Salamander III announced for Gradius Origins for Switch [by M2] - Coming August 7, 2025

[Klatrymadon]

Here's the attract mode. It covers some new Option mechanics, and it's nice to hear elements of Konami's early 90s arcade soundfont in there.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I still remember being devastated that Salamander Rebirth (of the Wii Rebirth series) was discussed but never materialised, and this looks exactly how I imagined that would

This. Not much has been shown, mind, but it looks a bit too low-budget to carry a "III" in its name. Far from how they're treating Night Striker Gear or even Dracula Revisited. Main concern though is how are they conceiving it difficulty-wise after reading what they did with Dracula. The few instances in the video don't look too promising in this regard either. So yeah, sorry to be the guy.

[To Far Away Times]

Salamander III. Fuck yeah!! Day one.

I really should get back to trying to clear Salamander 2. I got as far as stage 5 I think. Tough game.

The OG Salamander/Life Force is one of the 1980’s GOATs.

[Sumez]

A Gradius collection! What a great chance to finally release new versions of Gradius 4, Gradius Gaiden, Gradius Advance, Nemesis '90 Kai. And of course the SNES version of G3 is a given! I've been looking for a physical copy of Gradius ReBirth as well.


What.

None of those games? None of them?

Well, at least I'm excited for M2 Salamander 3

[Klatrymadon]

This being called an 'Origins' collection loosely periodises it while leaving the door open for a further collection highlighting Gaiden/4/5/whatever else down the line, so I wouldn't sweat any seeming omissions just yet...

Edit: in fact, console, MSX and GB collections are probably shoo-ins...

[Bassa-Bassa]

'90 Kai isn't even a Konami game.

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah, kinda funny considering Gradius III SNES is probably the Gradius game most people think of when they think about the series. At least in the US anyway.

[Necronom]

I guess that's where my hesitation on whether I buy a Switch or not is finally going to stop .

EDIT : Nevermind, it will be released on most platforms...

Including Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2897 ... S_ORIGINS/

Yeah, I absolutely love Salamander 2! Steam version on day 1
Let's hope this (and the obvious next one...) compilation results in a new AAA Gradius entry someday

[hamfighterx]

A Gradius collection! What a great chance to finally release new versions of Gradius 4, Gradius Gaiden, Gradius Advance, Nemesis '90 Kai. And of course the SNES version of G3 is a given! I've been looking for a physical copy of Gradius ReBirth as well.

What.

None of those games? None of them?

Well, at least I'm excited for M2 Salamander 3

Hahaha. Yeah I'm thinking of this a little more as Salamander Super Deluxe Pack*

*featuring bonus games Gradius I-III

This being called an 'Origins' collection loosely periodises it while leaving the door open for a further collection highlighting Gaiden/4/5/whatever else down the line, so I wouldn't sweat any seeming omissions just yet...

Edit: in fact, console, MSX and GB collections are probably shoo-ins...

Get in line behind M2 doing an Aleste Collection 2 and/or 3 with the MSX games, Musha Aleste, Space Megaforce, etc. Or M2 finishing the Toaplan Arcade Garage series (which itself calls to mind Toaplan Shooting Battle 1... of 1)

This is Konami though, and if nothing else they have been consistently re-releasing a lot of their old games in the modern era. So maybe?

I did expect more M2/Konami collaborations after all the other ones this gen, but didn't really expect this particular collection. Especially considering we already have the Switch/PS4 STG-heavy Anniversary Colelction/Arcade Classics (which includes Gradius I and II, Life Force, and Salamander), and the Arcade Archives releases of Gradius I-III. I kinda thought maybe they'd do a Rebirth collection with the trio of WiiWare games.

[Ms. Tea]

I wonder who's going to be doing the Salamander 3 soundtrack, and what it'll sound like... Salamander 2 has one of Konami's truly iconic shooter soundtracks IMO, hopefully this lives up to it. M2 do have some really talented in-house sound people.

Friend said that chibi-tech was teasing a new M2 project last week (i.e., this) - so looks like she is involved at least in some capacity. I think that's fantastic news, she's great.

Well that's promising. Her work's fantastic. Thanks for passing that on!

[StrzxgvNuvWvfld]

I did expect more M2/Konami collaborations after all the other ones this gen, but didn't really expect this particular collection. Especially considering we already have the Switch/PS4 STG-heavy Anniversary Colelction/Arcade Classics (which includes Gradius I and II, Life Force, and Salamander), and the Arcade Archives releases of Gradius I-III. I kinda thought maybe they'd do a Rebirth collection with the trio of WiiWare games.

