Gradius III SNES Cheats

Random Weapons

Enter the manual weapons select screen and press X, Y, X, Y, X, Y. The weapons will then be selected at random for you.

Reset From Controller

Hold L, R, and START to reset the game from the controller.

Gradius III Super Demo

Hold the A button until start-up demo begins.

Gradius III Bonus Stages

There are bonus stages in levels 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Most bonus stages require that you meet some condition and then fly into a seemingly solid area to enter the bonus area.

Level 2: Fly into the first ship opening along the bottom of the screen in the last section of the stage before meeting the boss.
Level 3: You must have destroyed all of the guns on the ground, fly up close to the low rock ceiling toward the end of the level right before the last mountain.
Level 4: You must have no power-up boxes lit at bottom of the screen, fly into the back of the Moai head located in the middle of 3 heads toward the end of the level.
Level 5: Fly through the fire at the corner of the inverted volcano just before the small passage which leads to the 2-headed fire dragon.
Level 7: Fly through low corner just after the 4 turrets where your ship would normally have to cut diagonally upward.

Super Code

Once started, pause then enter the following sequence: Up, Up, Down, Down, L, R, L, R, B, A, START

This will power up your ship with missiles, force field, all options, and more speed. You can use this code once per level. Original Konami code for Gradius and LifeForce will cause Gradius III ship to self-destruct.

Extra Ships

On title screen hold Left on control pad and press A button 3 times then start. This will give you a reserve of 29 ships.

Credit Increase

On title screen keep pressing the X button as many times as possible before pressing START. The number of restart credits will increase 1 for each 3 or 4 presses.

Spread Your Options

Select R Option from the weapons panel. Once you have acquired all 4 Options, collect enough power-ups to again highlight the “Option” option at the bottom of the screen. Press and hold the A button to increase the radius of your R Options. This will make the
R Option as effective as any of the other Option types by covering a large portion of the screen.