[TAS] SNES Gradius III by Cpadolf in

This is a tool-assisted speedrun. For more information, see tasvideos.org/1116M
TAS originally published on 2008-05-26
As you might know, Konami realised they went a little overboard with the difficulty of the arcade version of Gradius III, so the SNES port got noticeably easier (and laggier). However, it still remains one of the hardest and most unforgiving shoot 'em ups released in its era.
This is Cpadolf's take at the shmupping carnage, resulting in a significant improvement in both speed and style over the previous movie by Krocketneo. In total, 2 minutes 53 seconds are saved thanks to lag reduction and faster boss fights. The author also kills a greater percentage of enemies (still not fully 100%, though - read the comments (tasvideos.org/1938S) for more details).
The game is completed in Arcade mode (still a far cry from the actual arcade game), which is accessed by tapping A on the main menu screen. It is strongly recommended to read the congratulatory text appearing after the end credits. ;)

[@dorondavid4698]

This TAS is frickin insane...it dances around bullets, moves faster than I can see, and is frame perfect for everything

[@exxor9108]

That is... pretty much the entire point of a TAS. XD

[@DorothyLouiseBeryllium]

25:34 "Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing" Strat.

[@GoblinCrew]

This has the same energy as my cat getting zoomies at 4am

[@Persac7]

"Zoomies" 🤡🤡🤡

[@jojojoma3026]

This TAS is hilarious; what human could possibly play this game with max speed upgrades? Not me, not even with the slowdown! Great soundtrack, Konami at it's peak.

[@sigma20xx]

I stop at 3X speed.

[@AgentLokVokun]

E-Laser lag is actually a feature and not a bug in this case. :)

[@sigma20xx]

@@AgentLokVokun how so? This game often had lag regardless of what weapon you use.

[@AgentLokVokun]

@@sigma20xx Feels like E. type had more lag then any of the other weapons with options while fully/near fully charged. Rumor has it there's a romhack with the lag issue resolved. I might have to look into that.

[@jojojoma3026]

@@AgentLokVokun Yeah it's like you earn some bullet time when you have all 4 options charging up

[@SullySadface]

I can already feel the slowdown

[@yousefslimani99]

There's a "Gradius 3 SA-1" SNES Romhack This Romhack Reduced All The Slowdown on This Game!!

[@SullySadface]

@@yousefslimani99 I mean you could probably just use that version of Snes9x that runs at max speed but sure

[@kryptokrypto702]

Nice. Took me ages, but I did beat this game in my younger years (one of "tough" games for me). It took so many retries, but it was worth it. The sound, the graphics, the art, it is all amazing. First time I played it, it was like playing at the arcade (which was fun), except with extra options and no need to pay if you died too many times.

[@ryandddher]

I heard the original Arcade game didn't allowed Continues, meaning the only way to beat it was using 1 credit But I could be wrong though

[@aircraftcarrierwo-class]

I appreciated that even in a TAS, you defeated Gofer in the traditional fashion.

[@retro3188]

Excuse me, but this was Bacterion. Gofer was in Gradius 2 and 4.

[@yousefslimani99]

My Childhood Game What a Great Memories I Have With This Game!!

[@krazytaxicabbie]

The bgm is insane!

[@Belthazar1113]

This soundtrack has triggered a core memory.

[@Sanjasochi]

One of the most beautiful TASes I've ever seen!

[@jorgeamaya6049]

Huge fan of the series 👍

[@ruffofilho]

THAT MOVEMENT GIMME NERVOURS

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

Very beautiful.

[@Somnio77]

One of the Best OSTs in the story of gaming 🎶🎶🎶

[@CaptainStupendous]

It looks like the runner is purposely not using the missile and shield power ups to avoid slowdown. It's clear that the runner doesn't need them anyway.

