Battle of the Ports - Salamander / Life Force (沙羅曼蛇) Show
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Known as Life Force in the US and Salamander everywhere else, Konami brought us something that quite a few thought was a follow up to Gradius. How wrong they were.
Let's take a look at 11 versions of Salamander. Please not that PSP, PS2, Wii virtual Console and other emulated ports are not featured so please don't ask in the comment section.
Time Code
00:28 - Arcade
02:16 - Android
04:39 - Amstrad CPC
05:46 - ZX Spectrum
06:33 - MSX
08:28 - Commodore 64
09:53 - PC Engine
10:55 - PlayStation
11:56 - Sharp X68000
13:15 - Famicom
14:43 - Saturn
15:58 - All versions side by side
Enjoy!
C64 Coder, Pete Baron, did have access to the coin op, but via a steel box with 2 motherboards and a terrible old CRT monitor, with perment screen burn 😂
Conversion took best part of a year, Brain boss hardest to implement, with Pete having to write a custom sprite system to implement it and even after optimising it, it killed the frame rate from 50fps down to 25 fps.
Time restrictions meant it lost 2 stages from the coin op.
Pete said he needed an extra month to add them, the publisher wouldn't delay the game to allow them to be included.
It was Pete's first Solo project and he thinks with more time, he could of brought the frame rate back upto 50 FPS.
Even being rushed, the C64 port was excellent. Hope for a complete version sometime via homebrew
For the limitations of the machine, the c64 version is awesome.
Agreed. It really is well done.
But colors are washed out.
Well since c64 only have 16 colors palette, every game in the c64 have the same colors.
@@cosmefulanito5933 Actually no on my Sony Trinitron tv colors looked vivid.
@@cosmefulanito5933 So are the arcade's
That Android version is actually breaking my heart. You'd think a mobile version would be a serious downgrade, but clearly the team is full of some heavy hitters. The art, the music, the backgrounds, the UI - so much talent and time went into this and I don't think we'll get a PC / console port ever unless it's a pachinko machine D:
Sometimes the smartphone version can surprise.
I know the NES port very well. Good old 8-bit era Konami. Between games like this, Super C and TMNT 2. They had us feeling very spoiled.
The differences between the NES and Famicom ports aren't because Konami was cheap, but because Nintendo manufactured all NES carts for NA, which meant Konami couldn't use the special chips they had when manufacturing their own Famicom carts. (See also: Castlevania III, Contra, etc.)
Fair enough but surely the could have twisted Nintendo's arm if they really wanted to. After all, both Japanese companies plus Nintendo didn't mind adding extra chips in Japan.
Then again, it could have something to do with the iron grasp Nintendo had over companies in the West.
I used to play this a lot at my local arcade. The butterflies you used to get when you heard, "An intruder has penetrated our forcefield," was epic!
That's when you know a game has atmosphere 👍
Famicom. Hit the sweet spot between the other versions and the Gradius series. And the soundtrack was absolutely divine.
I loved the NES version of this game as a kid. It's a pity that there aren't more co-op shmups; the genre works great for that.
Yeah, Darius Burst is so much fun because of that.
I agree. My oldest daughter and I had a blast recenty playing Radiant Silvergun on my Saturn. I think Raiden V has a co-op multiplayer which is kind of recent.
Kinda cool that the PCE version takes a cue from Compile's shooters with the adapting AI. Adds an extra challenge for the likes of experts.
And damn! That C64 port is beautiful. It feels fan-made to some extent
Looking at this it's hard to believe this was done in 1986, it looks better than Taito and Capcom games from the same time. Konami knew their stuff
Have you ever seen the OVA 3 part anime of Salamander? The anime is pretty good. I remember all 3 parts did get a UK release on VHS in subtitle format with the original Japanese language back in the early 1990's. As for the game, I wonder why it never got ported to the Amiga and Atari ST considering that the 8-Bit home computer ports were released in the late 1980's. I'm sure it would have been good conversions on both systems.
Yep, I own those PAL tapes you mentioned. I think they were released by East to West.
