Already many enemies are attacking, including this huge dragon that blew me up 1 second after I took this pic. Occasionaly you will see two dragons pop up here. There is a dragon that pops up later in the level that is supported by one of those sand lions. Unless you have a upper missile, this lion has a high chance of pinning you under the dragon. Bam!! Your dead.

Ohh a giant sand bug, I need a bigger can of laser. Pretty easy to dispatch, just avoid the sand balls and you should be fine. The threads made by the spiders are harmless also.

Bubbles, how much harm can they do? Apparently lots. Those bubbles may seem harmless, but you touch one and you're shrapnel. About here is when you notice the hit count on round objects is square. The big bubbles can kill you almost a half a inch of screen space away due to this. So if you think you can squeeze in a very narrow gap, think again. Some areas of the level will almost fill completely with bubbles. If you die once, you are put right in the middle of this bubble storm and you will die again.

MORE BUBBLES? WHEN WILL IT END!!! This boss is a nuisance, not only that his hit area is the same as the bubbles in the level, but he shoots out little bubbles that move at a very fast rate. If you have no options, just pray and hope a bubble doesn't hit you before you destroy the eye.

This area is a maze. Many of the land bases don't have any ships in them. A ways up from this picture you will be attacked by a bunch of those bouncing shrapnel dispensers. The whole screen will fill with bullets. Good Luck!

I have 2 words for you: GOOD LORD!!!. This guy will trap you in his big beams he shoots on the cannons on his sides and then ricochet very fast lasers off them. Then when you blow the 2 front cores he will shoot pulses of laser that are even harder to dodge!

The first 3D gradius game! You fly through corridors at high speed and collect power ups that are lying around. Pretty easy.

The statues of easter island strike again! Very hard level. Big moai are dropping normal sized moai onto the land. Like always they shoot donuts at you (Homer Simpson would have a field day here).

Now the moai are on rotating drums, this is the easiest part of the level. Destroy all the moai fases to clear a drum.

Looks like a moai wanted to feel special. Pretty easy to dispatch, just shoot the mouth and dodge the mini rotating moai (resemblance to the Pharaoh from salamander?)

Here is the hard part. You must either kill the base moai or last 2 minutes from the mini moai. The mini moai have a very nasty surprise this time. If you shoot them or they get close to the aura from your shield, they will inflate like balloons and explode. The blast can kill you.

NO THIS IS NOT THE LAST LEVEL!! This level has a very good resemblance to the organic level in the nes version of life force. Just you have the pink blobs that spawn hands that shoot at you.

The Big Brain. I came all this way through this level and I run into a pushover boss? Nothing exciting, just shoot the eye, dodge the bullets, and move when the claws come out (he will protect his eye and stop for 2 or 3 seconds before he shoots his claws at you)

Now THIS is why Gradius 3 should be called a maniac shmup. Didn't get too far here. Those fireballs will explode and release 3 smaller pieces if you shoot them. Unlike The SNES version, the smallest rocks can not be obliterated.