Game:

Gradius III (1989)

Duration: 28:43

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1

Original Game by: Konami
Patch by: Vitor Vilela

Gradius 3 was a launch title for the SNES; probably because it was so early in the system's life, it is infamously laggy, and the entire game runs like a slideshow the minute you shoot with enough options or a boss appears on screen. Despite this, it's considered a much better game than its extremely difficult arcade counterpart that makes Battletoads look fair. The lag actually kind of works in the game's favor and makes what would normally be a difficult shooter become much easier to react to, making it an ideal "beginner" Gradius game alongside the Wii game Gradius ReBirth. A few of the arcade version's more insane levels were either shortened or replaced entirely (ex. the infamous Crystal Labyrinth is gone, replaced with a Gradius 2 like speed level), further making it more accessible.

This patch is a huge gamechanger; the entire game has been overhauled to use the SA-1 chip, a coprocessor chip that was used to help certain late SNES games like Super Mario RPG and Kirby Super Star run without any lag. The end result is almost like wearing glasses for the first time. Gradius 3 without the lag feels fundamentally different--in many ways, it actually is! Konami was aware of the lag and designed several things such as the bosses to run at high speeds with the idea that the lag would slow them down, thus the game becomes much more difficult with fast bullets everywhere. However, a modified version of the patch was released; the Origin patch, which slows down the bosses to have the developers' intended speeds. I would recommend playing the game with this patch if you want a lag free but more reasonable experience.

[MORE INFO AND DOWNLOAD]
https://github.com/VitorVilela7/SA1-Root

[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Intro and Title Screen
00:56 Weapon Select
01:19 Desert
03:31 Bubble Zone
05:51 Volcanic Planet
09:29 Moai Zone
12:02 Prominence Planet
13:58 Plant Planet
16:12 High Speed Zone
17:48 Boss Rush
20:25 Fortress
24:08 Cell
26:48 Ending

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