OK, I'm finally getting around to redoing this since the old ST got buried in the ruins of the old forum. I'll try to throw in some screenshots where appropriate later.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the old ST (including but not necessarily limited to OmegaFlareX, leeram, and zaphod... anyone else I'm forgetting?) Thanks also to AWJ who pointed out a few bugs in earlier Salamander threads.
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF SALAMANDER -
This is a somewhat more confusing topic than most realize, as this game has gotten remixed and rereleased several times, often with each disparate version being renamed "Life Force" somewhere in the world. An attempt to untangle this mess shall follow.
This ST concerns itself with the original arcade Salamander, released to Japanese arcades in 1986 (?) as a psuedo-sequel to Gradius. (Similar ships, enemies, and weaponry, although you now pick up power-ups directly instead of fiddling with the power meter.) The Saturn, PS, and PCE versions are all more or less faithful to the original arcade version, although the PCE version has some differences (checkpoints, wobble mode, etc.)
Next, Salamander was released to the world arcades under the title "Life Force". This game plays pretty much the same although there are some cosmetic differences; the web background from stage 1 never goes away except for stage 4 (and 6?) for one example.
And then, in a move destined to annoy shmuppers for decades, Konami releases a remixed version of Salamander in Japanese arcades, which is also titled "Life Force". Unlike the "Life Force" described in the paragraph above, this game contains drastic graphic differences (mechanical enemies/levels were replaced with more organic ones), and adopts the old Gradius power meter system. This game is the "Life Force" you'll find on the Saturn and PS Salamander Deluxe Pack.
The "Life Force" most Westerners are familiar with is the NES version (also released in Japan as "Salamander"), which is, again, a different game from any of the above. In some ways it's a hybrid of the two Japanese games; it uses the Gradius power meter system like Life Force but the levels are mixed organic/mechanical like Salamander. The NES version has two new levels though, replacing stages 2 and 5 from the original. (CentralCore, the bubble generator from hell, was toned down quite a bit as well.) As is typical of NES ports of Gradius titles, there are a number of hidden 1-Ups and bonus point spots to find as well.
Finally, there's the MSX Salamander title, which is a different animal entirely. Most of the music is from the arcade title, and the first level is loosely based on the arcade's first level, but after that it's pretty much a unique game. Typically for MSX Gradius titles, Salamander MSX allows you to collect additional weaponry for your craft as you go along... all you have to do is collect 15 "E" items without dying for a new weapon. Good luck with that.
- GAMEPLAY -
Pretty basic stuff, really. Pick up power-up items (which are worth 2000 points each whether they're actually useful or not), shoot everything, don't get hit. Power ups include:
- Speed Up - speeds up your craft. One is enough, IMO.
- Missile - Allows you to fire missiles, which in this game fire both above and below your ship.
- Ripple - Fires a blue ring that expands as it travels across the screen. Better than nothing, but Laser is usually better.
- Laser - Fires a narrow blue laser. Powerful, and thanks to this game's wonky hit detection actually seems to affect a much wider portion of the screen that it looks like it should.
- Option - Spawns a glowing green orb that mimics both your ship's movements and firepower. You may have up to four. Upon death any options you have will slowly float offscreen, giving you a chance to reclaim them when your next life respawns.
- Force - Attaches a Gradius-like blue orb to the front of your craft. Not quite as useful as it should be, given how just flying in the general direction of any object (including powerups
) is usually enough to wear it down.
- The expanding stones mid-stage can all be easily removed for great just... er, points. You'll need the Ripple, Missile, and four options. Stick to the very far left with your options spread out vertically as much as they'll go, and blast away.
- The regenerating goo near the end isn't too bad as long as you've got some options. Just stick to the far right with your options directly behind you, and keep firing.
- Strangely the amount of points you get for Golem, the brain boss, seems to vary from game to game. I usually get 11300 or 16600, though I've heard of 0 and 6000 being possible.
- Strangely any asteroid hit with a missile becomes "defused"; additional missiles and even your ship(!) will then be able to pass through it unharmed.
