I definitely remember Life Force. This game was pretty wild. Brain with arms, huzzah! The face with eyeballs, wow the memories. And this guy is well researched and gives in depth reviews and adds his own brand of humor. I really enjoy watching his reviews. The original Game Room was a little more out there and maybe not as "journalistic" but it still rocked. I do miss Dave still at times. But Mark has done a outstanding job carrying on the show! Anyone who bags on this guy, doesn't get it.
This game was fantastic when i was little! Good graphics for its times, exceptional music... The stage 2 music has haunted me all my life but I didn't remember the game. Thanks to this, I now know!
one of the best games on nes . up up dwn dwn left right left right . b ,a , .b .a . start was one of the best cheat codes ever , i always remember this one .
just had a nostalgiagasm. i dont think my brother and I played any game more then this (cept mario 3) as a kid. LOVED IT! couldnt beat it without the code though.
This game is fantastic, every stage is different, and the music are fabulous. One of my favorite on the nes. Althought it's very hard, you can finish it when you know how to avoid every trap, and not loosing your equipement.
I shit you not, when he entered the fire level, I said out loud "Oh fuck this level" and then Mark immediately said, "This level is the bane of my existence" so it's good to see that we're on the same page here.
Every time I hear the music to Life Force, I still get chills. Growing up to this game in 1988 I can sure tell you that it is by far one of the best space shooters. And because Konami created it, it's even better. Someone needs to do a smash hit remake, and one that gives all the glory to the original in modern side scrolling fashion. Same great music and levels.
I owned Life Force and Gradius..I played both of them endlessly when I was a kid..Love the Old Skool NES..Need Konamai to make Gradius 6!!! in 2D sidescrolling with 3D background like Gradius 5..3D games suck nowadays..great reviews!! Brings back memories playing these games coming home from school :)
I hope that Mark will review Salamander for the Sega Saturn someday. I really like his reviews of space shooters, both of the horizontal and vertical variety, as well as those that mix them, like Life Force and Axelay. Oh, and an Axelay review would be rad, too :)
I am the only person I know who has played this game. This is the most difficult game I have EVER played, but I love it. Piloting a space inside a Dragon in Outer Space, destroying it from the inside out = AWESOME !
And i used to have this game in a 16 games in one cartrige, along with Contra, Castlevania, Rockman, Rygar and other games... almost 20 years ago. Just love Life Force till today!
I still don't remember, does Mark prefer Horizontal or Vertical shooters? It seems the more shooters I play, the more and more I like Vertical over Horizontal.
Thanks for the review, Mark! This is one of my favorite shooters and also one of my favorite NES games. I also have Salamander for PC Engine (TurboGrafx 16). I prefer Life Force though, due to its modified play mechanics (even though Salamander has better graphics). I've been rebuilding my NES collection and picked this one up again a few months ago on Ebay.
Life Force is an awesome game, I remember playing this a while back. And as for Salamander / Life Force, the U.S. released Life Force changed the plot and opening text. Whereas the European and Japanese (Salamander) are identical, with very few differences.
although it looks quite impressive I can still see sprites disappearing on some scanlines and flickering as well (huge overflow at 0:50-0:55 for instance)... the solution would be to use SW sprites instead of limited HW sprites (8 per scanline only?) but I am not familiar with NES architecture so I cannot say if the obvious ZX Spectrum methods would work here (also taking into account the NES CPU is much slower than Z80A so it would probably have troubles displaying SW sprites that efficiently)
just want to make sure of something, did they recreate this game because it looks/seems similar to a gameboy advance game that i have (i can't remember name and i'm not sure where it is)
OMG I do remember this game from my youth. The gameplay is excellent, but the end was so-so; your reward was a mere advertisement of the Konami logo. The characters and levels were made from scratch, which made the game more enjoyable. Too bad the ending wasn't worth it. "Licensed by Nintend". LOL "All the first boss wants is a hug?" HUH???
