Is that good

(It's not very good, I can do better at home gradewise if nothing else. In my defense I was adjusting to a new control surface?)

They had everything I was looking for here! Gradius II, Salamander/Lifeforce, Gradius III. The cabinets were all modded for auto fire, with little knobs to adjust autofire rates. My RSI appreciates it.

NES Gradius II was Japan exclusive for mapper reasons; it is lightyears beyond the US Gradius. But it turns out when this impossible-feeling NES title is a pale shadow of the arcade version. I have no words for the scale of this thing.

Now, Gradius 3 on the other hand.

I learned things. About the world, and about myself. I thought I was good at Gradius. I am not good at Gradius. I am nothing.

The Gradius III for Super Nintendo is a cheat. A lie. The world made soft and survivable, for us fragile fleshy things. The true Gradius III, the arcade Gradius III, is not for beings of flesh. You must ascend to something greater to survive in that space. I spent $9 and could not escape level one.