sadly i’m only able to get up to the boss of stage 4 most of the time. On PS2 easiest difficulty, i’m able to reach stage 6…maybe someday i’ll beat it.
@@Bloodreign1To clarify this: Gradius III: Densetsu Kara Shinwa e (From Legend To Myth) is the AC Japanese title Gradius III is the AC Asian and SNES title
Man you're a real hero ... this game is painfully impossible but still you finished it. My respects! By the way, I'm sure that the Gradius Army HQ will keep this video in their files for future references and for training purposes for the new generation who will pilot the Vic Vipers (if there are not discontinued). If we all play like you the Bacterians would have been horribly crushed centuries ago :3 Cheers!
46:41 Wait... Really?? If you die in the fortress: YOU'RE SENT BACK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BOSS RUSH?!?! DUDE!! THAT'S THE MOST TROLLISH FUCKING THING EVER!! IT'S JUST AS TROLLISH AS THOSE GODDAMN ICE CUBES!! You know what? Just for that (and because of what they've done to Metal Gear lately) #FucKonami
It has nothing to do with Metal Gear though. At that time their gaming block was still publishing epic games like Castlevania and Contra, and people in general are a lot more lax than we are now.
I am in physical pain from watching the ice level. Good on you for getting past it. I couldn't believe the game checkpointed you back before the boss rush and made you do it all over again. This game is inhumanly cruel.
Yeah, the Crystal stage is one of the most ridiculous creations in the history of video games. I even read in an interview that the developers actually intended for the player to dodge all the cubes, and that the "wall building" strategy wasn't something they even considered. It gets me furious just thinking about it haha.
The SNES actually got a reasonable, sensible game, Still one of my all time favorite games. The arcade game is fun at points, but it’s also REALLY dumb, and the devs even admit that certain aspects of the arcade game were messed up and that the home version fixed them.
I wonder if the giant head's speech at the end was a satire aimed at the arcade industry and how many quarters people probably shoveled into this game to complete it.
Holy shit. Nice job on the gunwall. I've seen other playthroughs where somebody exploits a safe-ish spot in the rear middle of the room and waits it out, but your approach was much more satisfying to watch.
Yeah, in general I'm not a fan of timeout strategies. I try to only use them when absolutely necessary (like the stage 8 boss in this run, which is impossible to kill without being fully powered). I wanted to kill that gun wall badly!!!
Wow. Just WOW. I thought I was happy beating the SNES version. The arcade version looks WAY harder. That cube part made me want to scream just watching it. I should get the ROM for this or get ahold of some random Gradius collection. I wanna test my mettle at the arcade versions. Nice job though ! Good run!!
+djshefu Got a PS2 or PSP? If so, you can get it from either Gradius 3 and 4 on the PS2, or Gradius Portable on PSP. These are starting to get pricey though, I've only seen Gradius 3/4 locally once, a full 11 years after I bought a copy on Ebay, before then, nada.
yup! ive long since put those on my hacked PSP and got the iso for Gradius V as well on the PS2. also redownloaded it on my PS3 so I can get abused on the higher loops on my HD TV lol
@@MVC2fan1 Hey man. Which gradius games u have beaten now? For me Gradius 3 4 Gaiden and now 5 although i simply watch the others playthrough to beat them all.
What the hell were they thinking with the cube rush?!? How you can even do that shit boggles my mind to no end.....if I die once in any Gradius game, I don't care, I reset the damn thing.
Cube Rush is pure RNG. Getting a perfect run there is simply luck. It can be done but you have to know which cubes are trackers and which aren't. However, which cubes spawn is up to the RNG.
"I was born.........out of the greediness of mankind. While man exists..............so will I." *Croaks in the next second.* Me and my friends nearly died laughing at that part when I was little.
@@Austinc5904 that's the funny part. That part beats itself. It was so funny getting ready for what we thought was going to be an epic battle, only for the boss to "die" on us. We did end up beating the game, but that part always stuck with us.
@@deadlyraver4454 The harder part is after the boss, that last speed rush bit, some pretty sharp angles to get through, after that smooth sailing and ending.
Finally beat this game! Scrapped off some years of my life tho, what an evil game this is. Your walkthrough here helped me a lot especially for recovery. Thanks a lot!
I’d say this would go for Turtles in Time arcade vs. SNES as well. Those guys really knew their shit with the SPC700. Shame all the composers that did this kind of music back then are now either limited to Bemani, or just totally gone from Konami.
Gradius III is my favorite game of all time and has been for years. I owned (and by owned I mean the true definition, and the kicked-ass-in definition) the SNES cartridge but this version looks terrifying which I had always heard about. Holy shit.