I got LIFEFORCE for NES back inthe day, at first I just didn't get it, the next thing I knew I played it until conclusion! I am not a big shooter fan, every so often a game in a genre I am not normaly interested in comes along and sucks me in, this was one of them!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome game.. Use to be one of my favorites, Along with Metal Gear, Contra, Jackel, Top Gun, and so on.... Use to beat this one everytime i'd play, Along with Contra... the 30 men cheat is the same for Life Force and Contra... Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B, A, Start.
Very good game, but everyone gets so caught up on this one game when there are so many other good shmups to play on the nes! One that comes to mind to give a go is burai fighter :) Someone take my word for it and you wont be disappointed!
Not really - the arcade "Life Force" games had the same "planet eating monster" plot, but in those you were clearly doing stuff like dodging gastric acid and blasting kidney stones, rather than dodging lava and blasting meteors (it had an announcer telling you what you were up against - quite cool for the time).
See, the "Life Force" arcade game was a remake of Salamander, with a Gradius-style power up system and a new "you're flying through a body" plot, with redone graphics to reflect this. The NES port kept this new plot, but the graphics were based on the original Salamander game, which took place in space. The Japanese version of Life Force for the NES was also named Salamander, despite using the Gradius-powerup system from the arcade "Life Force". Yeah, it's a mess. Who cares, just shoot stuff.
I'm playing this right now to help me get past this ban on fireworks on 7-4-11 due to the drought in Texas which I hope won't happen again on New Years or 7-4-12.
I definitely remember Life Force. This game was pretty wild. Brain with arms, huzzah! The face with eyeballs, wow the memories.
And this guy is well researched and gives in depth reviews and adds his own brand of humor. I really enjoy watching his reviews. The original Game Room was a little more out there and maybe not as "journalistic" but it still rocked. I do miss Dave still at times. But Mark has done a outstanding job carrying on the show!
Anyone who bags on this guy, doesn't get it.
"All he wanted was a hug, but were going to give him an eyeball full of lazerbeams!"
Great review as always Mark.
man...i used to play this for hours. i loved how you could upgrade your shooting to different kinds
I remember playing this in 1991 as a child, classic game.
I bought this game through the nintendo eShop after watching this review. This game's definitely an underrated gem.
One of my fav NES games ever. Just non-stop playability~
thank you, I did start of by collecting this, and now it's my favorite co-op AND shooter game.
One of the best shoot'em ups on the NES. Life Force was epic!
This game was fantastic when i was little! Good graphics for its times, exceptional music... The stage 2 music has haunted me all my life but I didn't remember the game. Thanks to this, I now know!
the music and sound effects of this game have been ingrained in my brain. Absolutely fantastic game
OMG That music brang back so many good memories...
This was my favorite 2 player co op game on the NES. Life Force is probably the best of the series.
one of the best games on nes .
up up dwn dwn left right left right . b ,a , .b .a . start was one of the best cheat codes ever , i always remember this one .
just had a nostalgiagasm. i dont think my brother and I played any game more then this (cept mario 3) as a kid. LOVED IT! couldnt beat it without the code though.
loved this game. this review brought back so many memories.
forgot about this!!! maaaaaaaaaaan the memories!!!!
OMG! this game brings back wonderful memories! truely one of the best games too!
The music in this game is still incredible!!!
This game is fantastic, every stage is different, and the music are fabulous. One of my favorite on the nes. Althought it's very hard, you can finish it when you know how to avoid every trap, and not loosing your equipement.
Or, if you're a cheap-ass like me, you'll just use the Konami code and beat it within a few hours.
I love that game since I was a kid
Great review as always Mark!
he just mentioned it in one episode..
HOLY SHIT this was from 8 months ago?!??! how time flies O.0
the soundtrack!!!!!! OMG!!!
I shit you not, when he entered the fire level, I said out loud "Oh fuck this level" and then Mark immediately said, "This level is the bane of my existence" so it's good to see that we're on the same page here.
Every time I hear the music to Life Force, I still get chills. Growing up to this game in 1988 I can sure tell you that it is by far one of the best space shooters. And because Konami created it, it's even better. Someone needs to do a smash hit remake, and one that gives all the glory to the original in modern side scrolling fashion. Same great music and levels.
"For a brain he's not very smart."