- Before Tetran (the boss) appears, line up your ship and options vertically between the high score and "Insert Coin/Push Start" indicator (or 2P score if you're playing the 2P side). Tetran will fly right into your line of fire, taking quite a bit of damage in the process.
- A frightfully easy stage, if you're armed with four options. (Missiles and lasers are good too.) Once the flames begin, just park your ship near the bottom, a bit off the left edge of the screen, with your options trailing above you. You'll never have to move except for the first rapid-fire flare, which you'll temporarily have to move to the top of the screen to dodge. (Return to your original position to dodge the next rapid-fire flare and the rest of the stage.)
- You'll notice, if you have missiles, that you're firing an additional missile toward the ground throughout this level. If you can manage to hit one of the ground hatches while they're open with a ground missile, you can destroy it for 2000 points (and stop the flow of any enemies coming out of it.)
- The meteor shower mid-stage is easily dodged by positioning your craft below the gap between the 1P score and the word "HI" of the high-score indicator.
As you know, most of the time this boss spews out a zillion fast-moving bouncing orbs that are nigh-impossible to dodge. Survival here pretty much requires you find a safe spot and wait for the boss to time out. (Strangely this boss is worth no points whether you destroy it or just time it out.) This can be done, but will require some pixel-perfect placement. Some ideas follow:
- Yosshy's method. This is my current favourite - stick your nose in the wall just to the left of the rightmost core. Done correctly this results in the left core firing orbs that bounce around harmlessly within the boss while the right core fires orbs that bounce straight up and down. (Movie here; it's the third from the last link in the first table.)
- Leeram's method - Charge the center core and poke your nose in as far as it'll go. Woe to those a pixel too low, however:
- Zach's Crappy Method - similar to the first one, just more difficult to pull off. Hide in the top left corner, poking your left wing and nose as far into the walls as they'll go. This time the left core fires the straight orbs while the right one fires the harmless bouncers.
- The WTF? Method - Occasionally you'll get extremely lucky and there won't be any orbs fired at all. This seems to occur more often upon subsequent playthroughs without resetting the machine.
- There's actually a place you can park to dodge the asteroid swarms without moving (below left). Just beware the odd peon that likes to sneak up behind you.
- After the asteroids come six Rings of Death; a circle of enemies appears and rapidly converges on your location. These pretty much require options and missiles to deal with. I do so by waiting for a ring to appear with my options behind me, darting forward as they appear, then backing up again when the enemies have been destroyed or disappear.
- Right after that, if you're fully powered up, quickly park your ship just under the high score with your options in a straight line underneath you, and fire away (above right). The swarming ships that you're not destroying will mostly fire wide behind you, but be prepared to inch forward a bit should a stray bullet get too close.
- Four options make the Big Core rush a breeze. Park in the top right corner with your options trailing directly behind, and hold down the fire button. Watch Big Cores fly straight into your fire and kill themselves.
- The middle of the stage (a bit after the Big Cores and assorted waves of weenies that follow them but before the Moai) can be dealt with if you have four Options and Missiles by flying to the center of the very top of the screen, with your options trailing directly behind. Your missiles will take out anything destructable while the flame jets and floor sections won't affect you.
- This works pretty well with no speed ups; haven't yet tried it with extra speed. Make sure you're above the top half of the screen right after the boss or the very first bar will hit you.
The next four aren't difficult to deal with, but note that the last two of this set open toward the right. After them, quickly scoot up to the top of the screen just under the ones digit of the 1P score (the corridor narrows briefly at this point, so beware of that.)
You'll miss several of the upcoming bars here, but after about six or so you'll need to dash over to the right, parking under the hundreds digit of the high score. If you timed this move right you'll be good for the rest of the speed zone. (This is where I'm worried extra speed might make you get there too fast and possibly hit something...) - Here's a movie of a similar method (second to last link of the first table.) The player backs off a bit at that sixth bar or so, waits to see how the next set of bars will close, then makes a mad dash through the openings for the top of the screen.
