Gradius III

Gradius III is a 1989 arcade shoot-'em-up by Konami, the third mainline entry in one of the genre's most influential series. Back in 1985, Gradius introduced the system that became its signature: collecting capsules and manually triggering upgrades from a power bar, so the player decides whether to invest in speed, weapons, escort modules or a shield.

The third instalment extends that system with the option to assemble your own weapon configuration before play begins. Otherwise it stays true to its roots: side scrolling, waves of enemies, intricate obstacle sections and large bosses closing out each stage. The arcade version of Gradius III is notorious for its harshness – it ranks among the hardest entries in the series, and losing your ship late in a stage means returning stripped of equipment.

The year 1989 marked the peak of the arcade shooter era; Japanese companies competed on spectacle, and Konami poured everything the hardware could carry into this release. The entry lists support for one or more players.

It is precisely the arcade original that this catalogue offers – and in playable form. Anyone wondering why series like Gradius are spoken of with respect can find the answer right here, one credit at a time.

The series also gave the genre a term of its own: the escort modules called Options, which copy the ship's movement and multiply its firepower, became a template imitated across dozens of other shooters. In the third instalment, steering them well is the key to surviving the densest passages – and losing them hurts accordingly.

Open the game's page on OldGame.cz and it boots straight in your browser, faithfully emulated, original difficulty included.