope to get in to another challenge in the future.  And if you do gyruss you know I will be ready to throw down some high scores. :-)

[dtungsten]

I got to the Moai stage on the top 2 scores. I attached a screenshot of the settings, too.

[zoydo]

Good job everyone!

I have some final thoughts:

As i already said i'm not the biggest Gradius-fan, but i have to say playing Gradius III was way more fun than i expectet!

I regret i didn't start earlier with the SNES version, it's more accessable and forgiving than the Arcade version. Even though it has some serious technical issues (sometimes icouldn't even see were sprite of the Vic Viper is located on the screen). I feel like i could have done some good progress, playing it a little longer.

The Arcade version might be the best example for Gradius-Syndrome i could imagine. When you lose one life you're done. It's nearly impossible to get back on track after you died one time. The best thing you can do wih the remainig ships, is to try to get as many points as possible before something kills you.

What really annoyed me about the SNES version, is the enemies that steal your options. Not because it makes the game more challenging, but because it seems that they only created them to get control of the lag somehow. xD

What i really loved about both versions is the music! Great Soundtrack, like always in Konami games.

[dtungsten]

The option hunters are in the arcade version, too. I've not seen them show up until the Moai stage.

[zoydo]

Oh, ok. Didn't get past Stage 3 in the arcade version... xD

This makes the arcade version even more evil.

[MetalFRO]

Thanks everyone for participating in the June play-through of Gradius III! I feel like it was a really successful month! We're recording tonight for the podcast episode, so here's the question I'd like to ask everyone:

With the advent of the SA-1 mod, which removes slowdown in the SNES version, what else would you change about the SNES version of Gradius III, other than the slowdown?