It's the late 80s. Shmups, along with a bunch of other genres, are in a renaissance period. Companies like Taito, Konami, Toaplan, Compile and Irem are all pumping out game after game to critical and commercial success.
But there was a problem. The gamers were getting too good, and arcade shooters? They were too easy.
Yeah, seriously. This was the opinion of a large number of arcade operators at the time, frustrated with STGs having long credit times, and as a result, poorer revenue. And whilst it could be argued that games like Gradius 2 and Flying Shark are fairly sedate shooters by the standards that would follow - it's charitable to say this attitude was anything other than pure greed, frankly. Because in the arcade space, the operators are who the games are sold to, and where the developers, at least back in the day, made their money.
As a result of this perceived problem, in 1989 alone, 3 major shooting game releases (probably more, these are just what i know is confirmed) were made wildly difficult in response to these demand. Darius 2 had it's default difficulty knocked up a setting making the game very cruel, Same! Same! Same! essentially starts on the second loop, and Gradius 3, perhaps the most infamous of all, was turned into pure hell.
Gradius 3 is comically hard. From the moment you get past the series' customary starting formations, you're met with horrible enemy spawns, tight corridors and nigh-impossible recoveries. Even a relatively experienced shmuper is liable to get 30 seconds into stage 1, die to something unexpected and then chain death due to painfully slow default speed and the credit's over.
I seriously could not get across to you how ridiculous it is. For such a major release from a big dev it feels an awful lot like an extravagant Kaizo hack of Gradius 2. Sections like Stage 9's Cube rush are infamous, and you'll be killed by some truly cursed hitboxes a good deal of the time you think you've actually managed to squeeze through.
And its a bit of a shame, because Gradius 3 is kinda great otherwise. Its got my favourite soundtrack out of the series outside of Rebirth, with the best usage of those glorious flute-synths that define the series. The feel is also on point, with the slightly silly space opera vibes of Gradius at their peak, especially with the game's huge variety in levels making it feel like a proper space odyssey.
And the levels are good! Packed full of variety, some of the series' best bosses, and a fair number of interesting, unique encounters. But it's hard as shit and the vast, vast majoriity of players wont see past level 2, because for some godforsaken reason the game doesnt even have continues.
Fortunately though, there's a better way. Two, in fact! Gradius 3 is blessed with two alternate versions which are dramatically decreased in difficulty - most know of Gradius 3 SNES, which is a great version and far, far more accessible, but I personally prefer Gradius 3's Asian Arcade Version, Presumably released in Korea or Taiwan originally. It solves the game's truly biggest issue in letting you keep a good portion of your power ups on death, as well as reducing the general difficulty, whilst preserving the original excellent aesthetic and sound of the arcade game. It's still a tough time thanks to Gradius 3's propensity for pure bullshit, but thanks to the series' quite lax extend rules it becomes more achievable.
Gradius 3 is also a game that has benefitted a lot from home conversions (excluding the SNES one which adapts a lot of things). Thanks to it's long length (at least 50 minutes), treating it as an individual level game can also help a lot, and Hamster's recent arcade archives port provides a tonne of ways to just tone the game down a little.
And the thing is with those nice, comfy versions in tow, in turn the stupid, obscene original japanese version of the game becomes easier to appreciate also. It is ridiculous and evil sure, but it remains to this day an ultimate challenge, a mountain in the distance that dares to one day be climbed. And much to the chagrin of those dumbass arcade operators, people have. There's a good number of videos on youtube and niconico of guys playing Gradius III for 14 hours on a single credit, and only even stopping because the game center they're playing at is closing or they had the power cut. It's a truly beloved game among the boomer shmupers in japan.
On it's own, Gradius III JP is cruel and bad. Designed to seperate players and their money at an obscene rate. But time, and ports, have been kind to it. In a twist of fate, the game is no longer for the fat cat arcade operators, but for the old-school shmuper that wants one final mountain to climb, and wants to rack up Mikado's electricity bill.
