Salamander Prize Version Clone now in MAME

[GaijinPunch]

Chi f f seems to have cloned the extremely rare Salamander Prize Version. Using Ruby Script, C, and messing around in MAME, he has made it possible for normal people such as me and you to play this game, of which only 4 exist in the world. The game was originally given out to 4 winners of the "Gradius III Idea Contest" some time ago.

As he will not distribute the rom, you will need to get the rom on your own, and apply the patch.

Danmakugata has a YouTube enbedded video of it on the top page.

Now, someone let this guy borrow the Dodonpachi Campaign Version PCB.

EDIT: Here is the download page. You will need the Version D Salamander rom for Mame and will have to apply the patch yourself.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

And so that makes three DDP-Special Campaign Version PCBs that are known to exist in the world... ^_~

Only if one could infiltrate Cave headquarters and get this special PCB...guess we'll have to settle for just the regular plain ol' vanilla Dodonpachi PCB for now, hmmm? Think Cave will cave into their arcade PCB fanbase and be such good sports by releasing it then? ^_~

Do we have enough manpower to assemble such a special heavily armed covert team good enough to do the job/heist successfully? Count me in...how about you? ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[JoshF]

So it's just Salamander graphics with Life Force's powerup system?

[poieo]

Doesn't matter. Even if someone got one and sent it to Guru for dumping, he'd probably just dump it and sell it immediately. Then figure out that several ROMs are bad dumps, which will never get fixed.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Doesn't matter. Even if someone got one and sent it to Guru for dumping, he'd probably just dump it and sell it immediately. Then figure out that several ROMs are bad dumps, which will never get fixed.

So then the question would be: How much would such DDP-SCV PCB be worth to arcade PCB collectors world-wide? The filthy rich and all their $$$ would have a field day vying to buy it..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[poieo]

I don't even want to imagine. Rare game and PCB collecting stopped making sense to me a long time ago.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I don't even want to imagine. Rare game and PCB collecting stopped making sense to me a long time ago.

And do you have some arcade PCBs to play with? Or find them too expensive to play with (meaning arcade PCB ownership-wise)? It ain't a cheap hobby to begin with -- but if you want to play with the original arcade source material, then one can't get any better than with that particular arcade PCB setup..... ^_~

Sure, there's Mame and console ports of shmups to play with, of course -- but that's another topic..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CIT]

I don't think PCB shooter gaming is that much more expensive than consoles, unless you want Cave PCBs. A lot of the good console shooters are just as expensive as many PCBs.


Re: Salamander Special

I don't understand what he's doing on boss 4 in the video. How does he get all those powerups? Can somebody explain please.

[GaijinPunch]

1: I now regret the DDP Campaign version comment. Thread derailed before it started.

2: I've not gone through the changes found in this. I'm busy this morning, but was able to post what I have posted. Someone more famliar w/ both games is more than welcome to add details.

[JoshF]

I don't understand what he's doing on boss 4 in the video. How does he get all those powerups? Can somebody explain please.

Looks like a glitch. The bullets from one of the turrets is giving him powerups.

[sven666]

this really pales in comparison to DDP campaign.. but cool anyways, i never even knew such a board existed.

does the 4th boss timeout or does he just float there till the counterstop kicks in?

[mulletgeezer]

I don't think PCB shooter gaming is that much more expensive than consoles, unless you want Cave PCBs. A lot of the good console shooters are just as expensive as many PCBs.


Re: Salamander Special

I don't understand what he's doing on boss 4 in the video. How does he get all those powerups? Can somebody explain please.

Powerup drones are continually ejected by the bottom centre hatch. This boss is quite good for point milking, as long as you destroy the centre top hatch first - this either limits the firing of blue balls, or totally removes them (if the boss has been defeated at least once since powering up the board.) Destroying 2 cores and all but one of the hatches, then grabbing powerups and destroying the final hatch just as the boss self destructs yields a fair number of points. Salamander is quite a good game for scoring technique, given it's age.

[frsj8112]

Sorry for waking this thread from the dead, but does anyone have the ROMs for this version?

[CStarFlare]

Wow, I've never even heard of this. I don't think they're even tracking scores for it in the HS forum.

I suppose if the link got through last time it's not out of line to ask for a new one?

[rjosal]

I also didn't know about this version. Was the rom actually dumped or did someone watch a video of it and romhack version D until it looked the same?

[MathU]

From the only youtube video I could find on this (since the original OP's links are dead), this seems to simply be the Japanese version of Lifeforce with the original Salamander graphics and music left in. I wonder which came first.

So it's just Salamander graphics with Life Force's powerup system?

More than that, JP Lifeforce also added slightly more enemy bullets and tightened up some of the enemies. A good example is the stage 4 boss which in the original Salamander and US Lifeforce spewed bouncing blue balls infinitely. It had an exploit where you could tuck your ship in the space right in front of a core where its barriers used to be and that core wouldn't fire at you while the other cores would launch balls harmlessly into the space behind the boss at the top of the screen. In JP Lifeforce it only launches a maximum of 4 and they removed that exploit.

Could anyone who has this check if the original Salamander exploit in stage 6 where you can safely park your ship at the top of the screen during the Big Core duels is still in? They only removed that in JP Lifeforce.

[copy-paster]

I watched ACESpark's run long ago and yes it's basically Life Force with Salamander stages.

Interestingly one of the winners is submitting the infamous "Cube Rush" idea. God bless him.