Just over a month after Hamster's release of Gradius II on the Switch eShop, we've now got Gradius III to top it off.
The third entry in the scrolling shoot 'em up series was released by Konami in the arcade in 1989 and followed with a SNES port in 1990. Here's a bit about it:
"The story of Planet Gradius has transformed from legend to myth. Take on the Bacterion Empire in epic space battles An EDIT MODE has been added to the game, allowing players to customize their equipment.
Enjoy playing the best game in the series!"
As usual, this one will set you back $7.99 or your regional equivalent. We've also got some screenshots:
Gradius III's release also marks "200 consecutive weeks of delivery" for Hamster. It originally started Arcade Archives distribution for the Nintendo Switch on 3rd March 2017.
Will you be adding this classic to your Switch Home Menu? Fire off a comment down below.
Comments 37
Dear lord, the arcade version is painfully hard, never got through it. Does it also come with the SNES version? I could 1CC it on Arcade mode, hilariously enough.
Honestly, it's my least favourite game in the series.
The SNES version was one of my favorite SNES games I never owned growing up. It was painfully hard but that soundtrack was well worth the pain.
Gradius III, the "Thanks for the quarter, now give us another one!" arcade version.
I've heard even the SNES "Arcade" difficulty isn't as hard as the actual machine.
This one has a "beginner mode" which is fun difficulty but only three levels. Normal mode, everything wants to shoot you down ASAP.
Impressive!! 200 consecutive weeks!
speaking of which...what game was their first release? I want to say it was a Neo Geo game but can’t recall 🧐
"Enjoy playing the best game in the series"
Salamander 2 on Saturn or Gradius V on PS2 are both miles better. Yes... I count Salamander as being a Gradius game ;p
@idork99 They were titles that launched alongside the Switch release, I believe:
http://www.hamster.co.jp/american_hamster/arcadearchives/switch/title_list_neogeo.htm
Now where's Fukkatsu? God, Gradius 4 is the one that I want to play.
@Liam_Doolan thank you! totally forgot there were multiple first releases on day one
I hope Hamster collaborates with Taito/Squenix sometime to put out Cadash. It's no Capcom D&D, but it's still some solid adventuring.
Don't we have all of the Gradius games under the Konami Collection of shumps?
Thank goodness for Hamster!! 200 straight weeks of retro games! Although I’m still wondering where the hell Raiden is??
@coderkind Salamander 2 is an amazing game, one of my favorite shmups!
@AlexanderDaniels Not this one. Think we could use a Gradius Collection eventually. The arcade collection kinda only has the bare essentials.
next 8 dollars? HAHAHA... NEVER!
How do the graphics compare to the SNES version? Typically arcade originals are a bit better from that era, so I'm interested in checking this out since I only ever played it on SNES.
EDIT: I realize there's screenshots, but without a direct comparison its hard to tell. It looks pretty good here, so I'm guessing slightly better resolution, and I assume none of the SNES slowdown. Hopefully music is higher res too, but idk, maybe when it comes to sound, the SNES could outperform the arcade board.
@Sabrewing I love Cadash! Hidden gem!!
Well there won't be too much difference between my SNES version and this...sees screenshots where the crap was all this on Super Nintendo?!
Well, guess I'm getting this on Switch.
No way 3 is the best. It’s the Treasure developed V!
I have always hoped to get this game!
This is probably going to be fun playing with drifting controllers!
@TG16_IS_BAE It has a custom mode (they added extra features because it's their 200th game apparently!) which let's you save anytime you want (I believe)
Can't wait to see people get to the Cube Rush. You can do it legitimately like I had to on PSP.
@TG16_IS_BAE yep... it's so good!
This is my favorite shmup of all time. Truly a classic.
Love the snes version own a cart version with an SA-1 conversion no slow down at all. Still plays better and not brutally stupid like the arcade version.
I personally think the SNES version with the SA-1 enhancement patch applied is a much better designed version than this (and with the patch it doesn't slow down either). On an emulator, remove the sprite render limit to get rid of sprites disappearing when there are too many on a scanline and you're gold, that's the best version you could play.
Gaiden or V are the best in the series IMHO.
I found this one actually one of the weakest. Preferred II & IV.
@GrailUK Oh cool!
@RudyC3 I bought a cartridge a few months ago that someone custom made by physically adding the SA-1 to the games chip board, so it runs perfectly on my SNES. Reasonable price too, it was around $50 after shipping, with good quality.
4 different emulations of Gradius III included:
@mrjingles75 Word! Is there any way to play this on any modern console?
I wish we’d get more Treasure games on Switch. My favourite game developers
"200 consecutive weeks of delivery" for Hamster... yet Nintendo still can't manage to give us folders to put all of these games in.
@AlexanderDaniels
Konami Arcade Collection contains:
Typhoon (A-Jax) - 1987
Nemesis (Gradius) - 1985
Vulcan Venture ( Gradius 2) - 1988
Life Force (Salamander) - 1986
Thunder Cross - 1988
Scramble - 1981
TwinBee - 1985
Haunted Castle - 1988
@PiXeLSteF Thanks!
These comments are pathetic.
@adamman12345 Agreed. People need to start being grateful for what they get.
This version sucks. I had OG on SNES in USA and this game isn't exactly the same. Specifically weapons load out is missing the rotating and spread options. And that's not cool I only played with spread and almost beat game as a child. Wasted 8 bucks
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