[@andynitka777]

This is art! This is my favorite of the Gradius games (Salamander -> Life Force on the NES sort of not counting :3) I just wondered, and the answer might just be it’s a TAS also shut up 🤣. But why neglect missiles or the full option (option slot) to just make your setup faster? I mean there’s sections where not having to get an option in front of an enemy but below (missiles) would do nicely. Again… Just wondering. I loved every second including some pauses that showed some (haha!) moments like a defenseless fortress wall with only cores left and the final boss you can just leave to explode (aka Gradius 1 style) :3

[@Foever378]

This makes all the rage moments of my childhood seem so meaningless. Hahah but man did I have fun watching this and living in my memories. I did beat this

[@AgentLokVokun]

One of my favorite games of all time! I like how you spell out "Cpadolf" too Up Up Down Down L R L R B A START.

[@jojojoma3026]

..and if you use Left Right Left Right as in the classic code, you just die!

[@AgentLokVokun]

@@jojojoma3026 Best way to insult the player ever.

[@linkkenni]

Kinda curious: why wasn't the missile feature activated? Was it to prevent slowdown?

[@albertusaswin2012]

This TAS contains Ultra Instinct!

[@xenyadot]

Im sorry, the spinning around the bullet made me laugh loudly I found that hilarious for some reason.

[@botulismsauce]

This makes me feel vindicated for how much I sucked at these games

[@ManderaStudio]

I didn't know you could melee in this game!

[@Jlatthecoemdian]

I wish you guys could see the look on my face watching him play this game knowing all the struggles I had with this.

[@victorhugor.m.1554]

ese TAS es muy bueno!

[@yousefslimani99]

My Favorite Shoot'em Up Game of All Time!!

[@DRock2048]

Agreed.

[@yousefslimani99]

@@DRock2048 Do you Know about touhou?!

[@DRock2048]

@@yousefslimani99 Yes, but I have not played any of them.

[@yousefslimani99]

@@DRock2048 Touhou 2 Will Be Uploaded Very Soon on My Channel

[@hermanos1ai]

holy crap, the complete negation of the volcanos

[@user-mx8of4uq2u]

Absolute beast

[@Mike_Lauren]

I love how you play with the enemies. they strive to defeat you and you just walk right over their noses like nothing happened. LOL

[@user-uv8sw8fm6n]

素晴らしき射撃ゲーム😊

[@MrBroken030]

damn, you can one shot the first boss with 2 options and e laser?

[@Koettnylle]

This music is very good

[@zerosick]

perfection

[@DarkstarArchangel]

90% of the speedrun is the ship flexing by circling around projectiles and nearing surfaces.

[@IsDaouda]

Perfect !

[@sigma20xx]

Why didn't you use a shield and missels? To cut down on lag? If so, why didn't you go with minimize? That's what I liked to use when I played. The laser was my shield.😁 Also, why didn't you use the ships smart bomb weapon?

[@efrenb5]

Gradius developers: "Are we a joke to you?" LOL

[@Peter_Morris]

I don’t understand why you didn’t shoot Bacterion. That would’ve saved even more time at the end. Nice TAS, though. I love the dancing around the bullets.

[@Yue451]

I always thought “Destroy them all!” Was just a suggestion.

[@francisd1017]

If I were the pilot I'd have barf all over the cockpit from major motion sickness lol

[@anthonyiodice]

Omg, I’m in love with a robot

[@hannukahcelt2027]

I remember playing this game for so long, only to get roadblocked right at the level after the plant planet. The level simply moved so fast that I had no chance getting past that first ramp before the map forced me to collide with it every time. Ended up getting so frustrated that I quit playing. Edit: Nice to see the bot also chose the same main weapon that I pick every time I played the game.

[@AgentLokVokun]

The plant level boss was designed to force you to get enough speed up boost that the level after that was playable. When the plant does the "force suck" attack was the cue for players.

[@hannukahcelt2027]

@@AgentLokVokun Didn't really have to worry about that mechanic since I typically used the E. Laser and that usually kills bosses quick enough to avoid most of their attack patterns.

[@tamango_skyes8074]

That... Actually makes sense now that I think about it.

[@AgentLokVokun]

@@tamango_skyes8074 @Sky Eleri Yeah even if you kill the boss with the E-Laser or somehow do not have enough speed you will basically INSTANTLY be killed at the start of the next level because you do not move fast enough to navigate the maze. Example 17:06 17:24 17:26 Edit: My memory is a little fussy but if you die midway thru the level the orange NPCs are there to give you enough power ups (i think you need 3 speeds MINIMUM?) to get to the final boss. 17:24 is a good example of this. At 17:33 with out speed ups you'd die every time because the "screen moves too quickly"

[@AgentLokVokun]

@@hannukahcelt2027 Even if that's the case IIRC you need a bare minimum of 3 (or two?) speed ups to beat the next level.

