Gradius III/Stage 9


 * SNES stage: does not appear in the SNES version.

Crystal Labyrinth (Crystal Maze)

 * This level involves small glass cubes that block off areas like a maze. Occasionally, they block you off, trapping you and killing you, so watch out, and create a plan.


 * There's not much about this stage other than the fact that Dee-01s and hatches are found here. Dee-01s will sometimes come inside cubes, which you can destroy.


 * At the end of the level, a bunch of cubes will come from the right and attach themselves to the screen or the cubes on the left side of the screen. Some cubes will aim for your direction, so watch carefully. Cube #12 always aims for you from behind, and that kills most players.


 * If you die at any part of the stage, you get sent to the pre-stage, because the stage is one checkpoint long! Isn't that fun!

Boss: Lizard Core
Lizard Core is a large ship with two indestructible arms. The arms will slightly move when shot at. Lizard Core itself can fire six lasers while the arms are out. It has five barriers and one core. After a while, the arms close up and fire four lasers.

This boss can be extremely difficult if you don't know what you're doing, but pretty simple once you understand it. First of all, you need at least one option to deal with this boss, but 2 is preferred. It is unlikely you will bring more options because of the cube rush just before, but the more options you have, the better. You should never stay in from of the core itself, aside from the beginning in order to place your options in front of it.

Its arms won't actually fire if you stay close to them. There is actually a lot of room and you don't have to stay extremely close. At the start of the fight, try to position your ship between the "Speed up" and "Missile" upgrade slots. There should be a small red line at the bottom of your ship's sprite, which you can use as a guide. Then keep moving up and down without ever going left and right. You should be at the perfect distance to prevent the arms from shooting, while not actually ramming into them if they move forward. Simply be aware of the core shooting, and try not to stay at the top or bottom of the screen all the time, as it will sometimes fire a lot of volleys in quick success and trap you. You can, for example, start by moving down, then go back up when it starts moving down and you see and opening. Your options will be in front of the core and destroy it.