The Vulture Dragon (バルチャードドラゴン Baruchādo Doragon) is the boss of Stage 7 in the arcade version of Gradius III. It also appears under the names of Gorgon (ゴルゴーン Gorugōn) or Two-Headed Scorch Serpent as the Stage 5 boss of the Super Nintendo version.
Attack patterns[]
The Vulture Dragon is the boss of the Prominence Planet, and following the level's fiery motif, it is a monster completely engulfed in flames. It is essentially a two headed variant of the Intruder, with one head one each end of its serpentine-like body.
In the arcade version of Gradius III, it first comes in the form of the Wyvern, and when this creature is defeated, it transforms into the Vulture Dragon.
When defeated, the Vulture Dragon explodes into pieces that fly across the screen. While these are not a threat in the arcade version, they will kill the player on the Super NES port.
Even though it is immune to Mega Crush in the Super NES version, it is instantly killed by the same attack in the arcade version.
The Vulture Dragon has two different attack patterns based on the version of the game:
- Arcade: One head of the Vulture Dragon breathes a fireball that is aimed at the Vic Viper while the other breathes a fireball that explodes with a sunburst spread.
- SNES: Both heads breath fireballs aimed at the direction they are currently facing, and the creature attempts to encircle the player like the Intruder did in Gradius II. If one head is destroyed, then the other head rapidly shoots fireballs aimed at the Vic Viper.
See also[]
- Fire Dragon
- Intruder
- Wyvern - Previous form of the Vulture Dragon.
| Gradius III | ||
| Ships | Vic Viper | |
| Stages | Desert • Bubble Zone • Volcanic Planet • High Speed Dimension • Moai Zone • Cell Planet • Prominence Planet • Plant Planet • Crystal Zone • Boss Rush • Mechanical Base | |
| SNES exclusive stages | High Speed Zone • Fortress • Cell | |
| Bosses | Goliath • Bubble Eye • Godrei • Big Core MK III • Dogas • Vaif • Twin Vaif (SNES) • Gregol • Wyvern • Vulture Dragon • Choking Weed • Lizard Core • Beacon (SNES) • Tetran • Covered Core • Big Core MK II • Crystal Core • Death MK II • Dellinger Core • Disrupt • Shadow Gear • Shadow Gear MK II (SNES) • Big Core • Golem • Bacterian | |
| Organic bosses | ||
| Space entities | Nucleus • Intruder • Phoenix (Geezer Butler) • Goliath • Bubble Eye • Wyvern • Vulture Dragon • Blizzard Crawler • Yorogaton Chimera • Gillador • Volleone • Doom • Lynyrd Skynyrd • Triumph Kicks • Gaw • Giga • Killer Dwarf | |
| Body horror | Abadon • Golem • Zylom • Big Eye • Gregol • Mad Skin • Brachion Eye • Biter • Berial • Huge Heart • Crawler (X) • Infected Statue | |
| Plantlife | Choking Weed • Stinger Kid • Hunter Fang • Giga's Rose • Dendrodium • Hans Naughty | |