Gradius III - Did anybody ever get past the Ice cube stage?

Induna · Post by **Induna** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:51 am

I've just read the review of Gradius III on the home page but the reviewer (popawell) neglected to mention about the 8th stage which in my opinion was unplayable and impossible. I don't know what Konami were thinking of when making this level but it ruined the game as nobody in the arcade could finish it. I used to play it around 1991. It was there for about 2 years before it vanished and I played it solidly in that time. It was only playing it on Mame a couple of years ago that I managed to clock it. Even then it was down to luck more than anything else. It was nice to see how the game ended after all this time. I felt complete.

But back to the arcade, the part I'm refering to is Stage 8, the Ice cube stage. After the first part of the level the screen stops scrolling and the larger ice cubes fly on to the screen from the right-hand side. They fly at you so fast it's practically impossible to get out of the way, and this goes on for at least 2 mins. Even if you use 4 or 5 speed-ups it's still impossible. All the time the screen is filling up with these cubes that you have less space to manoeuvre. The way I passed it was to lure the cubes to the bottom left of the screen and somehow form a barrier for your ship to hide behind.

Like I said before nobody in the arcade managed to get passed it.

Does anyone know who did? I'd be very surprised if such a person exists.

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:09 am

tviks, for one.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:19 am

You need to get them to all lump together about 4-6 ship lengths in front of the bottom left corner of the screen. You then use that lump as a barrier.

It is a horribly stupid part of the game. I have it unlocked as a side-game on the PS2 version and played it over and over trying to get somewhat consistent at it (I don't think perfect consistency is possible).

Place your ship 4-6 ship lengths to the right of the bottom left corner and wait. When one of them makes a break for you, pull back and it will stick to the floor. Then repeat it.

Eventually you can poke your nose into the ice a bit and they will keep building up on top the pile.

You do need to be careful because every so often, one will fly almost to the back of the screen and then make a run at you bypassing the wall; at which point you'll need to pull back again.

Did I mention this part of the game is stupid?

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:16 am

I did it.

...on the PS2 version.

...on the "Easiest" difficulty level.

There's also the "Cube attack" mode which lets you practice that section.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:38 am

The whole game is just impossible.

Its made for selected few. And I mean FEW.

Induna · Post by **Induna** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:51 am

Yeah Landshark, that's the technique I used. It took an hour or so of repeated deaths just to figure it out. It was only possible on Mame as I could load up the save state everytime I died. Glad I'm not the only person in the world who has suffered this.

It was bloody frustrating in the arcade though. It took around 45 mins to get to that bit, and that's if you managed to get through the tricky fire stage in one piece, and you just knew it would be a futile exercise, you wonder why you bothered.

Bah, the good old days eh?

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:43 am

I've managed to pass it on the Gradius 3/4 collection only once, although I do try to practice now and then with the Cube Rush extra. It was luck that got me past it if anything, I too hid in the lower left hand corner of the screen and just got lucky that the cubes had enough of a roof on them for me to hide under, but there's always a chance of a stray cube still getting through any little gap that may be present.

It's the laser beam lights in the last stage that gives me headaches.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:08 pm

I beat it on the PS2 version, only after literally hours of work and a few tips from Mr. Bloodreign above. I can now do it somewhat consistently (maybe three out of every five attempts?).

But I can't figure out how to get through the pink wall immediately following the Boss Rush stage. Perhaps it blocks you out if you're cheap like me and use the stage select or Konami code?

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 1:20 pm

^No, no. You have to go down. There's a path diagonally down that leads into the enemy base. The screen will scroll down with you as you move.

I can do the cubes on Very Easy. I have no hope of getting that far on any other difficulty.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:06 pm

Haha! Wow, I'm dumb.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:25 pm

PFG 9000 wrote:
Haha! Wow, I'm dumb.

i've posted this here before but, i had Ninja Spirit TG16 for a few years but could get hardly anywhere with it. i thought it was impossible. then one day, i reached for Run so i could pause and pick... i mean scratch, my nose and accidentally hit Select, and discovered that you could switch weapons. it was a whole different game and rather easy to boot.

Stormowl · Post by **Stormowl** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:40 pm

you guys need to see the multiple-loop MAME replay of the arcade Gradius III that tviks put together. he completely rapes the game for 2 or 3 loops.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:43 pm

Stormowl wrote:you guys need to see the multiple-loop MAME replay of the arcade Gradius III that tviks put together. he completely rapes the game for 2 or 3 loops.

?? I've never seen this. Where is the replay file?

I've seen the 3-3 game on Marp. (where the player recovers from death in the 2nd loop fire stage).

Ataru · Post by **Ataru** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:26 pm

can someone make an mpeg or avi of the replay?

it's a little hard to get those ancient mame .3x replays to work on a mac when mame is at .9 now.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:34 pm

The AVI would be HUGE.

The 3-3 replay can easily be played back in WinXP with the proper version of mame. I've watched it a few times.

