Gradius III is a side-scrolling shooter video game originally developed for the SNES.

Vic Viper is a pilot who is challenged with the task of defeating the incoming Bacterion Empire onslaught.

In Gradius III, you are given control of a ship to destroy the enemies that fly towards you from the right hand side. You must shoot down the enemy ships while avoiding their attacks and the walls located on each level.

One of the features unique to Gradius III is the Weapon Set Edit mode. In this mode, you can edit the sets of weapons used on your ship to defeat the enemies. The game comes with a list of predetermined weapon sets available if you wish to change your weapons and do not want to use the full customization in the game. If you want to customize your weapon sets even further, the game allows you to create your own weapon set using weapons that are not being used on the default sets.