It wasn’t until years after I played Gradius III that I learned about all the extra things
the arcade version had that we, as SNES players, never saw.
Did you know there was a crystal level that was completely excised from the home version?
As well as a stage that changed the perspective of the game, turning it into a behind-the-ship
3D-ish...
um...
Fox escaping from Venom in Starfox 64 kind of a thing?
(That’s the best touchstone I can find.)
We got none of those.
Chalk it up to this being a Super NES launch title (here in the States, anyway).
But back in the day, as today, I feel like this game is not left wanting for the omissions.
It’s 16 bits of Gradius. 16 bits of option-floating, laser-upgrading, Moai-head-shooting chaos.
I could get into the whole history with the Bacterions and why you’re out there in the
Vic Viper shooting up bad guys, but it didn’t matter much then or now.
You fly to the right - and now, for a limited time only, up and down occasionally - and
make mincemeat of any enemy craft, alien creatures, or mysterious statuary that get their dander
up and try to shoot you.
To this end, you have a selection of weapons, most of which will be familiar to fans of
the series.
Not content to simply copy Gradius II’s choice of loadout sets, this version invites
you to tailor your arsenal to your own preferences.
I prefer my Vic Viper optimized with 360-degree shielding, bidirectional missiles, twin lasers,
and my options flying in tight formation as I blast the bejeezus out of this weird dragon
snake Midgardsormr thing.
On fire.
Whatever your armaments of choice, you’ve got ten stages of madness up in your face,
your only salvation being those weird interstellar strawberry jam capsules that you use to power
up your craft.
Take a hit with your shields down or impact a wall, though, and your entire payload is
wasted.
Fortunately, when the action gets fast and heavy, the game gets hit with slowdown like
Mega Man 3 on a cold day.
Simply tip your hat to the grinding of the architecture, make your way out of the particularly
tight spots, and then you can continue blasting through this gem.
Whether you’re blowing apart sand (which is not worth any points, unfortunately), popping
huge alien bubbles, or going really really really fast through a series of space-tubes,
the gameplay’s just as awesome as it was 21 years ago.
You can find it on the Wii Virtual Console (you know, that white box with the weird stick
you wave at it), or as part of Gradius III and IV for the PS2 and Gradius Collection
for the PSP.
(You know, that oblong plastic slat with the screen in it.)