Gradius III: No Stage Difficulty Scaling

The purpose of this hack is to remove stage difficulty scaling. So you can choose a Game Level (easy, normal, hard, arcade) that does not surreptitiously overwhelm you, and does give you better chances of recovering when you die.

(While each Game Level is easier than in the unmodded game, be assured that Normal Level, for instance, is still harder with this hack than Easy Level without it. ^^ )

NO STAGE DIFFICULTY SCALING

By Zimgief


* PRESENTATION *

Difficulty in Gradius III depends on multiple factors.
The first and most obvious one is the Game Level in the Option Mode. Easy, Normal, Hard (and the unlockable Arcade).
It affects the speed of enemies and bullets, as well as the frequency enemies shoot at you. Also, the number of minor enemies generated during boss fights, and the number of "option-eating" enemies that chase you during stages.

But the speed of enemies and bullets as well as the frequency enemies shoot at you are also affected by the stage you are in. The farther you go, the harder it gets.
Which is bad game design, especially in a Gradius game:
- different humans, at different ages, do not have the same reflexes. Everyone should be able to choose just the right amount of speed he or she is comfortable with. This is not possible in the base game, as the speed increases multiple times during a single playthrough.
- when you are decently upgraded, this increase in speed is barely noticeable because enemies die as soon as they appear. But if YOU die, a recovery is next to impossible even in Normal. At this rate, why have any lives and credits at all?

Knowing all this, the purpose of this hack is to remove stage difficulty scaling. So you can choose a Game Level (easy, normal, hard, arcade) that does not surreptitiously overwhelms you, and does give you better chances of recovering when you die.

(While each Game Level is easier than in the unmodded game, be assured that Normal Level, for instance, is still harder with this hack than Easy Level without it. ^^ )


* HOW TO PLAY *
Apply the patch to a US rom (maybe works with EU and J? Didn't try, sorry!).


* ACKNOWLEDGMENT *
slidelljohn (a.k.a. [J]), who provided the hex editing documentation


* VERSION HISTORY *
1.0 - First public release (01/07/2019)

Gradius III (USA)
No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20180813-062835)
File/ROM SHA-1: 7E62203A4198E9404EB7B076802C09786E5A63F4
File/ROM CRC32: CD973979