Gradius III (Japan, program code S, split) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 35 years ago:

Gradius III - Densetsu Kara Shinwa-e © 1989 Konami.

The Vic Viper starfighter returns to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire.

TECHNICAL
Konami TMNT Based Hardware
Game ID: GX945

Main CPU: (2x) Motorola 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), Konami K007232 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 3

TRIVIA
Gradius III was released in December 1989 in Japan.

The subtitle of this game translates from Japanese as 'From Legend to Myth'.

This game is known outside Japan (and Asia) as "Gradius III [Model GX945]".

Konami released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Gradius Arcade Soundtrack - KMCA-155) on 03/04/2002.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Power meters:

1) Type A:

• Missile: Falls to the ground, then slides along it until it hits something.
• Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.
• Laser: Replaces your bullets with a blue beam.

2) Type B:

• Spread Bomb: Large explosion of death.
• Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.
• Ripple: Salamander's ripple laser.

3) Type C:

• 2-Way: Bombs fall up and down.
• Vertical: Fires a bullet directly upward as well as forward.
• C. Laser: Toothpaste laser rides again.

4) Type D:

• Photon Torpedo: Similar to standard missile, but goes straight through enemies.
• Free Way: Fires in direction your ship is moving.
• Twin Laser: Twin sets of short beams.
• Edit mode weapons:

1) Missile:

• Normal: Falls to the ground, then slides along it until it hits something.
• Control: Flies vaguely in direction ship is moving.
• Upper: Gravity-defying upward missile.
• S.Spread: Backwards-firing spread bomb.

2) Double:

• Vertical: Fires a bullet directly upward as well as forward.
• Spread Gun: Fires diverging bullets forwards. Select twice for triple shot.
• Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.
• Free Way: Fires in direction your ship is moving.

3) Laser:

• Twin Laser: Twin sets of short beams.
• Ripple: Expanding loops of destruction.
• E. Laser: R-Type style charge-up weapon.
• C. Laser: Toothpaste laser once again.

4) Option:

• Option: The multiple we all know and love.
• S. Option: Strangely behaved multiple with a mind of its own.

5) ?:

• Force Field: All-over protection.
• Shield: Nemesis-style twin barriers.
• Free Shield: Barriers which can be stuck anywhere on the ship.
• Reduce: Shrinks the spaceship. Can be selected twice.

6) !:

• Normal: Return to normal bullets.
• Speed Down: Reverses the effects of speed up.
• Option: Another chance to select a multiple.
• Change BGM: In Stage 3 (In The Wind), around the T-shaped cliff, you will find an enemy bay against the wall and under a ceiling, which is nearly impossible to hit except with the use of some types of Missiles and the S.Option. Destroy it and the BGM in the stage will change.
• Play First Level Of "Salamander" Or Gradius: In Stage 10, when you are at the last boss of the game, get hit by the boss' attack that comes out of its mouth. You will then be taken either to Salamander stage 1 or Gradius stage 1.
• Stage Skip:

1. Turn Odd Number Dip Switches except Dip 1-5 AFTER boot up. As follows:
Coin A = 1 Coin/6 Credits
Coin B = 1 Coin/6 Credits
Lives = 3
Cabinet = Upright
Bonus Life = 50000
Difficulty = Hard
Demo Sounds = Off
Flip Screen = On
Upright Controls = Single
Service Mode = On
Unknown = Off

• In game, hold Service Switch (Coin 3 = Key 7 in Mame) then press 1P Start Button.

SERIES

• Gradius [Model GX400] (1985, ARC)
• Gradius 2 [Model RC751] (1987, MSX)
• Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou [Model GX785] (1988, ARC)
• Gradius III - Densetsu Kara Shinwa-e [Model GX945] (1989, ARC)
• Nemesis '90 Kai [Model GS-166] (1993, X68K)
• Solar Assault - Gradius (1997, ARC)
• Gradius Gaiden (1997, PSX)
• Gradius IV - Fukkatsu (1998, ARC)
• Gradius Generation [Model AGB-AGAJ-JPN] (2001, GBA)
• Gradius V [Model SLPM-62462] (2004, PS2)
• Gradius Neo (2004, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Neo Imperial (2005, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Wide (2007, NTT DoCoMo i-mode Phones)
• Gradius Rebirth [Model RVL-WGDJ-JPN] (2008, WII)

STAFF
Director: Hiroyasu Machiguchi
Game programmers: T. Shimomura, Yuko Itoh, M. Ozawa
Graphic designers: T. Miyoshi, M. Igarashi, R. Itoh, K. Hattori, Y. Asano
Sound editors: J. Kaneda, S. Fukami, M. Higashino, Kengo Nakamura, Mutsuhiko Izumi
Engineer: K. Ban, K. Itoh
Title designers: F. Shibuya, M. Yoshihashi

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

Nintendo Super Famicom (1991)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2000) "Gradius III & IV"
Sony PSP (2006) "Gradius Collection"
Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] (2007): SNES version.

• COMPUTERS:

Sharp X68000

CONTRIBUTE
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