Brilliant, simply brilliant. One of the best puns I've ever heard (no sarcasm, I'm serious)
"For a GIANT Brain, he`s not very smart"
Very nice review, thanks for taking me back to my days playing Life Force!
My all time favourite shooter EVER !!. Thanks for this excellent review !!
Why they don't make shooters like this any more has me stumped??
"All he wants is a hug but instead we are going to give him an eyeball full of laser beams".
Excellent video man. Much love for Life Force.
The red planet from Bucky O'Hare has the fire things too. Gradius II is notorious for this too. Use the Konami Code for 30 lives.
The magic of emulation is awesome.
This is ine of my all time favorite games.
Thanks for the review
Thank you Mark! Life Force is the total package and is one of my favourites on the NES here.
I owned Life Force and Gradius..I played both of them endlessly when I was a kid..Love the Old Skool NES..Need Konamai to make Gradius 6!!! in 2D sidescrolling with 3D background like Gradius 5..3D games suck nowadays..great reviews!! Brings back memories playing these games coming home from school :)
Another great game but hardly ever spoken about is Jackal.
I hope that Mark will review Salamander for the Sega Saturn someday. I really like his reviews of space shooters, both of the horizontal and vertical variety, as well as those that mix them, like Life Force and Axelay. Oh, and an Axelay review would be rad, too :)
I am the only person I know who has played this game. This is the most difficult game I have EVER played, but I love it. Piloting a space inside a Dragon in Outer Space, destroying it from the inside out = AWESOME !
lifeforce rocks i used to love this game, so much im gonna buy an nes and this game to bring back the great memories! good review!
hahaha 'all he wants is a hug but instead we're giving him an eyeball full of laser beams'
Life Force is THE ultimate shooter (IMHO).
Great video, the Konami code truly rulez them all.
Love this game! This title is what got me into Super R type and other shooters like this.
Had to check this out since your latest master systems review of GYNOUG looked a lot like this game at the end of that review.
Really hoping Mark will still do a review of Salamander for the Saturn. That would be really awesome.
And i used to have this game in a 16 games in one cartrige, along with Contra, Castlevania, Rockman, Rygar and other games... almost 20 years ago. Just love Life Force till today!
Lol "All he wants is a hug, but instead we're going to give him an eyeball full of laser beams." Awesome. :)
I still don't remember, does Mark prefer Horizontal or Vertical shooters? It seems the more shooters I play, the more and more I like Vertical over Horizontal.
Thanks for the review, Mark! This is one of my favorite shooters and also one of my favorite NES games. I also have Salamander for PC Engine (TurboGrafx 16). I prefer Life Force though, due to its modified play mechanics (even though Salamander has better graphics).
I've been rebuilding my NES collection and picked this one up again a few months ago on Ebay.
Life Force is an awesome game, I remember playing this a while back.
And as for Salamander / Life Force, the U.S. released Life Force changed the plot and opening text. Whereas the European and Japanese (Salamander) are identical, with very few differences.
I love that song in the intro! What song is it?
although it looks quite impressive I can still see sprites disappearing on some scanlines and flickering as well (huge overflow at 0:50-0:55 for instance)... the solution would be to use SW sprites instead of limited HW sprites (8 per scanline only?) but I am not familiar with NES architecture so I cannot say if the obvious ZX Spectrum methods would work here (also taking into account the NES CPU is much slower than Z80A so it would probably have troubles displaying SW sprites that efficiently)
It's set in the same universe as Gradius. It took me awhile to beat this one. But it's fun!
Salamander and Life Force are apart of the Graduis Francise BTW. they were just named differently.
just want to make sure of something, did they recreate this game because it looks/seems similar to a gameboy advance game that i have (i can't remember name and i'm not sure where it is)
OMG I do remember this game from my youth. The gameplay is excellent, but the end was so-so; your reward was a mere advertisement of the Konami logo. The characters and levels were made from scratch, which made the game more enjoyable. Too bad the ending wasn't worth it. "Licensed by Nintend". LOL "All the first boss wants is a hug?" HUH???
@s1ider I don't think that he mentioned that Lifeforce is one of the sequels to Gradius, did he?