[@thelegendaryqwerty]

21:24 at 0.25x

[@DeathXZ2]

No se como en mi niñez podia pasar este juego en maxima dificultad :')

[@_thejuicebox]

Hahaha this TAS made my eyes hurt, love the personality

[@TheBoxGamePL]

yeey Gradius 3 Love This Series Games

[@connordean9346]

I hate to be that guy but it looks like you have no collision/godmode on, I watched enemies and bullets pass through you and you flew right through the terrain on stage 3!

[@sarcasticguy4311]

28:15 Ah, Japan, don't you ever change.

[@zr0se_ch]

28:11: I''M GIVE UP Author: Hi Give up, i'm Cpadolf

[@mxd500]

TAS is *INSANE!* omg 🤨💢

[@yousefslimani99]

Next is Contra III The Alien Wars! HD!!

[@strydom666]

Vic Viper hype!

[@JackJack-rf8qz]

Tout un joueur

[@ianc4233]

The definition of anxiety lol 😅

[@chenpohung]

this is not Gradius this is Destroyer

[@charlesmcclure8000]

This is pretty casual. Everyone I know uses this route

[@mythgraven]

I like the part where the spaceship shot at the enemy!

[@ReaperX7]

How to make a game give up all hope and just surrender to the player.

[@jfiffl7]

Its because of this, The option is gone.

[@krazytaxicabbie]

No speed up chip?

[@DRock2048]

I'm give up your appellations?

[@MissleLaunch]

i wonder what these would look like with the ROM hack to fix slowdown?

[@GrimmTheEngineer]

Imagine accidentally slowing yourself down

[@mako777c]

👍

[@user-ik8lg5ck7r]

5:49 14:35 16:59

[@DRC85]

I never understood the final boss in this game, most anticlimactic end boss ever. Great game though

[@aircraftcarrierwo-class]

The final boss being insanely easy is something of a tradition in the Gradius series, the developers tended to treat the final stage as the boss encounter and the boss himself as a victory lap.

[@complicatednoob8274]

Melee Weapon Space Ship Mode hahah

[@Diemmy196]

Má ơi 😮

[@user-vs2gd5qw9x]

伊能忠敬プレイ。

[@AntiKipKay]

It's Gradius III on crack

[@user-rl8iv8ct3f]

玉玉レーザー強いし

[@apap1586]

It has to be some kind of invincible code here. Of course I can't believe I beat this game in 91. Of course with the 30-man code.

[@user-fb9to7ve4n]

流石変態だわw。モアイ殲滅とレーザーの間を抜けるテク。変態としか言い様かないねw

[@yousefslimani99]

I Really Hate The Slowdown Issues on The Classic Games...I'll Use CPU Overclock to Get Rid of These Slowdowns!!

[@peashootergaming3312]

🗿🗿🗿🗿

[@AgentLokVokun]

Followup: Why is the final boss so dumb and disappointing? *BARF BARF BARF DIES* Edit: Check out the SECRET LEVELS on the his google "Gradius 3 secret zones" from IGN. Blew my mind || OR || KZbin " Gradius III (SNES) - Bonus Stages" 26k views Mar 5, 2013

[@triforcewielder8500]

First to say right on fam

[@Schattiz]

OMG, wasnt subbed, shame on me.

[@krazytaxicabbie]

Speed up!

[@chuckzone6107]

i see what you did there 9:24 CP and 11:13 Swastika edit: time

[@sidswyers]

Cheats on tas lol

[@user-bm3lw2tm8c]

1番参考にならんプレイw

[@jomelcantor9331]

Bot

[@ToyKeeper]

TAS. It's kind of the point.

[@NarffetWerlz]

Showoff

[@khalid_3838]

cheating

[@Symoungaming]

this is me when i am trying to impress my crush during elementary days