Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Somehow I'd never put in the time on this game to clear it. It seemed like a lot to learn, but it ended up being not that bad outside of a few parts (namely the high-speed maze, everybody's favorite). I kinda tried to learn some recovery strats here and there but I definitely don't have anything down. Good thing this run was a no-miss through Loop 1!
Sadly since I was so focused on the first loop I didn't bother to learn any of the changes for loop 2, but I did somehow manage to fluke my way to 2-4 after dying a bunch on 2-1. I was not ready for all the extra volcanoes.
I decided to do this run in RetroArch to start on the RetroAchievements set for it. Most of the stage clear achievements were done on the previous failed credit. If you need to see that, it's in this VOD: youtu.be/B99TQFWm6KM
Happy Gradius July everyone
Somehow I'd never put in the time on this game to clear it. It seemed like a lot to learn, but it ended up being not that bad outside of a few parts (namely the high-speed maze, everybody's favorite). I kinda tried to learn some recovery strats here and there but I definitely don't have anything down. Good thing this run was a no-miss through Loop 1!
Sadly since I was so focused on the first loop I didn't bother to learn any of the changes for loop 2, but I did somehow manage to fluke my way to 2-4 after dying a bunch on 2-1. I was not ready for all the extra volcanoes.
I decided to do this run in RetroArch to start on the RetroAchievements set for it. Most of the stage clear achievements were done on the previous failed credit. If you need to see that, it's in this VOD: youtu.be/B99TQFWm6KM
Happy Gradius July everyone
![Arcade RetroAchievements - SFIII 4rd Strike romhack, session 1 [02-15-2026 stream]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lb22RevyI70/mqdefault.jpg "Arcade RetroAchievements - SFIII 4rd Strike romhack, session 1 [02-15-2026 stream]
This romhack changes a lot of things around balance-wise, attempting to add new moves, making Gill playable and adding an extra version of Sean. Was it a hit with the 3rd Strike scene? As far as I can tell, not really. Theres a lot of weird changes and the jurys out on what the balance is like now. Was kinda fun to fuck around with at least. Unfortunately the set requires getting an S-rank win with every character and that feels like a lot of luck in hoping the CPU will let you meet all the weird arbitrary requirements for it.
This set is continued in the following VODs if you want to see the rest of this. Im probably leaving them as unlisted.
Document detailing all the 4rd Strike changes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EGXvHFP1UeWxFW348FUQgtrjp-FSBXj_oap_V0BZBvQ/edit?tab=t.0")
