Gradius III SNES

Gradius III is Konami’s side-scrolling shoot-’em-up, originally released to Japanese arcades in December 1989 before this SNES port followed in Japan the next year and as a North American launch-window title in 1991. You pilot the Vic Viper starfighter, collecting power-up capsules to fill a selectable weapons meter and fighting through the same relentless, checkpoint-based stages the arcade original was known for.

The SNES conversion adds a lower-difficulty mode and extra weapon options not present in the punishing arcade version, a concession to home audiences that the coin-op original never needed to make. Its notoriously steep difficulty, even in its softened console form, made it one of the more demanding entries in Konami’s long-running Gradius series.