Gradius 3 Cheats (Super Nintendo)

In the second zone, the bubble zone, there is a hidden bonus level!  To get to it you must
do this:

  Near the end of the stage, there are 2 holes that are shooting enemies in bubbles at
you. When you get to this part, manuever your ship toward the bottom hole. Then enter the
hole without getting killed and you will see the stage dissolve.  You are now in the BONUS
LEVEL!

  While you are there you have a chance to pick up power-ups of different colors to help
you. Here is a list of what the power-ups are.

  RED- regular Power-Up
  YELLOW- add POINTS to you score
  GREEN- gives you a 1-UP(Yeah!)

  After the stage is done you will be in the third level.

This cheat can be done anytime during gameplay. First, pause the game while in game mode.
Then, hit the following buttons in the EXACT order I typed them or it won''t work: UP, UP,
DOWN, DOWN, L-BUTTON, R-BUTTON, L-BUTTON, R-BUTTON, B, A and then unpause the game.  If
you did it right, you should have all 4 options, shields, and 1 speed-up added to your
ship.  ENJOY!!!

In the second zone, the bubble zone, there is a hidden bonus level!  To get to it you must
do this:

  Near the end of the stage, there are 2 holes that are shooting enemies in bubbles at
you. When you get to this part, manuever your ship toward the bottom hole. Then enter the
hole without getting killed and you will see the stage dissolve.  You are now in the BONUS
LEVEL!

  While you are there you have a chance to pick up power-ups of different colors to help
you. Here is a list of what the power-ups are.

  RED- regular Power-Up
  YELLOW- add POINTS to you score
  GREEN- gives you a 1-UP(Yeah!)

  After the stage is done you will be in the third level.

To do this cheat you must fisrt follow a few steps.

  First you must go to EDIT MODE and when you select your type of options, you must pick
either the F. Options or the R. Options 

  During gameplay, you must get all of the options first.  Then, pick up the little
power-ups until you have the box highlighted on the OPTION BOX (the 5th box!).  

  Then press the button that you use to activate the power-ups and HOLD it.  If you did it
right, your OPTIONS should be farther away from your ship then normal.  This allows you to
shoot at a wider range.

If you want to get through the game alive on HARD mode then you need the right weapons.

  Here are the weapons that got me through the game with minimal trouble:

  BOX 1- SPEED UP
  BOX 2- HAWK WIND MISSLES
  BOX 3- VERTICLE
  BOX 4- E. LASER
  BOX 5- R. OPTION
  BOX 6- REDUCE SHIELD
  BOX 7- FULL SHIELD

  These weapons are the BEST (in my opinion) in the game and the most useful.

  *This wapon loadout was made in the EDIT MODE on the WEAPON LOADOUT screen*

Go to the start-up screen and select Options.  Once you have done that, higlight the Level
Difficulty section. Now, this is the hard part, press the A-Button on the controller
Really Really fast until the word ARCADE shows up in the Level Difficulty box and select
it to play.  If you did it correctly you can now play Gradius 3 on the hardest mode
possible, and believe me it IS HARD!

When you turn the game on, hold the A-Button down. Keep holding it until the preview movie
is over. Then when you see a screen that keeps flashing START let go of the A-Button and
you will see a new preview movie.  The new movie will show the M.A.X. Fighter playing on
ARCACE MODE.

On the Wrecked Ship Stage, when you go to beat the Phantom Boss there is a way to avoid
getting hit by his fireballs.  When he goes up to the middle of the screen he will lauch
multiple waves of fireballs at you that are nearly impossible to dogde. They also take a
lot of energy outta you. To avoid this charge up your beam until you are flashing. Then,
when the boss goes to strike, jump up in the air so that you flip.  While you are fipping
and flashing, you can have the fireballs hit you and you will take NO DAMMAGE!
  This can come in handy if you are low on energy.