Play Gradius III SA-1 (v1.7 - Base) Online

Summary

Gradius III burst onto the Super NES as one of the system’s launch titles in North America, dropping you into the familiar cockpit of the Vic Viper and ten frantic "Terror Zones" that range from desert dunes to the Bacterion Empire’s garden. The game keeps the series’ signature side‑scrolling action while slipping in a third‑person bonus segment on stage four, where you dodge walls and collect floating power‑ups without any enemy fire.

A standout feature is the Edit Mode, which lets you mix missiles, doubles, lasers, shields and the special "!" power‑up into a custom load‑out, while three selectable difficulty levels let you ease in or crank the challenge up. Unlike the arcade original, you can continue after losing all lives, and a hidden "Arcade" mode can be unlocked by tapping the A button sixteen times in a second, delivering a tougher but still faithful experience.

The SNES port also carries over the notorious slowdown of the arcade version, swaps the cell stage to the finale with a fresh layout and soundtrack, and adds a new high‑speed stage ending in a boss called Beacon. Two‑player alternating play and a later Virtual Console release round out the package, making this version a unique blend of classic Gradius flair and console‑specific twists.

Storyline

Gradius III (the SA‑1 version) throws the player into a galaxy plagued by a new outbreak. The gentle Gradians believed they had finally shaken Bacterion’s ancient curse after generations of germ‑free living, but the fiend returns to spread its infection across Gradius and neighboring worlds. Your mission is to chase the menace down and halt its devastation before the whole universe succumbs.

In the final stage, you must be as tough as Orakian ore to face Bacterion directly and shatter its hail‑stone‑like heart. Victory will let the cosmos breathe a sigh of relief; failure ends in a solitary clap and the darkness of the final curtain.