Posts Tagged ‘salamander’
Konami’s Arcade Classics
This week Fred and Jam discuss the eight highlighted arcade titles in the Konami Anniversary Arcade Classics Collection that recently released on all major platforms. It’s mostly shooters with one odd action title and some glaring omissions.
Songs (in order of appearance):
- Stage Start – Gradius (Arcade)
- Cross Your Heart – Haunted Castle (Arcade)
- First Attack – Thunder Cross (Arcade)
- Poison of Snake – Salamander (Arcade)
Podcast: Game Club – Salamander/Life Force
This week Fred flies solo to discuss the shoot-em-up (shmup) series Salamander, better known as Life Force in the United States. He discusses the various games from the arcade titles to the NES/Famicom port, to even the MSX and PC-Engine (Turbografx-16) ports. Additionally the connections to series Gradius are discussed and the various ways to play the games today. He also announces April’s game club title.
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Supplemental Videos:
Axelay (Konami)
You’ve heard this very web site make consistent statements about the unfortunate slowdown that plagues almost all SNES shmups. Some say it was the limited amount of processing power (literally half that of the Genesis), while others claim that the increase in graphics meant that developers wanted to push the visuals at the expense of the framerate. Whatever the reason, Axelay, developed by Konami, the very company responsible for the SNES port of Gradius III that slows to a crawl around every corner, has absolutely no slowdown. It’s like a miracle of programming – the game does not slow or stutter and is a strong and competent shmup with horizontal and vertical (behind the ship) levels, much like Life Force. As far as I know, it’s the sole reason we have to say “most” SNES shmups slow down, because one alpha title soars above the rest: Axelay.
Vertical/behind the ship level
It’s pretty much your typical shmup story, and given the fact that this is no series nor does it have ports, there’s really nothing to note other than aliens attack humans and we send a space ship in to kill them. What is notable is that the Konami team that programmed Axelay was none other than “support program”, better known as Hideo Ueda and Kazuhiko Ishida, but many companies wouldn’t allow programmers to be revealed for fear they would get recruited to competitors. In this case, Ueda and Ishida instead went on to help create their own competitor: Treasure – best known for Gunstar Heroes, touted by some as the best game on the Genesis, and more prominent contemporary shmups such as Bangai-O, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, Gradius V and Sin & Punishment. Turns out those two programmers that made a fast and smooth shmup on the SNES were actually on to something.
Salamander (Konami)
I can’t stress this enough, Salamander is my favorite shmup of all time. It’s not that the game is unique, it’s clearly a spin-off of Gradius and in the United States Konami pretends that this game, renamed Life Force here, is the second game in the Gradius series. It’s not the challenge or anything like that, honestly the game is one of the easiest shmups. Nope, it’s just so much fun to play and the little tweaks over the Gradius formula just keep it on the top of my list.
Salamander adjusts the power-up bar that Gradius established, which appeared to be popular enough to include it as an option in all future Gradius titles moving forward. It also adds co-op gameplay, the second ship being the “Lord British” although in this title there is no difference to the power-ups or gameplay. Instead of your deaths returning you to a checkpoint, your ship automatically respawns when a life is lost. In addition all the cold mechanical machine settings of the Gradius series are instead replaced by organic styled levels and bosses. In Japan and Europe, the game released as Salamander and both versions are essentially identical. In the United States, we received a version called Life Force that added a plot about being inside an alien complete with cut scenes, more organic themes to the bosses and level names that sound like body parts. Japan later released their own version of Life Force that included most of these elements and changed the soundtrack. Unlike Gradius, Salamander switches between horizontal shooting levels and vertical shooting levels, even in its ports.
Gradius Series (Konami)
Responsible for plenty of attributes to the shmup genre, notably the space aesthetic, but the most significant thing I remember about the title “Gradius” is how often people mispronounced it. Okay people, I’ve confirmed this with Konami, the pronunciation is “grah-dee-us”, not “gray-dee-us”, “grah/grey-die-oos” or any other awkward pronunciation. It’s pronounced simply how it is spelled.
The Gradius series has withstood the test of time with the first technical iteration in 1981 and the most recent actual game released in 2008 (Gradius ReBirth on Wii). In that time the series has graced almost every console and portable that has come out, although recent iterations have been predominantly collections. Not only that, the series is responsible for a few offshoots including my favorite shmup of all time, Salamander (Life Force in US), and the Parodius series. Despite critics rightfully complaining that each new title in the series seems to harken back to the original, I feel it is the series staples that keep dedicated fans and strong sales. I grew up knowing this series on the NES, although I am told that in Japan and Europe it has a more significant presence on the MSX. Like all shmups, it does bury its roots in the early days of the arcade and to me is still on that short list of video games you must play before you die. Nowadays the list of titles is quite long, but after recently playing the series over last week, I still find the original title (not necessarily first in the series) to be the most significant.
Gaming History 101 