GRADIUS III (Super Nintendo, 1991) · 1CC · Classic Hardware Playthrough

This is a complete single credit playthrough of Gradius III on Normal difficulty for the Super Nintendo, played via the SuperStation One and displayed on a Philips CRT television using a Hori Real Arcade Pro joystick. Gradius III is one of those games I've played sporadically over the last few years, each time getting a bit further than the last. I've always appreciated the game for its challenge and nostalgia, but it occupied that category of games where I felt a complete playthrough was unlikely, let alone a 1CC. For a long time, I struggled to get past the Hyper Zone stage. Whenever I watched other players make it through, it was almost disheartening to realize that their reward was an immediate boss rush. Seeing five bosses in a row felt completely absurd to me, as if Konami wanted to punish anyone who had already managed to survive the hyper zone. Then, even after surviving the boss rush, there are still two more stages waiting with challenges of their own. It always seemed completely unreasonable to me but it also made me appreciate the skill of the players who made it look easy. Over the last year, I've taken a much stronger interest in shoot-'em-ups and have managed to clear several games that I previously placed in that same "impossible" category. Somehow, after enough practice, those games became achievable. Now that day has finally arrived for Gradius III on the SNES. For me, this was an achievement and I'm really happy that I was able to pull it off. Now let's see if I can make some progress on the rest of the Gradius series, which comparatively seem far more challenging.