From what I remember, they were released by Western Connection which along with East 2 West, were a short lived UK company that did release some very good anime titles.
Yeth both ah, that's right. I think it was Western Connection who released an anime that seemed unfinished as in a lot of scenes we could see the bottom of the animation cells! Oh, man, what was that anime?
Always liked the look of this game the backgrounds and sprite work were amazing for 1986 and had this nice style to them, but i was never any good at it.
My mate had this on the C64 and was mightily impressive, in-fact i nearly bought a C64 on the strength of this game alone but eventually got the master system instead.
This really is impressive on the C64. Even more so when you see the chap on the Amstrad and ZX Spectrum.
*NES and PC Engine are my favorites and played till death!* ⭐️
Let's not forget to mention the upgraded one called Lifeforce a.k.a 2.0 of this game (Not the NA one, but a fresh update), with minor tweaks such as stereo sound, different design upon stages and bosses as well, and adopted Gradius powerup system to fit their theme as organic structure going stomach to brain as you progress. The devs like the NA name, but they want more bio-like update to its predecessor.
Sounds like a good update. I wasn't aware of that.
The NES port is the first I ever played. Konami was absolute gold on the NES.
I never actually played this on the NES back in the day but I can imagine I would have been mighty impressed if I had done.
Retro Core It was definitely among the best NES shooters, especially with two player simultaneous play. Contra, Super C, Castlevania I-III, Life Force, etc. You should give these NES Konami games a try when you can. These were among the best the NES had to offer. Capcom was right there with Konami as the best third party licensees for the NES. Lots of classics you should check out. Oh, and Ninja Gaiden I-II are must plays as well.
RyuHayabusa06
I'll pass on the Ninja Gaiden games as I don't want a joypad going through my TV screen :p
Retro Core They're not as bad as everyone says. I've beaten both I&II on one life. That's why my screen name is Ryu Hayabusa, the hero from the NG series, lol.
RyuHayabusa06 I've aged the collection on the SNES but didn't get too far. I should go back and try them out.
Not only the revised Japanese version did a major scenery graphic overhaul, but it also has the third button (the power-up button) much like Gradius/Nemesis...
Really love the Nes version. Yeah it is not the best technically or graphically but is the the most fun to play imo. The music is really well done and will get into your head plus you can use the konami code to give your self a much needed help until you learn to play better.
I screamed of joy when I saw you uploaded this. Big Salamander fan!
Nice! hope you enjoed the show. This has been a pretty popular request for the last few months now. Hope everyone who requested it is happy :)
+Retro Core yes, I really enjoyed it =) in fact, I enjoy all of the battle of the ports. =)
Even today the fire level still wows me when I see it.
Wow another great video. I will forever always love the NES version the most as it was the one I played most as a kid in the late 80s. I have since then acquired it for the PC Engine which I also thoroughly enjoy and have it for the PSP (Salamander Collection). Thanks for making this!!
Just gave the C64 version a go. Wowie! Admittedly I'm playing with cheats, but Its giving me a chance to see how outstanding the port is.
It is good, isn't it!
Simply Sherbert wowie! It’s not Salamander/Life Force. It’s a bad imitation.
Great video as always. Also of note, Hamster Corp did a great port on the PS4 just recently that has all 3 versions, JP/US/UK that's worth picking up if you are a PS4 owner. Gradius and Gradius 2 are also out as well.
Yeah, I know about that one but since it's all 100% emulation I didn't feature it on this video. There's also a PSP collection too but again it's just emulation of the PSX code.
Well done as always Yakumo.
Love the Life Force games and all the ports for it. But the 2 that stood out for me was the PC-Engine and PlayStation versions.
Both are my favorites. Thank you as always my good man. Keep up the great work.
Anthony...
Check out the Saturn version if you can. It's pretty much the same as the PlayStation but with slightly smoother slowdown emulation plus the Joypad is better :p Well, as long as you're not using that horrid western pad that came with early PAL and US Saturns.
Sounds good to know Yakumo, I'll check it out.
Anthony...
