Salamander Arcade "Lost Music" recordings.

[SuperDeadite]

So I have been messing around with VGMPlay lately, and it turns out the dude known as "Sonic of 8!" did a rip from Salamander arcade. And turns out there were 12 music tracks in the ROM that were never used. The first was later used as the loading music for X68000 version. But the rest have been forgotten. Anyway, I did a recording of them using a real YM2151 OPM chip via VGMPlay for MSX.

I can upload the uncompressed wav files too if anyone knows a good host.
https://youtu.be/L_eOrD0yaMQ

[BIL]

Oho, NICE Just gonna listen now, but I wonder if this includes the song that seemingly later became Dracula II's password/naming BGM? (it was posted here a couple years ago, sadly gone now)

Also, might be totally unrelated, but found this while mucking around with ACA Salamander's title screen. ACA Gradius has similar. Can't recall hearing either track in-game. Anyway, enough conjecture from me, gonna listen now. Thanks!

EDIT: yep! Third track's the same one hidden in ACA Salamander's title screen (input the Konami code to hear it)

EDIT2: and yep, there's the Dracula II-esque BGM @ 6m30s. What a treat for this old VGM geek.

[Rastan78]

Wow what a cool find. A VG music time capsule unearthed. I've been dabbling with Salamander and Life Force lately. I still suck so anything after Stage 5 is a secret hidden track for me.

I never really played the JP Life Force so I'm surprised just how different it is from Salamander. They really tweaked and refined the stage design and graphics all the way around.The definitive version?

[MathU]

About half the music tracks written for Salamander went unused and instead transplanted others when they transformed it into Life Force for American localization.

I never really played the JP Life Force so I'm surprised just how different it is from Salamander. They really tweaked and refined the stage design and graphics all the way around.The definitive version?

Yes, gameplay-wise arcade Life Force (JP) is the game that Salamander should have been. It has a lot of balancing tweaks such as removing safe spots, making the stage 4 boss stop spewing projectiles infinitely, and adding an extra life system. It's the definitive version of the arcade release for sure, although NES/Famicom fans might have some attachment to the console versions.

[copy-paster]

These unused songs are also included in Salamanader Portable (PSP), was fun to hear proto songs like Thunderbolt in Salamander's version.

There's limited Salamander Prize version for winners who did won of Gradius III idea contest (one of them coined idea about Crystal Cube rush ). Graphics is Salamander with Life Force gameplay system, looks good but this patch is sadly rare to find on internet.

[naidagalvin]

Thanks! I hadn't heard this version before. Very different sounding