Salamander (Life Force in the US)
Gradius II
Introduction
Salamander and Gradius II!! These are THE shooting games of the 80s! Nobody can forget how a small Vic Viper plane of such tiny magnitude can continuously upgrade its arsenal and pit itself against gargantuan bosses that fills up the whole screen! Its a battle between the big and the small - one knock from the boss and you are gone! Yet the Vic Viper always triumph!
Unique Characteristics
What can I say about Salamander and Gradius II? Superb graphics and gameplay! Shoot all the way to the end! In both game, the Vic Viper is the classic plane you control as you cruise your way through various stages of increasing difficulty. You can collect �Power Sachets� left behind by the enemies to slowly upgrade your plane with different arsenal to become a potential �super plane�. Well, you have to prepare yourself fully as you will confront menacing bosses at the end of each stage.
Those bosses are HUGE and deadly to the core!! They possess devastating attacks that will push your piloting skills to the limit. Ok, speaking of bosses, hands up everyone... how many of you gamers know how to tackle the deformed Brain Boss that has two long arms reaching out to catch you? Hoho... shoot the eye, someone says! Yes, this is one of the classic bosses that appears in both Salamander and in almost all Gradius games. Furthermore, anyone remembers the �Rotating Tentacles Boss� that you have to fly in circles to avoid its tentacles, until you either faint from exhaustion or bust through its central defense? And how about the �Missle Launcher� that irritates you by rotating and protects its core while raining thousands of missiles on you? Or the deadly �Spider� Boss (Yes! The irritating Spider!) that you have to escape between its legs to avoid being crushed and whack it like mad while its trying to locate you? Lastly, how can anyone forget the final boss of Gradius II �Bacterion�!? Well, it�s the EASIEST final boss you can find in any shooting game history. Shoot and boo at him as he continues to blow harmless �bubbles� while babbling a lot of crap!
Speaking of sequels, actually Salamander is a better predecessor of Gradius II than Gradius I, considering its much better graphics and gameplay. Gradius II also inherits many of Salamander's characteristics: the fire dragons, the blazing planets, ominous reaching-out hands and the embryo to name a few... not to mention a cluster of classic bosses as well. The main difference is that Salamander contains three unique stages that you can play from the top-down perspective, a characteristic which the Gradius series do not inherit from. You can see the stages of Salamander in some of the pictures below. Really brings back the good old memories. |
