Gradius 3 was my first third-party purchase after I got my SNES. Despite harsh reviews that spoke of annoying slow-down, I never had any complaints. I loved this game when I bought it and I still do to this day. As I grew more attatched to the gameplay, I gradually realized how good the music was. The tunes in Gradius 3 are some of the best I have ever heard in any shooter. The composition is so good that all of the songs managed to stay in my head for years. I discovered this after I got the CD, because I could hum right along with the entire album. I know there must be at least a few you out there who appreciate this game and its incredible music as much as I do. If you are one of those people and you don't own this CD yet, I urge you to get it ASAP.

The first three tracks on the CD are incredible. They are flawless and beautiful arrangements of several songs from the game. I listen to them over and over and I just love them more and more every time. The only thing that might worry some is that the original music comes from the Gradius III arcade game from Japan, not the SNES version. Now don't let this scare you away because you can rest assured that the compositions are exactly the same from the SNES game (with the exception of maybe 2). In fact, you may find that you like some of these versions even better than the SNES. As a bonus, Konami even threw in some original songs from Gradius, Gradius II, Nemesis, and Salamander. Now how much more could you ask for? This CD is a Konami shooter fan's dream come true and it should not be overlooked as "just another OSV".