Salamander (arcade game)

is a scrolling shooter arcade game by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off to Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay, weaponry and vertically scrolling stages. Some of these would later become the norm for future Gradius games. Salamander was followed with an official sequel in 1996 entitled Salamander 2.

Gameplay

The first player controls Vic Viper and the second player takes the reins of debuting spacecraft Lord British, which is actually listed as "RoadBritish" (a case of engrish).

Lives and continues

Players are allowed to continue from where they leave upon death instead of being returned to a predefined checkpoint per Gradius tradition. There are no continues in Salamander's single player mode, however, in the two-player mode, players are given two continues.

Power-ups

The player gains power-ups by picking up capsules left behind by certain enemies, as opposed to the selection bar used in other Gradius titles. The six power-ups are:

Speed Up: As the name suggests, it simply allows the space ship to move quicker.
Missiles: When firing normally, the ship emits missiles from both port and starboard sides, which then continue to the right/upwards along the side of the screen, traveling only uphill/downhill as it moves. In some vertical levels, a third missile is fired directly below the craft, hitting any targets in its vicinity on the floor.
Ripple Laser: Changes the main shot to ring-shaped lasers, which increase in diameter as they move further from the craft. This weapon will replace the Plutonic Laser if collected.
Plutonic Laser: Changes the main shot to a long laser beam, which penetrates enemies and can be controlled horizontally or vertically (depending on the orientation of the level) with ship movement. This weapon will replace the Ripple Laser if collected.
Option: Adds a small pod next to the ship which traces the path of the main craft and mirrors its shot and missile firepower. One player can hold up to four. However, in cooperative play, both players share up to four.
Force Field: Creates a gear-shaped shield in front of the ship. It disappears after taking 11 hits or repeated collision into a wall.

The only power-up that can survive the ship's destruction are the options. Upon the ship's destruction, the options float in space for a brief time before disappearing; the new ship can grab and retain them if they get to them first.

Stages and bosses

The game consists of six levels, which alternates from scrolling horizontally (levels 1, 3, and 5) and vertically (levels 2, 4, and 6).

Stage 1: Bionic Germ (side)

Boss: Golem - A monster shaped like a human brain, except for two clawlike arms and a single eyeball in the front. Much of level one has an 'organic' feel to it, such as regenerating tissue.

Stage 2: Meteorite Space (vertical)

Boss: Cruiser Tetran - A mechanical sentry that resembles an octopus, with four tentacles that constantly revolve around the center core, which is protected by a layer of armor. This fits with level two's mechanical/volcanic theme.

Stage 3: Burning Chaos (side)

Boss: Fire Dragon - A long, red dragon that breathes fire while following the player around the screen.

Stage 4: Volcano (vertical)

Boss: Barrier - A set of three cores that shoot large blue spheres. A series of three barriers protects each gate. The room also features several turrets.

Stage 5: Asteroid Hell (side)

Boss: Death Mk 1 - This ship shoots out small flying enemies as well as large blue spheres like the boss of level four.

Stage 6: Fortress Zone (vertical)

Mini Boss: Big Cores - The player has to fight three of these core ships from the first Gradius game, one after another. It they are not defeated in a certain amount of time, they will just fly off screen.

Boss: Zelos Force - The final boss, appearing at the end of level six. Technically, this final monster only represents Zelos' "heart and soul". It manifests as a simple red sphere that offers no resistance to the player, but must be quickly defeated. It is possible for the player to beat level six without killing Zelos; if this happens, the player is tossed back several levels to try again.

Ports

Famicom

Salamander was ported to the Nintendo Famicom in Japan in 1988. Instead of being a direct port of Salamander, elements were taken from both that and Life Force (mentioned later in the article), and some elements, such as levels and bosses, were removed to make way for new content. Most of the level graphics and enemy sprites from Salamander, however, are used in favor of those used in Life Force. The same year, North America received a port as well for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was practically identical to the Famicom port of Salamander, other than a graphically altered power-up bar, and was instead titled Life Force. These ports make use of the Konami Code, which in this instance increases the number of lives from three to 30.

MSX

The MSX port of Salamander is significantly different than the original and any other ports. New to this port is a graphical introduction that introduces human pilots for each ship, as well as names for each stage. The levels are notably longer than the arcade original, and the player is forced to start from a pre-defined checkpoint upon death, instead of starting where he left off. After level two, the player can choose the order of the next three stages. In addition, the player can collect "E" capsules by destroying certain enemies. Collecting fifteen will permanently upgrade one of the available weapons on the power-up bar.

Home Computers

Ocean Software on their Imagine label, released official versions of Salamander for the Spectrum, Commodore and Amstrad in 1988.

Life Force

Salamander was modified into two additional releases, one for North America and one for Japan. Salamander was never released to North American arcades, only an altered version entitled Life Force was released in 1986. This was known as the "overseas edition" in Japan. The North American release of Life Force is identical to Salamander, except that all the mechanical art of enemies and levels has been replaced by organic material. However, the Japanese re-release of Life Force, released later in 1987, is further differentiated from Salamander with additional graphical tweaks, and a revert back to the original Gradius power-up system. The power-up system is identical to the one in Gradius, with the exception that it replaces the Double power-up with the Ripple Laser and is presented in a three row by two-column matrix in order to make room for a second HUD. In addition, the bar of the second player is ordered differently from the first player.

Anime

An anime OVA based on the game was released in Japan on February 25, 1988. Noriko Hidaka provided the voice of the protagonist Stephanie.

Trivia

The kanji on the Japanese version title screen reads "Sa Ra Man Da", meaning "Sand Gauze Wide Snake". This is an example of ateji, where Japanese artists use the phonetic value of a character to fit the game's name allowing them to write the name in kanji as opposed to a kana.
The opening for the music theme of the second level is used in the theme Salamander Beat Crush Mix, featured in the beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution series.
Salamander is the game that inspired Ikeda Tsunemoto (Toaplan, Cave) to develop the 'Danmaku', the shot patterns seen in Donpachi et al.^*

Soundtracks

Apollon Music released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Original Sound of Salamander - BY-5020) on 16/12/1986.
King Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Salamander - Again : Konami Kukeiha Club - KICA-7601) on 25/05/1992.
Sony Music Entertainment released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Salamander Arcade Soundtrack - KOLA-030) on 09/04/2003.

References

Salamander and Life Force differences explained

External links

沙羅曼蛇 | 沙罗曼蛇

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