Salamander

n/a

Salamander
System(s): PC Engine, Virtual Console (Wii, Wii U), Project EGG
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-12-06 ¥6,0006,000 KM91002 JP ▼ 2007-09-11 600pts600 JP ▼ 2014-10-22 ¥581 (628)628i US ▼ 2017-11-16 $5.995.99 EU ▼ 2017-12-07 €5.995.99 DE ▼ 2017-12-07 €5.995.99 UK ▼ 2017-12-07 £5.395.39 JP ▼ 2014-03-03 ¥550550
Non-NEC versions Arcade Amstrad CPC Commodore 64 MSX Nintendo Entertainment System X68000 ZX Spectrum

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Salamander (沙羅曼蛇) is a 1986 arcade shoot-'em-up by Konami, with a PC Engine version released in 1991. It was originally a sequel to the 1985 game Gradius until Konami produced a more direct sequel, Gradius II in 1988, with Salamander being relegated to a spin-off.

Story

Latis is a planet covered by water. A prophecy tells of a giant dragon that will travel from thousands of light years away and swallow the heavens and the earth.

The Salamander Army of the Bacterian Cluster has invaded the planet, and the Latis army is helpless to resist. The Prince of Latis has entered the battle in his starfighter, Lord British, but he was overwhelmed and asked from help from the planet Gradius, which is said to have defeated forces from the Bacterian Cluster before.

Gameplay

The game is a one or two player cooperative spaceship shooter. Player one controls the Vic Viper from Gradius, and player two controls (the debuting) Lord British. Two-player games can be started from the main menu or by pressing  RUN  on a second control pad at any point during gameplay. While gameplay is broadly similar to Gradius, Salamander has a different and more traditional power-up system, in which players simply pick up upgrades left behind by destroyed enemies, rather than collecting glowing orbs to increment through a predetermined list. It also differs from Gradius by swapping between horizontal and vertical scrolling stages.

The ship can be moved in any direction using the D-Pad. The playfield is taller than the visible area and scrolls vertically when the ship flies near an edge. The ship shoots with Ⅱ. The main weapon can be upgraded to the Laser, which shoots long lasers that pierce through multiple targets, or the Ripple Laser, which shoots ring-shaped projectiles that expand as they travel to cover a large area. Players can obtain an upgrade that augments the ship's main weapon with missiles, which are fired above and below the ship with Ⅰ. Power-ups are collected as items that are sometimes dropped when enemies are destroyed. The ship can additionally collect up to four options, called "multiples," that follow it and replicate its fire. Multiples spread out when the ship moves away from them, allowing them to cover a wide area.

The ship is destroyed if it takes a single hit from an enemy or collides with terrain. All power-ups are lost when the ship is destroyed. If the player has extra lives remaining, the ship restarts at a predetermined checkpoint, which gives the player an opportunity to collect more power-ups and upgrade the ship again. The game ends if the ship is destroyed and the player has no lives remaining, but it can be continued a limited number of times (though this resets the player's score). Extends are given at 50,000 points and every 100,000 points after that. After finishing the game, it loops from the beginning at a higher difficulty. There are two difficulty levels (Beginner and Expert).

Items

Items are dropped by reddish-colored enemies when they are destroyed or when an entire wave of enemies is destroyed.

	Speed Up
	Increases the movement speed of the ship, up to 5 levels.
	Missile
	Allows the ship to fire missiles upwards and downwards, concurrently with its main weapon.
	Laser
	Changes the main weapon to long, piercing lasers. This item and the Ripple Laser are mutually exclusive.
	Ripple Laser
	Changes the main weapon to ring-shaped projectiles that expand as they travel. This item and the Laser are mutually exclusive.
	Multiple
	Creates an option, called a "multiple," that follows the ship and replicates its fire (including firing missiles). The ship can have up to 4 multiples following it. If the ship is destroyed, the multiples float in place and can be collected again.
	Force Field
	Creates a force field at the nose of the ship that protects it from multiple hits.

Stages

	Bionic Germ
	Meteorite Space
	Burning Chaos
	Volcano
	Asteroid Hell
	Fortress Zone
	The final boss is the Zelos Force, a big red orb that the players must destroy before it leaves (otherwise, the stage must be played again from the beginning). After it is destroyed, the rest of the stage is an escape sequence.

Versions

The PC Engine version is faithful to the arcade original. Its screen size is somewhat smaller than the arcade version, so it introduces slight vertical scrolling on all stages. It re-introduces the checkpoint system from Gradius and adds extends and continues. The encounter with the Zelos Force in the final stage has been reworked into a conventional boss fight where it has a weapon, which can uniquely destroy the player's multiples, and lesser enemies appear during the fight and drop power-ups if destroyed.

Production credits

• Programmer: K.Hashimoto, T.Tokuda, T.Kou
• Graphic Designer: R.Shogaki, T.Miyoshi, H.Morii, M.Suenaga
• Sound Designer: H.Muraoka
• Producer: A.Nagata
• Special Thanks to: M.Fukunaga and AC Salamander Team
• Presented by: Konami

Source:

In-game credits

File:Salamander PCE Credits.pdf

Digital manuals

• 

  PC Engine mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Salamander/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

NEC Retro Average
Publication Score Source Computer & Video Games 92 №126, p46

	92
Based on 1 review

PC Engine, JP
Cover
Card

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 faecce20 MD5 3c60a87ef4f90b20e149330e26253f4d SHA-1 a24e3a4ff36ec9fffd5ea1f4c6b526f61f842584	256kB		Card (JP)
✔	CRC32 a869a0b4 MD5 c580c62cb6227291bb56e144d50552b7 SHA-1 27ff27ada609fe8ff540a7f4256786a8da116054	256kB		Wii U Virtual Console (World)

External links

• Salamander on Nintendo eShop (Wii U): JP

References

Sega Retro has more information related to Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus‎

Gradius / Parodius games for NEC systems
Gradius (1986) | Salamander (1991) | Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou (1992)
Parodius Da! Shinwa kara Owarai e (1992)