This is what I find pretty cool though. I used to think if someone else released a version, we wouldn't see an M2 release for the same consoles. Ray'z was a nice surprise after it seemed we'd be forever lumbered with the "S-Tribute" version of Rayforce and now I'm delighted to see a bunch of top tier Gradius ports are coming.

It shows their commitment to the hardcore crowd given a lot of people who just want to play the games would choose the Arcade Archives version over these "deluxe" ports.

[Firehawke]

I condensed a lot of my thoughts into a little something I’d posted on two Discords I hang out on, and I’ll just repeat it verbatim here, though it’s going to mirror a lot of the thoughts already given here:

I’m not surprised this is multiplat. It seems obvious this is what m2 has been working on since they finished the DS Castlevania collection last year. I, am, however, fairly disappointed in a few things with this collection.

* No home versions. This may sound like a silly quibble, but Konami was noted for doing home versions with changes (often improvements!) compared to their arcade originals. At the very least I’d have wanted the NES/FC versions of Salamander and Gradius 2, SNES Gradius 3, and PCE Gradius titles.
* No Gradius Gaiden/4/5/Generation/GB Nemesis/GB Gradius/Rebirth/Solar Assault/MSX Gradius 1-3 — Half the damn series is missing and G5 is still stuck in interlaced hell twenty years later. Solar Assault still has no home port, period. The MSX games are, IMO, absolutely due for a semi-remaster to clean up the MSX jank..
* What do you want to bet they’ll screw up fullscreen/windowed and keyboard key bindings on PC again like their last.. four or five collections? I’m not overstating this. They haven’t managed to get this right even once yet, it’s one of their biggest screw-up points.

For all the negatives, I’m happy to see these getting a rerelease. I just feel they’re dropping the ball a bit.

That leads me to the last subject: Salamander III. It’s hard to get a full feel for what this will be from the trailer, but it feels.. off.. to me, like the enemies are made of paper and player firepower is excessive. I really hope I’m just not reading this right, but based on what I’ve seen with the ReBirth titles, I’ve always had the impression that m2’s efforts come out closer to cheesier fanfiction than canon; that there’s just something missing in general.

[MSZ]

Salamander III eh? Shut up and take my money.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Great news, just in time for the 40th anniversary. Who was around for the 20th?

40th Anniversary Premium Box looks interesting, just sweeten the deal with another figma set please.

[bobrocks95]

Google translate from Konami's site RE the AM Show version of III (https://www.konami.com/games/gradius/jp/ja/)

The AM Show version was only available for two days at a fall event in 1989, but it was featured in magazines and was a must-have for enthusiasts.

An alternate translation specifies the Autumn show was before the release in 1989, so presumably some slightly different pre-release version.

Looks like the better-looking Japanese limited edition will only be available through Konami's site, so probably hard to import. The word "reservation" is mentioned too, so you never know if that's highly limited or just pre-order. Don't want to give LRG any more money personally.

[pablumatic]

That leads me to the last subject: Salamander III. It’s hard to get a full feel for what this will be from the trailer, but it feels.. off.. to me, like the enemies are made of paper and player firepower is excessive. I really hope I’m just not reading this right, but based on what I’ve seen with the ReBirth titles, I’ve always had the impression that m2’s efforts come out closer to cheesier fanfiction than canon; that there’s just something missing in general.

I see that too. We live in a different gaming era now where difficulty is lowered, or sometimes even nonexistent. Though at this point I think its been around a quarter century since it started. I noticed it with Halo and its regenerating shields and its gone on to Mario games having win buttons built in. Seems like it affects most developers, including M2.

[kid aphex]

Very excited about this one!

I'd love a follow-up Gradius Gaiden/Gradius V collection, in the same way as we got G-Darius/Burst

Can you even fucking imagine!?!? I’d die!

Also, they should use one of these collections to re-release Gradius Rebirth…

[kid aphex]

Also, that key art:

[To Far Away Times]

Hahaha. Yeah I'm thinking of this a little more as Salamander Super Deluxe Pack*

*featuring bonus games Gradius I-III

It really is. I guess Gradius has the name recognition, but Salamander is where it's at.

[Steven]

So this is skipping PS4. I wonder if Sony is actively encouraging people to finally stop making things for the ancient PS4 so the system can finally die now that we're possibly closer to the launch of the PS6 than the launch of the PS5.

[pablumatic]

So this is skipping PS4. I wonder if Sony is actively encouraging people to finally stop making things for the ancient PS4 so the system can finally die now that we're possibly closer to the launch of the PS6 than the launch of the PS5.

This also happened last year with the M2 developed Castlevania DS collection. No PS4 port.