I notice there's a bit of crackle going on with the music, are you using an emulator?
One of the best games I ever played. Where is my Pegasus?
And a VERY under-rated and under appreciated game at that!
OMG the graphics are awesome for a NES game!
You don't happen to live in st. catharines do you?
You can play an arcade perfect version of salamander on mame, as well as a bunch of other great shmups that never came out over here!
I suck horribly at this game, but I love the graphics and music. Same with Abadox, come to think of it =P
I got LIFEFORCE for NES back inthe day, at first I just didn't get it, the next thing I knew I played it until conclusion! I am not a big shooter fan, every so often a game in a genre I am not normaly interested in comes along and sucks me in, this was one of them!!!!!!!!!!
"This level is the bane of my existence." SO true.
@Avian98X
How? I don't recall him talking about this game.
I was brought here by Goemon047.
Awesome game.. Use to be one of my favorites, Along with Metal Gear, Contra, Jackel, Top Gun, and so on.... Use to beat this one everytime i'd play, Along with Contra... the 30 men cheat is the same for Life Force and Contra... Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B, A, Start.
I always thought Life Force was Gradius 2 till I played Salamander and Salamander 2 on arcade.
Retro gaming ftw!
omg this game rocked. fun gameplay and the climate! Uber game
@pikmin257 lol i miss spelled:) it should be: i loved life force (the most) and yea, its LIFE FOCE
Level 3 was always my favorite. Also I always thought it had the best song in the game.
Here is Australia, it was called Life Force Salamander.
didnt this game talk to you like it said level up or something when you picked up a power pod
i was looking for this for i forgot the name.. Nice game
@mopbrothers well what did you inspect this game was meant for pros not noobs
You forgot to mention there was an anime for this called "Salamander OVA"
i played that game a lot of time when i was 6-9 years old
Very good game, but everyone gets so caught up on this one game when there are so many other good shmups to play on the nes! One that comes to mind to give a go is burai fighter :) Someone take my word for it and you wont be disappointed!
OMG look at that brain! This in an NES game?... wow, it looked really detailed.
Your much better at this game than me.
I’m hooked on life... force.
Lifeforce is the Godfather II of NES games.
This was a really good review! I really miss Mark.. I mean, Lord carnage.
It took me a decade and a half or so to finally beat this game without using the code.
Is this game somehow related to Super R-Type???
I wish they could make 2 versions of this videos: 1 with their voices and another without.
Salamander was better. It allowed up to 5 options if i recall. Now that was crazy. Also different weapons.
i made this hole game without dying once :) if you stand low and almost in the middel at the fire lvl u can just stand there thru almost hole lvl
My brain brought me here because I played this as a kid.
I think it came out for the commodore 64
Like most Konami games, the soundtrack rocked....
Konami should get the original NES Life Force team members together to make a new Life Force for PS3. And make it amazing. You know they could.
Not really - the arcade "Life Force" games had the same "planet eating monster" plot, but in those you were clearly doing stuff like dodging gastric acid and blasting kidney stones, rather than dodging lava and blasting meteors (it had an announcer telling you what you were up against - quite cool for the time).
This game just kicked my ass again.
See, the "Life Force" arcade game was a remake of Salamander, with a Gradius-style power up system and a new "you're flying through a body" plot, with redone graphics to reflect this. The NES port kept this new plot, but the graphics were based on the original Salamander game, which took place in space. The Japanese version of Life Force for the NES was also named Salamander, despite using the Gradius-powerup system from the arcade "Life Force".
Yeah, it's a mess. Who cares, just shoot stuff.
It's not a slow down, it's freezing time!!! =P
I'm playing this right now to help me get past this ban on fireworks on 7-4-11 due to the drought in Texas which I hope won't happen again on New Years or 7-4-12.
They're called "Solar Prominences", the arcs of radiation that futz with you on the fire stage.
life force is gradius 2, gradius 3 came out for snes...
I happen to hang out with that boss. :-)
try VNES. If u wanna play gradius there r PC remakes of it all under its europian name Nemesis. Plus a co-op online versioncalled Nemesis Online