A year after its arcade debut, Konami released a port of Gradius 3 to the Super Famicom. It's this port that I'll be looking at today, mainly because it gives me the warm fuzzies. This is one of those times where I can't even pretend to be impartial, especially since this is one of those shmups that I've played on and off again for over 25 years. Comfort games are important. Everyone should have at least 10 or 1,000 of them.
It is pretty humorous that Konami turned one of its hardest games into something that gives "warm fuzzies". I mean, why do that in the first place? The maniacs aren't likely to be interested in a scaled-back port that's missing enemies, stages, and most importantly, that soul-sucking level of difficulty that breaks players until they're nothing more than dust. My assumption is that Konami wasn't really concerned with reaching that particular audience. Their only concern was porting all of their games to every platform. Trying to find any deeper reasoning is a waste of time. Gradius 3 on the Super Nintendo is fine. It's functional, entertaining, and mild. The aggressive spiciness was toned down to make it more palatable to a wider audience. There's nothing wrong with that.
Before beginning the game, you're prompted to choose a weapon loadout or design your own with the edit mode. This is basically an expansion of the "type select" feature introduced in Gradius 2. I don't often go in-depth into the weapon systems in this series, since most of the time it's just a matter of figuring out whether you need the double shot or the laser to proceed through the current stage. Here, the various choices combine with the lighter difficulty to create a system that allows for flexibility. Concerns over whether or not your build is optimal enough to give your Vic Viper a chance at survival simply don't exist. If you want to get playful and use E. Laser & R. Option to create a boss-killing super weapon, then go for it. That build's limitations in other areas can be covered for with sufficient dodging skills. Minimalist playstyles are also possible and tend to present the added challenge of less slowdown. A ship with a full suite of options firing all at once places a sizable tax on the SNES hardware, making it easier to get through spicy situations. It's your choice in the end, so get creative and make your own fun.
What follows is a Gradius 3 experience that's appropriately scaled for console gamers. Meaning that however much they spent to acquire the game allows them guaranteed access to its entirety, whereas that single coin in an arcade machine wouldn't get them past the first stage. Anyway, this is a pretty solid introduction. You'll have to contend with the usual menagerie of air and ground-based targets. The rare sand dragon will rise from the dunes, which serves the dual-purpose of introducing stage-unique hazards and providing depth to the hostile galaxy you've started navigating. It's also a neat spectacle, even if it doesn't provide much of a fight on Normal difficulty. Perhaps this goes back to what I was saying earlier about comfy fuzzy wuzzy feelings. Effortlessly slaying dragons with my elite space-fighter? That's basically a power-fantasy, a way to unwind after the struggles of trying to maintain a job and a mortgage.
If you'll allow me to get sidetracked for a second, I want to mention the AM Show version of Gradius 3. Once thought to be lost forever, it's now readily available via Gradius Origins. One thing I picked up on while going through it is what appears to be Konami's approach to level-design. Basically, the stages in this version are long, excessively so. The 2nd stage with all of the bubbles is particularly outrageous. It's like the Vic Viper is flying through it multiple times just to pop more bubbles. This gives me the impression that Konami starts with excessively long stages crammed with every idea they come up with, which are then pared down to a reasonable length, while keeping whatever can maintain the player's interest. Perhaps I'm completely wrong about their approach, but that's the impression I'm being given.
More to the point, the bubbly stage is fine for what it is. There's the setup, the variety of different threats, and they're all blended together to create a scenario for you to shoot through. The stage ends just as soon as those "Alright. I've seen enough of this." feelings become apparent. I suppose that's not the most exciting description, particularly for a genre that lives and dies by this stuff, but there's not a lot to complain about either. This is still a checkpoint shooter, and concessions are sometimes made so that players aren't trapped in overly difficult situations. To put it another way, if a stage can't be completed with the barest minimum weaponry, then it has to be retooled. Gradius 3 often puts functionality over flair, which occasionally leads to bland scenarios.
I don't have to go very far to find an example, because stage 3 is right around the corner. The first half is a fun romp akin to the previous entries, but then it becomes a digging section where you shoot dirt and rocks for a light year or three. I'm not against dig stages as a concept, particularly since Konami themselves put out a fun one in Gokujou Parodius a few years later. This on the other hand just doesn't have the sauce. For all my complaining, this section only takes up a minute and a half of the entire game. Maybe it's because the slowdown here is massive and it's one benefit - making it easier to dodge projectiles - doesn't really factor in.
Thankfully, the game picks up shortly afterwards thanks to having a variety of fun locales to visit. The trademark Moai stage is always a good time. There's a short yet potentially rough trip through a fiery cavern. I appreciate that the other trademark speed stage has gotten streamlined a little, lessening the trial & error routing that made the previous entry more arduous than it should've been. A decent set of final stages caps off this space adventure. On normal difficulty, every situation presents understandable problems with clear solutions, paced so that I never felt overwhelmed or bored. Maybe you'll feel differently, which is fair. Expert gamers aren't going to have a lot to chew on it when it comes to this port. There is the Hard level of difficulty, and the second loop presents a significant bump in challenge. However, 40 minutes spent waiting for the "real game" to begin is asking a ton.
It's also worth noting that among other features, Gradius Origins has easy modes for every game. This setting shrinks the Vic Viper's hurtbox, making it a smaller target. Players are granted a large stock of lives to work with. Other changes can include more slowdown or rank increasing at a slower rate. For those players who have tired of SNES Gradius 3 but struggle to make meaningful progress in the arcade original, the easy mode serves as a great halfway option. I highly recommend checking it out.
Speaking for myself, I still enjoy playing through this port. Perhaps it belongs on my "comfy games" list next to Soulblazer and... Huh. Well, maybe I'll come up with some other games later. Point is, this is a fine shmup that I can just throw on and relax with. The gratuitous slowdown is bound to be a sticking point for some, but I'm fine with it. Everything moving like it's underwater just adds to the relaxation.
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