Its hard to say what is happening since Konami just put out PS4 ports of the Suikoden I & II remaster and Ninja Five-O. Maybe M2 themselves are just done with the PS4. There doesn't even appear to be a Playstation port of any kind with the Taito Night Striker Gear and Night Striker/Operation Wolf stuff.

Perhaps with all the contract work they're getting M2 are dropping platforms to reduce their workload.

[SuperDeadite]

Nemesis 90' Kai is a great game, but it was an inhouse project from SPS (Sharp), Konami had nothing to do with it beyond licensing. Probably would be a hard one to include.

[To Far Away Times]

I decided to fire up the Salamander Deluxe Pack tonight in honor of today's announcement, and I still really suck at Salamander 2.

[Firehawke]

Well, seems the AM version isn't the "slightly different version" I would have expected.

https://x.com/Shingi/status/1905353827462906357 suggests that the AM version is closer to what would become the SFC/SNES version a year later, but cost-reduced hardware and frantic rebalance efforts made the final arcade release a major slog in multiple ways.

[Steven]

Got an email from 1983 saying that they have a not-yet-determined bonus, so this will be available outside of Konmai's online store thingy. Konmai wants 17,380 yen for their exclusive version with the Gradius II and III posters and 12,980 for the one with just the Gradius poster. Those better be some damn fine museum-quality posters if they want what's basically an extra $50 just for two pieces of paper with ink on them.

I've always loved that Gradius I artwork... not enough to really want to spend that much to get an expensive console version that I will never play just to get the poster, but it would be cool. I have a billion M2 Toaplan collection posters and Innocent Grey artwork that I still need to put up, so I don't exactly have a lot of undesignated wall space as it is.

I just hope that this doesn't end up being super impossibly easy even on the highest difficulty like Haunted Castle Revisited.

Perhaps with all the contract work they're getting M2 are dropping platforms to reduce their workload.

If they are and if I were in charge at M2 and forced to choose to drop a platform, I'd choose to develop for PS4 over PS5 simply because it offers a significantly larger potential customer base while still being playable on both systems. There really is no sense to not developing for PS4 when the same game is on Switch and PS5 can run almost all PS4 games as it is. Same applies to Dominus Collection, of course. It's a very strange financial decision from M2's perspective, assuming that M2 is the one deciding to skip PS4, but the M2 things that are skipping PS4 are all contract jobs from other companies, so maybe that makes up for it.

[Sanguis]

Well, seems the AM version isn't the "slightly different version" I would have expected.

https://x.com/Shingi/status/1905353827462906357 suggests that the AM version is closer to what would become the SFC/SNES version a year later, but cost-reduced hardware and frantic rebalance efforts made the final arcade release a major slog in multiple ways.

If that's true that's crazy good news for all the Gradius III maniacs.

[Sumez]

This being called an 'Origins' collection loosely periodises it while leaving the door open for a further collection highlighting Gaiden/4/5/whatever else down the line, so I wouldn't sweat any seeming omissions just yet...

It's not just a few omissions though, it's almost the entirety of the series.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a new collection featuring 4 and 5 in the future - I know a lot of people would really want G5 even though I don't care much for it. But there's a *ton* of other games still missing. The only Gradius title on this release that I really care to play is arcade G2, and I already have that PCB.

At least ReBirth would be due for a dedicated ReBirth collection with all three of those games. I'm surprised it still hasn't happened.

[Steven]

The only Gradius title on this release that I really care to play is arcade G2, and I already have that PCB.

I see PCBs for it every once in a while at Surugaya or BEEP and I'm tempted to get one. It's got a bunch of versions, though. Which version do you have? I'm assuming you can change versions with a ROM swap or something.

[Sumez]

IIRC there's surprisingly no big regional or revisional differences in Gradius 2. The one I have is actually Vulcan Venture.
It's super rare that I come across a G2 PCB anywhere, so I'd say definitely get one if you have the chance.

According to TCRF, the only thing of note is one of the extend settings, and the ability to continue on some versions.

[Steven]

Huh, interesting. I don't know too much about these games or their revisions, but it seems like this collection has a bunch of revisions to choose from. BEEP had a Gradius II in the other day... or was it Surugaya? I forgot, but I'm pretty sure it was BEEP. I see Salamander 2 sometimes and there was one of those available a few weeks ago as well. I think they were both in the 120,000 yen range or somewhere around there.

Only real problems with getting a Gradius II (or a Salamander 2) PCB are that they are expensive and I'd have to rotate my cabinet's monitor to play them properly. I guess I could get a supergun and that would solve that problem as well. If I do that, though, I might as well play the ShotTriggers release because it's going to be on the same screen (my PC monitor) that I'd use the supergun with.