Gradius III tips from NME

We use 1 option through much of the full game run since more options = more lag throughout the entire game. however, the increased fire power in the bubble stage can shave around...5 seconds i think if you get ideal bubble breakdown.

The trick is there is a sprite limit, so you want to run the game up to the limit then attack the big bubbles. instead of breaking down from the biggest level down through all three smaller levels, you can despawn the bubbles entirely as they break down. this eliminates slowdown more quickly.