Play Gradius 3 Online
Dodge pink bubbles and enemy swarms in the Vic Viper, juggling power-ups between speed, lasers, and those handy drone helpers—just try not to die and lose them all. The SNES version’s a bit kinder than the arcade, but that unlockable brutal mode still wants to crush you.
Gradius III on SNES is one of those shooters that feels punishing but keeps you coming back anyway. You're back in the Vic Viper, dodging waves of enemies and those infamous pink bubble things that always seem to sneak up on you. The power-up system is classic Gradius—pick between speed boosts, lasers, missiles, or options (those little helper drones), and pray you don't die and lose everything.
They toned down the arcade version's brutality here, which is probably for the best—the original was borderline cruel. There's even a continue system (rare for Gradius!), though the "arcade" difficulty unlock will still wreck you if you're into that. Weirdly, some stages from Gradius II pop up halfway through, like a surprise remix. And yeah, the slowdown when things get chaotic is totally still there, for better or worse.
If you can handle the occasional cheap death, it's a solid port with that satisfying "one more try" pull.
Download Gradius 3 ROM
You can download this ROM to play Gradius 3 offline using an Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator (Top Emulators).
*This ROM is provided for backup and educational purposes only.
