Side scrolling shooters were all the rage in the late 80s, and Gradius had no small part in making the genre popular.  The third installment of the series was quite impressive with huge bosses and active backgrounds.  As always, enemies drop off powerups which make the Vic Viper and impressive fighting machine.  The biggest issue in the game is slowdown, although it can be a blessing at times.
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A side-scrolling shoot-em-up and conversion of the 1989 Konami coin-op.  The player once again takes control of the Vic Viper spaceship against the massive onslaught of the Bacterion empire.  Similar to other games in the series, power-ups are selected by the use of a meter at the bottom of the screen which moves as capsules are collected from defeated enemies.  This version is generally faithful to the arcade, but is missing the 3D bonus level, as well as parts of other levels.  Contrary to popular belief, the game's notorious "slowdown" with too many objects on screen was intentional and based on a similar effect from the arcade version.  Up to 2 players can alternate play.  - <b>werwe</b>