Ataru · Post by **Ataru** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 5:10 pm

that's ok, I'm sure if someone dressed it up nicely enough, archive.org would host it.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:53 pm

Stormowl wrote:you guys need to see the multiple-loop MAME replay of the arcade Gradius III that tviks put together. he completely rapes the game for 2 or 3 loops.

Are you sure that was tviks' video? He said he couldn't beat loop 2 in arcade Gradius III.

bcass · Post by **bcass** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:04 pm

Stormowl wrote:you guys need to see the multiple-loop MAME replay of the arcade Gradius III that tviks put together. he completely rapes the game for 2 or 3 loops.

Anyone have this replay file?

tviks · Post by **tviks** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:20 pm

Thank you guys. I'm seriously happy that even after at least half a year, I'm still remembered at this board. I know that my last contribution in this board was in some time last year, and you've never heard of me since. But since no one has still beaten my record, I guess I can consider myself one of the best Gradius players in the world.

I like Gradius V very much, but you know what? The first time I beat the arcade version of Gradius 3 was some time at summer of 2004. I had to have a couple of YEARS of practice on this game, before I could beat it. I know some japanese guys have beaten multiple loops on this game, but I seriously felt unbelieveably great when I first beat this game on 1 credit. That feeling is just unimaginable. I never played this game in a real arcade, but I beat it on Mame with the honest, real arcade rules. I hadn't seen any replays, before I myself came up with the idea of making a protective barrier of the cubes in the cube rush.

I have the Mame replay on my computer, but as it is said, you can find a better replay at marp.retrogames.com.

Still, no one hasn't come even close to my Gradius V record.

Stormowl · Post by **Stormowl** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:18 am

^^^ ahh, so that 2 or 3 loop replay wasn't you? i was always under the impression that it was. would you mind sharing yours with us?

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:02 am

tviks - How can your Loop 16-1 ever be forgotten

!?!

I also have a friend/old arcade shooting partner who 1CC'd Gradius III last year. His name is KAC and he used to play it in the arcade in 1991. At that time, he used to die on the last stage where the lights flicker off and on. He came back to it on the PS2 a while ago and finally righted a wrong.

Regs, DEL

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:54 pm

Go to MARP

Click "Search" at the top, put "Gradius III" into the long title section.

You'll see a replay for both 3-5 and 3-3.

I've only watched the 3-3 version (their mame link doesn't work for this replay). The 3-5 version has both links functional.

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:57 pm

A ice cube puzzle level? Never seen it, need picture links so I can plz.

I'm still stuck on the fire stage where my review left off, I can't get to it half the time and even when I do I get roasted by the thousands of little fire blobs floating about.

How to get past that I don't know, but when I do I will be shure to update my review.

I also discovered a secret in the game on level 3. If you fire off a mega crush at that point in the begining where there are a crap load of land bases clustered together before the 2 volcanos the music will change. Not very inportant but listening to some familiar tunes is nice for that level.

AWJ · Post by **AWJ** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:07 pm

popawell wrote:I also discovered a secret in the game on level 3. If you fire off a mega crush at that point in the begining where there are a crap load of land bases clustered together before the 2 volcanos the music will change. Not very inportant but listening to some familiar tunes is nice for that level.

You don't have to use a megacrush, you just have to destroy a specific one of those bases (the one that's hardest to reach, obviously).

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:15 pm

AWJ wrote:
popawell wrote:I also discovered a secret in the game on level 3. If you fire off a mega crush at that point in the begining where there are a crap load of land bases clustered together before the 2 volcanos the music will change. Not very inportant but listening to some familiar tunes is nice for that level.
You don't have to use a megacrush, you just have to destroy a specific one of those bases (the one that's hardest to reach, obviously).

Well megacrush seems to be the best weapon for unlocking the track there.

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:25 am

Speaking of secrets, has any of you found a specal stage or a warp stage like in its SNES counterpart? I play the game about every other day for the last year and a half, and so far I havent found any yet.

If there is one, it would make the game a hell of alot easier.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:55 am

There are no warps, but the first levels of gradius 1 and life force are in there.

You have to get hit by the last guy. There is a mame replay on MARP that shows completions of both secret stages.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:19 pm

AWJ wrote:You don't have to use a megacrush, you just have to destroy a specific one of those bases (the one that's hardest to reach, obviously).

I had tried this awhile back. I was told it was the first base on the floor immediately behind one of those "T" pillar-thingies. Is that the right one? I couldn't get the music to change.

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 5:47 pm

Mabie this cube stage would be easier if you had no weapons but had speedups. There are no enemys charging you there besides the rocks right?

It is the stage just before the boss rush, so you can easealy get your arsenal back. For me, a boss fight is easier if I have fewer weapons (scratch the level 2 boss on that), sometimes I have nothing and still manage to get by. AKA the boss on stage 3 I can beat with nothing. Not even speedups.
In this game the more you have the more insane the game gets.
Which doesn't make it any easier.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:05 pm

You have to run through a nice gauntlet of enemies in the powerup/intro part of the level, and then you need to navigate that crystal maze with both enemies and onrushing cubes before you get to the wide open Cube Rush area. When you die, it starts you back at the beginning of the level.