L8onL8on I think the SNES version is objectively a much better game than the arcade version. The arcade version is just way too over the top and ridiculous with the difficulty. I swear they didn't even play test certain parts of the game at all (cube stage). The SNES version is much more balanced.
Pegboy I can agree. Though I was very much out of "Gradius practice" at the time... last time I tried to play the Arcade Version of Gradius III... I couldn't even get past Stage 1, on Normal Difficulty. I was like... my god, this is insanity!
1989 was a terrible year where game's operators keep putting pressure on developers to make the games brutally hard. And unfortunately Gradius III is one of these.
@@PEGMuch Better Game? It's Just a different game with same name. It neither follows the style of Gradius III AC. But for some reason, it follows the style of Gradius II AC. I mean there are more elements of Gradius II rather than Gradius III ones. Gradius III SNES for me is just a Gradius II Reboot.
If only Konami would release a "definitive" Gradius III with the arcade version's level layout and voiceacting but the SNES version's soundtrack and fairer difficulty.
SNES soundtrack wtf are you on? I can understand wanting the game to be easier but this game is legendary for its difficulty, but changing the best video game sound track ever for the SNES version!!! you have to be in a field with a bag of weed whilst the shrooms are growing to want the SNES version over this.
@@Kittycat7070- Arcade version has way more oomph to it compare both versions of Fire scramble and the SNES one sounds feeble compared same with Easter stone Aqua illusion and pretty much every track in the game. You sound to me like one of those people that says the MD has better sound than the SNES.
@@METAL1ON I prefer the snes version bc it has cleaner sound and I feel like it's more definitive with each note, but it's really just personal preference
I get that they wanted to make a tough game, but did Konami fully realize how tough the game ended up being? Major props for beating it, sans slowdown no less. Considering that the game was probably designed with slowdown in mind, this is a major accomplishment, on top of the already great accomplishment of beating the game at all.
This game is the literal definition of sexual assault. The crystal stage is so unfair, the guy who came up with it got a special version Salamander arcade.
I believe this is the only game in the series where the option hunters don't behave as normal. They normally come when you have a full 4 options in every other game they are in, but not here. They come out even if you have 2 options. Also those long lasers in stage 10 that you must weave around can go fuck themselves, the hitbox on those things extend out a little further than the end of the laser itself, reduce helps immensely here when you unlock it and force field and can combine them together after the 20 hours or 1CC run.
Seeing that you completed Gradius III makes me that i can clear it too. Gradius III Arcade could be one of the hardest Shoot-Em-Ups but it's very funny. I'll always prefer this than the SNES one.
46:41 Ouch, so painful! Only a couple seconds away from the next checkpoint, and it's ALL the way back to the beginning of the boss rush. The checkpoints in this game are really punishing.
There's a cruel one in X-Multiply as well, die before the stage 4 boss, and you restart right before the boss, no upgrades to be had at all, and the boss is much harder without firepower worth a damn.
I noticed that the no-wait version of the game is shorter than the wait-level 2 version of the game. I guess all of that slowdown REALLY slowed the pacing of the game. The no-wait version of the game can beaten in about 45 minutes (if you didn't die even once) whereas the wait-level 2 version of the game would take about 1 hour to complete even without dying.
Do you think the developers put these spots in the game where you can't get hit (an example: 39:52..... on the 'ice cube' stage) on purpose? Because there where a lot of games, back in the day, that had little 'nooks and crannies' where you couldn't be hit. Good job, by the way - that's a tough, tough game.
Man, they tweaked the SNES version beautifully from this. And that early SNES sound works wonders for the score on this game. Not to mention the more balanced difficulty. I just wish the PC Engine version of Gradius II was easier to come by...
Guess ive been here before lol. That said how many speed ups do you use? I used to panic come the cube rush and would have all 5 but came unstuck in level 10 as I didnt have enough precision left in my movement.
I'm pretty sure I stuck with 2 speedups the whole game. I think using more is necessary only if you are playing higher loops. The cube rush was basically just random luck if I beat it or not, I can't even tell you how many failed runs I had there, so many hours of my life gone.
I've never played the arcade version before, but how are you able to fire 2 full spread bombs at a time? From what I know you can only do that with the small spread bombs.
Wow, I thought the game was hard enough in the SNES port. The arcade original looks insane! Is there no Hard difficulty setting for the arcade version?
Yes the arcade version has different difficulties but they aren't as drastic of an increase from the baseline normal setting. Now if you really want to experience the hard-core difficulty check out loop 2 and beyond of the arcade version...there's some videos of Japanese players clearing 5 or 6 loops of the game out there. Granted, they aren't playing the no slowdown version like in this video as I don't think anyone has ever cleared loop 2 of this version without slowdown.
some pretty impressive comebacks, usually with this game, die one time and you might as well say "screw it". BTW....does that crystal level remind anyone else of Tetris, or have i just been playing that too much? lol!
