Lastupdate: 2000/06/13

Game Information

GRADIUS III
(C) KONAMI 1990
Release: 1990/12/21
Platform: Nintendo Super Famicom
Storage: ROM Cartridge
Volume: 4 Mb
Play Select: 1-2 Players
Credit: 4
Game Code: SHVC-G3
Price: 7,800 Yen

Powerup Gauge: Speed Up | Missile | Double | Laser | Option | ? | !
Maximum level of Speed Up: 5
Maximum level of Missile: 1
Maximum level of Double: 1
Maximum level of Laser: 1
Maximum level of Option: 4
Maximum level of Barrier: 1

Total no. of stage: 10
Bonus: At 20000 PTS And Then Every 70000 PTS
HI: 57300 H.M

Weapon Select (Type Select)

TYPE.A: SPEEDUP | MISSILE | DOUBLE | LASER | OPTION
TYPE.B: SPEEDUP | 2 WAY MISSILE | TAILGUN | RIPPLE | OPTION
TYPE.C: SPEEDUP | SPREAD BOMB | VERTICAL | C.LASER | OPTION
TYPE.D: SPEEDUP | PHOTON TORPEDO | BACKDOUBLE | TWIN LASER | OPTION

BARRIER: SHIELD | FORCE FIELD

Weapon Select (Edit Mode)

MISSILE: MISSILE | ? | 2WAY BACK | SMALL SPREAD
DOUBLE: VERTICAL | DOUBLE | TAIGUN | BACKDOUBLE
LASER: TWIN LASER | RIPPLE | E.LASER | C.LASER
OPTION: OPTION | S.OPTION | F.OPTION | R.OPTION
?: SHIELD | FORCE FIELD | R.SHIELD | REDUCE
!: SPEED DOWN | A.OPTION | FULL BARRIER | MEGA CRASH

Game Ranking

Game Play:
Difficulty:
Background Music:
Sound Effect:
Stage:
Voice:

Screen Shot

OPENING 1	OPENING 2	OPENING 3	TITLE SCREEN
DEMO 1	DEMO 2	DEMO 3	DEMO 4
DEMO 5	DEMO 6	DEMO 7	DEMO 8

Staff

Game Programmer: K.HASHIMOTO, T.TOKUDA, Y.MATSUHANA, H.TAKAHAMA
Graphic Designer: T.MIYOSHI, H.MORII, M.SUENAGA
Sound Editor: K.MURAOKA, K.UEHARA, H.UEKO, Y.MORIMOTO
Visual Design: K.SHIMOIDE
Presented By: KONAMI

Stage

Stage 1: Desert
Stage 2: Bubble (Bubble Eye)
Stage 3: Vulcano (Big Core Mk-III)
Stage 4: Moai
Stage 5: Fire
Stage 6: Plant
Stage 7: High Speed
Stage 8: Boss Rush
Stage 9: Base
Stage 10: Cell

Note

The only version of GRADIUS III other than the original AC in the 90's. It was a grand new breaking point in the game history, while the game was releaseed nearly the same time as Super Famicom. Though the slow motion situation is series in the SFC version, the game play and the whole feeling is still very good. The more advanced weapons such as F.OPTION and the resizeable REDUCE function increased the amusement level a lot. But at the same time, the difficulty and hence the game play and duration are decreased... . Like many people else, I stopped playing this game after finished the Arcade difficult without any crash. (^^!)

I replayed it in recent years and aim for the ultimate score of the game. I finally achieved this purpose in the 16th loop 5th stage where I find that the ultimate score is 9999999. This game is the one I spent most time on it with 1 credit (before the 50,000,000+ score of SS GRADIUS II in the year 2000). I also discovered that the ending word is the same every time appear in the ending theme. The difficulty is apparently increased each time when finishing the game in the first 4 loops. But from the 5th loop and later on, it seems the difficulty is stayed the same.

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