• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Gradius III hits PS4 and Switch as this week's Arcade Archives release

Bullet Club

Member

Gradius III hits PS4 and Switch as this week's Arcade Archives release


Vic Viper jets off once again

Hamster has once again dipped into its bottomless sack of shmups for this week's Arcade Archives release, pulling out Konami's classic arcade sequel Gradius III.

Released in 1989 among a deluge of space shooters, Gradius III sees legendary starfighter Vic Viper jet off for another war with the ominous Bacterion Empire. For the most part, Gradius III follows its predecessors, with Vic fighting off waves of enemies and boss characters whilst bagging new weapons and other buffs.

In something of a departure from the previous two games, Gradius III includes a bonus stage from a alternate perspective, and a selection of hidden stages paying homage to the series' past. You can check out the action below in this video from YouTuber World of Longplays.

Gradius III is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.




Source: Destructoid
 

CamHostage

Member
A SHMUP way too ambitious for its time and hardware. (I always thought it was just a SNES game, never saw an arcade machine, was it only release in Japan?) Looks like even the arcade hardware struggled with slowdown and those danged bubbles... I wonder if Hamster will do a "perfect port" or if they'll take advantage of modern hardware? (Looks like the PlayStation 2 Gradius Collection had speed improvement hack options, I'm not sure if other Gradius III releases had slowdown or not?)

BTW, check it out if you missed that there is a RetroArch overclock feature for the SNES version which brings the game to a sustained speed.

 
Last edited:

Neff

Member
I wonder if Hamster will do a "perfect port" or if they'll take advantage of modern hardware? (Looks like the PlayStation 2 Gradius Collection had speed improvement hack options, I'm not sure if other Gradius III releases had slowdown or not?)

Believe me, you'll want that slowdown. Gradius III arcade is brutal.
 
Top Bottom