I see its not just me who had issues with the 3rd stage boss too. I had to wait for it to time out, but I stayed on the outside of its lasers rather than in the middle like you.
I have tried to run this on mame Wii, it just keeps saying chd file or part of the rom is missing. As far as I know, that is BS. If anyone has a solution, I would love that because I like the snes port, but I always wanted to play the arcade version. I could just get the ps2 one, but no thanks. Please help.
@@mr.4096 It was set on easy, i found this out to my shock when I got a copy of the dip switch settings faxed to me years ago I got the arcade operator to open the cabinet up and asked him to set it on easy for me as it was so damn hard, turns out it was on easy all the time.
The d pad is just terrible on the dual shock 2 imo. Missing inputs and generally just not hitting diagonals very well. I found thr same issue with the later dual shock 3. For some reason the early ps3 six axis controller plays so much better I never miss diagonals with it, and I've tried several of them,.
US PS2 Gradius 3 behaves like the Japanese version does, die and lose all powerups, unless you had a powerup lit, then when you return, speed up is highlighted (Japanese version behaves the same way), but you're a sitting duck otherwise, especially if you had no powerup lit up when you lost a life, you start with absolutely nothing but the pea shooter again.
You need at least 2 speedups (which is what I used in this play-through) to beat the game, it's impossible to pass the high speed section at the end with only 1 (at least I think it is). If I was playing it again though I'd probably go with 3, since dodging the cubes is a bit easier, and you get a better option spread.
It's definitely not all luck, the cubes do follow a strict sequence of attack (1,4,5,8,9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, ...), so you can memorize their attack pattern. More speedups also helps to dodge them.
Yeah I was just wondering, because someone said the cube stage was more of luck than skill, and I wanted someone to confirm if that was true or not. Also, do the fire balls in the Fire Scramble stage appear randomly or the same place everytime?
AmandaNerdBot I've seen some of the elite players pass the cube stage with very high conversion rates. For me, that part was way more luck than skill if I'm being honest. In the fire scramble stage the fireballs all follow the same pattern every time, so it can be memorized with enough effort. Their speed does increase with rank however, which is quite insane in loop 2+.
I remember playing this game with my dad like 4 yers ago. Thankfully we got past the crytasl stage but at the end of the boss rush we could not do the part where you would have you time your shooting or u ded. Ggs tho, this game is super duper hard
I own this game for the ps2 and I remember playing it all day when I was little, however there's something that I still can't wrap my mind around. You see I remember reaching the last boss but I wasn't able to end the game because of the last sped-up section, and I reached the last stage abusing the continue feature that lets me add another credit and continue my game. Today I don't know why the game won't let me continue after I lose all my lives, does anyone of you know why and how to enable that feature again?
Gradius III never had continues in the arcade version, nor the PS2 and PSP versions, however you can skip ahead with the stage select feature that lets you play unlocked sections you've already beaten on the latter 2 versions. 20 hours playtime also unlocks extra edit, which lets you mix and match weapons and shield, you can have force field and reduce at the same time this way.
Hi there, Will you do a full run with the following? I've been having so much trouble and wanted to see what can be done. Thanks. Missile: Spread Bomb Double: Tail Gun Laser: Twin Laser Option: F. Option ?: Reduce II !: Mega Crash
Thank you for saying it so I don't have to. I had the highest of respect to the SNES version...till I saw that. This is...this is Gradius the way I always dreamed.
SNES version isn't really horrid, just completely rebalanced so that you have a chance to beat it far faster than the arcade version. They also got rid of the needless 3D stage, and the random cube rush stage (random at the end mainly). The main crime the SNES version does is the slowdown, though there exists a ROM hack, the SA-1 Chip hack, that removes all that games slowdown, and the game gets far harder from it.
Arcade had tremendous slowdown too, so the SNES game more or less was NOT inaccurate on this front. Also, the SNES game clearly had the Western audience in mind too as it included Gradius 2 arcade stage elements in places since the we never got a home port of that game until long after the fact. Examples of those elements being the red moai and boss of stage 4, and the speed stage which was not in the arcade release. Also on the base, the stage and gun wall is closer to Gradius 2 then 3, and the walker is a simpler 4 legged defeatable version of the one on Gradius 2.
ciaran perry Didn't know about that one... Just checked it out on RU-vid and it looks frakking awesome. The crystal stage inspired me to do the same in my game. Nice catch.