I'm happy to have the PSP collection. Though PC Engine continues to show how folks outside of Japan got the shaft.
Yep. People who bought in to the US version of the PC Engine sure did get shafted. Really poor releases. Terrible exclusives such as Darkwin Duck and Tale Spin and the terrible box art.
When you commented about the North American NES version, you said that Konami went cheap, but Konami had nothing to do with it.
The Japanese version had special chips that allowed limit breaking console play, and Nintendo of America was paranoid about addon chips. When Konami released it here, it was done sans extra chips and thus, extra goodies that the Japanese enjoyed.
In all your videos your MSX(-2) is on 50HZ... you must run the games on 60 HZ.. then you got the right speed for the japanese games and USA games at least. Then the gameplay is also a bit better ans also the music!
Great vid! To add even more confusion with all the name changes, there was the 80's Sci-Fi movie called Lifeforce that came out about this time. (No relation at all) This was an advanced arcade game at the time especially with the digitized speech, horizontal and vertical scrolling stages all in one game. Konami had cool games.
Oh, can't say I know of the Life Force movie. Time to do a bit of net searching.
X68K version is very slow when running in the stock 10MhZ speed, but when set to 16MhZ, the game runs very fast.
If you want faster speed, set the game to 25MhZ mode. Unfortunately the 25MhZ mode (X68030) requires a patch to run on the 68030 because of clock incompatibilities of the 68030 processor. Still, it runs very fast and can be hard just like the PS/SS version with slowdowns turned off.
I played the NES version of Lifeforce a lot during the late 80s-early 90s, and still own my copy. Interestingly, the Saturn version (and I assume the PS1 version) of Konami MSX Antiques Collection had an MSX version of Salamander on it. When I played that one I don't recall seeing as much slowdown on the port .
Surpriseed you never mentioned the fact that the arcade version of Life Force was brought back to Japan and given different looking enemy sprites and backgrounds, and also going back to the Gradius Powerup system.
Also what do you think of Salamander 2?
Well, it was something I know about but constriction video is about the Salamander name I didn't mention it although looking back it may have been a good idea. Then again I'd actually forgotten that fact when putting the video together.
This was my absolute favorite game ever
I have to confess to being a fan as well.
Thanks for this video. Learning about Life force. Will check the salamander pack. The other versions I already played them. Agree with your opinions. The commodore 64 Is awesone.
for some reason I recall playing it on NES until the end and today I just got blown on first stage. ,😅
If you had asked me how many ports of this game existed, I would have guessed... five, maybe six. Holy crap!
Yeah, there's quite a lot isn't there. There are also all those emulated compilation packs too.
I played this a long time ago on the Famicom (the Famicom and tons of clones were here on Guam at that time). Those were the days... I'm sorely tempted to make a game inspired by this (due to owning Clickteam Fusion 2.5 which is game making software)...
*PC Engine and NES (Famicom) are the best!* ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I just built my arcade machine themed on salamander with a bezel and light up marquee. Love it.
That's a cool theme to use. Hope you have some cool fire dragons on it.
@@RetroCore unfortunately not. I built a bartop and I had to customise the bezel using off cuts from the full size marquee as full size bezels are too big. I had enough left to create a a starfield bezel. Looks cool. I've made it so I can slide new bezels in along with a replaceable marquee. I'm going to make a rastan, shinobi and rtype bezel/marquee set after the lockdown so I can mix it up.
Picked up the PC engine version recently. One of the better shooters for the system and is well worth having
At least it will be on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini (interesting the Japanese version won't have it according to the full list).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16_Mini
I think you wrong, take a look on the sega saturn version :
salamander, life force n salamander 2 are 3 games ...
Life Force is like a "gaiden", the power up system is a Gradius one, so we cannot say Life force is the US version of salamander
I can't remember now but I think that's what actually happened. The game was altered for the US market.
Recently someone made a patch for the MSX version of Salamander that makes it run smoothly and adds a few other enhancements.
In my humble opinion, this makes it *better* than the original arcade version. You should check it out at some point, it's really amazinh :)
I can imagine that being fantastic. If there was one thing that ruins MSX shooters, it's the scrolling.