Still, if you catch me playing it, i'll be on Gradius III Asia.
But there was a problem. The gamers were getting too good, and arcade shooters? They were too easy.
Yeah, seriously. This was the opinion of a large number of arcade operators at the time, frustrated with STGs having long credit times, and as a result, poorer revenue. And whilst it could be argued that games like Gradius 2 and Flying Shark are fairly sedate shooters by the standards that would follow - it's charitable to say this attitude was anything other than pure greed, frankly. Because in the arcade space, the operators are who the games are sold to, and where the developers, at least back in the day, made their money.
As a result of this perceived problem, in 1989 alone, 3 major shooting game releases (probably more, these are just what i know is confirmed) were made wildly difficult in response to these demand. Darius 2 had it's default difficulty knocked up a setting making the game very cruel, Same! Same! Same! essentially starts on the second loop, and Gradius 3, perhaps the most infamous of all, was turned into pure hell.
Gradius 3 is comically hard. From the moment you get past the series' customary starting formations, you're met with horrible enemy spawns, tight corridors and nigh-impossible recoveries. Even a relatively experienced shmuper is liable to get 30 seconds into stage 1, die to something unexpected and then chain death due to painfully slow default speed and the credit's over.
I seriously could not get across to you how ridiculous it is. For such a major release from a big dev it feels an awful lot like an extravagant Kaizo hack of Gradius 2. Sections like Stage 9's Cube rush are infamous, and you'll be killed by some truly cursed hitboxes a good deal of the time you think you've actually managed to squeeze through.
And its a bit of a shame, because Gradius 3 is kinda great otherwise. Its got my favourite soundtrack out of the series outside of Rebirth, with the best usage of those glorious flute-synths that define the series. The feel is also on point, with the slightly silly space opera vibes of Gradius at their peak, especially with the game's huge variety in levels making it feel like a proper space odyssey.
And the levels are good! Packed full of variety, some of the series' best bosses, and a fair number of interesting, unique encounters. But it's hard as shit and the vast, vast majoriity of players wont see past level 2, because for some godforsaken reason the game doesnt even have continues.
Fortunately though, there's a better way. Two, in fact! Gradius 3 is blessed with two alternate versions which are dramatically decreased in difficulty - most know of Gradius 3 SNES, which is a great version and far, far more accessible, but I personally prefer Gradius 3's Asian Arcade Version, Presumably released in Korea or Taiwan originally. It solves the game's truly biggest issue in letting you keep a good portion of your power ups on death, as well as reducing the general difficulty, whilst preserving the original excellent aesthetic and sound of the arcade game. It's still a tough time thanks to Gradius 3's propensity for pure bullshit, but thanks to the series' quite lax extend rules it becomes more achievable.
Gradius 3 is also a game that has benefitted a lot from home conversions (excluding the SNES one which adapts a lot of things). Thanks to it's long length (at least 50 minutes), treating it as an individual level game can also help a lot, and Hamster's recent arcade archives port provides a tonne of ways to just tone the game down a little.
And the thing is with those nice, comfy versions in tow, in turn the stupid, obscene original japanese version of the game becomes easier to appreciate also. It is ridiculous and evil sure, but it remains to this day an ultimate challenge, a mountain in the distance that dares to one day be climbed. And much to the chagrin of those dumbass arcade operators, people have. There's a good number of videos on youtube and niconico of guys playing Gradius III for 14 hours on a single credit, and only even stopping because the game center they're playing at is closing or they had the power cut. It's a truly beloved game among the boomer shmupers in japan.
On it's own, Gradius III JP is cruel and bad. Designed to seperate players and their money at an obscene rate. But time, and ports, have been kind to it. In a twist of fate, the game is no longer for the fat cat arcade operators, but for the old-school shmuper that wants one final mountain to climb, and wants to rack up Mikado's electricity bill.
Still, if you catch me playing it, i'll be on Gradius III Asia.
3 Comments
thank you! :)
Pretty great review!
MagneticBurn
1 year ago