Gradius IV is criminally underrated, it's difficulty if you can believe it, is just as bad as this game, minus some of the BS parts that plagued 3 (Cube Rush stage, bad checkpoint placement after the boss rush where if you die before reaching close to the gunwall in stage 10, the game kicks you all the way back to the boss rush to do again). Gradius V, I tried to love it, still own it and won't part with it, but it didn't feel like Gradius ultimately to me. As for Gaiden, 1 word for it, AWESOME!
Did it have slowdown in on the actual arcade machine? It definitely has slowdown on the PS4 version. The slowdown can actually help, but can get you killed when it speeds back up.
The arcade game had slowdown yes, this PS2 version allows you to remove it completely, as seen i this video. It takes an already insanely difficult game and turns that up even more so.
If you are able to 1LC (1CCNM) this game with No Wait Level on ANY given difficulty - though obviously Hardest is the ultimate goal - then you are *THE* Gradius GOD. That is the mark by which all Gradius III play will be measured. This game is the single most frustrating Gradius game because of just how unfair and random it gets at times. Even if you can't meet the top marks, then at least completing the game is a massive accomplishment in and of itself.
Just clearing the second loop would be a much harder goal than no missing the first loop on the hardest difficulty. The second loop with no wait seems impossible, and it has never been cleared with no wait by anyone.
I doubt it will ever happen, the randomness of the suicide bullets combined with lack of slowdown makes it nearly impossible. And none of the top Japanese players even play this port, they only play the arcade version with heavy slowdown. So it most likely will never happen.
Full runs like yours always use the Spread bomb. Do you say it is possible to do with another weapon setup? never seen!. Spread bombs can take down most bosses pretty quickly, reducing the dying chance. The explosion reach farther too in narrow spaces.
Actually I've seen a lot of japanese player beating the game with all other types, Edit mode included and even with Snake Option. Not only that, they've beaten the higher loops too with all types and Edit Mode. But type B is a lot more common in english gameplays tbh
The enemy that makes the music change only appears if you play on easy or higher difficulties (as those are the Arcade version difficulties, Very Easy and Easiest... which are exclusive difficulties for Ps2 and PSP removes some enemies from every stage and... the enemy that triggers the song change is removed on those, meaning no music change).
If this game wasn't overly difficult, it would be infinitely better than the SNES port. I wonder if there are difficulty tweaks of the arcade game (with higher difficulty settings being closer to the arcade normal difficulty)
I've totally agree with you! Gradius III Arcade is an underrated game due to his challenging difficulty and his SNES ports that seems more like a reworked version of Gradius II (with elements borrowed from both Arcade games). The AC Asian version is slighty easier, It has the gradual power up loose routine from JP beginner mode, the first 3 stages are the one from the JP beginner mode, at least this is the version that I'll recommend to give it a try. PS2 has easier difficulties that tweaks the challengeing difficulty that Normal and onwards has.
@@darkerfalcon3747 One important thing to mention is that if you play on either Easiest or Very Easy, the game has the 1-loop limit flag enabled, meaning that once you complete the final stage and watch the credits you can't play loop 2 or higher as is an auto-Game Over (and to be honest, most sane players would let themselves get blown up after starting stage 1 in loop 2 as is pretty much... "enough is enough" anyway).
The stages look more difficult than the bosses. B.E.S. Crystal Core looked super easy in comparison to his SNES counterpart. Actually, the entire Boss Rush looked easy.
+DarkSamus297 It isn't as easy as it looks. Even if you managed to beat it, if you don't get to a certain point in the stage after (inside the ship), and you die, you get to do it all over again. Probably the games worst checkpoint as the checkpoint is pretty far into stage 10 (Boss rush is considered stage 9), but can't remember exactly where the checkpoint is that if you die after it, you're good to go. Happened to me before, got past the boss rush, felt confident going into stage 10, got a little ways in, died, and the entire boss rush had to be faced again. I was peeved, but my love for Gradius kept my temper in check.
Fuck this game. It's so hard. I can get further on Raiden. I can get maybe level 3 or 4 on here. After it gets to the Easter Island heads I'm done. I've done a couple full runs with a gameshark/gamegenie on SNES though just to experience the art and music and level design. It's a really well made game.
It stinks that if you screw up on the early part of the 2nd half of stage 10, it's back to the boss rush you go. Makes you want to toss your controller in agony.
@@Persac7 Yes, you must reach a certain checkpoint in the penultimate stage 10, if you die before it, do the entire boss rush and first half of the base again, and again, till you reach said checkpoint.
Level of slowdown in the game. Wait 2 is normal arcade setting, Wait 1 is less slowdown, Wait 0 is absolutely no slowdown at all, what you are seeing in this video.