When I only had an MSX this never bothered me, so I grew up used to it. Even when I play them today, it doesn't bother me. Usually the scrolling is choppy but the main gameplay runs smoothly.
But MSX2 games usually have better scroll. Space Manbow is an *awesome* Konami shmup, exclusive for MSX , and it runs *really* smooth in an MSX2+.
Check it out some day :)
And also the Aleste games on the machine, all of them are awesome shoot'em ups.
Rafael Lima
I like the Aleste games. For the longest time I thought Power Strike on the Master System was like Super Aleste on the SFC. It wasn't until about 1992 did I find out Power Strike actually was called Aleste in Japan.
But Power Strike 2 was never released in Japan, strangely :)
The original MSX version of Aleste IMO is far superior than the Master System port.
And although Power Strike 2 on the SMS is an amazingly good game, Aleste 2 on MSX is just the best shmup Compile ever done up until Zanac Neo.
Aleste 2 and Power Strike 2 aren't the same game. Power Strike/Aleste on the Master System is a port of the MSX games.. it looks better, but there is at least one level missing and some other inferior details.
There are so many Master System games that were never released in Japan. The Master System bombed big time everywhere apart from Europe and Brazil.
I was honestly hoping you would some day get around to this one. Good show.
And now I have :) Quite a few people have been asking for this.
My favourite version of the Stage 2 theme in this game is in the NES PAL version.
the msx version have rom patch which allows you to have smooth scrolling and voice set after you insert the second scc cartridge
Now that is cool. I'm guessing this patch is for use with the game on on the MSX 2 hardware.
Oh this game also has an anime which try to make sense of what's going on
Yeah, I own both VHS tapes that were released in the UK. It was a pretty good anime from what I remember.
u forgot about the sphinx head boss exclusive to the famicom port:P
a versão q mais joguei foi a de nitendinho. considero esse um jogo épico para nes. tem gameplay dele no meu canal.
Love this game!! I just loaded it onto my 3DS..unfortunately it’s the NES version.
Why is the MSX version's audio slow? it shouldn't be that slow...
Maybe the MSX was set to pal mode?
The reason why the Android Salamander was cancelled was because Konami's Shanghai studio, which developed the game, closed down.
This was in the chippy next to my school along with the original Street Fighter. I was amazed when I saw the C64 version of Salamander, and it was a great one to bring up whenever the Spectrum kids started chatting shit! 😂
Oh, the speccy fans were always making out their system was the best. I had a "friend" who insisted his speccy version of Rainbow Islands was far superior to my Mega Drive release.
Oh, and arcade games in the chippy, I remember those days 😊
The C64 and Famicom versions. Because of the hardware they're running on.
Especially the C64 port. I was mighty impressed by that.
+Retro Core I was also impressed by the c64 version
but don't forget the msx
What x68000 emu are you using? I played on real and emu and not getting severe slowdown like on your vid.
I don't know. Normally I use hi-speed
Ah, so the emulation was correct. This needs to played on a higher than stock speed.?
It looks like it ,some games dont work properly on experts and some if you run in 16mhz mode it will glitch like Dragon Spirit.
the emulator name it win68k hi speed
The NES or Famicom version is very well ported. The only thing I don't like is the sound section, which could have been better. I mean, it sounds like the first Castlevania, since this game was released the same year as Contra, Gyruss, or Gradius 2 (1988). But hey, they wanted to lower costs.
The PC Engine port would be a near perfect port if it didn't suffer from Konami's sound programmers absolutely shitting up the soundtrack compared to other platforms. Not that the soundtrack is bad by itself, but compared to what the MSX was able to do on weaker hardware, there's no reason it shouldn't have been equal to or better than it.
If we were talking about Snatcher, I would have agree with you, but this is a video about Salamander and PC Engine version of it sounds excellent, albeit differently from the MSX port, thanks to stereo panning effects and better percussion.
salamandra have relation with gradius?
Yes.
I grew up playing the C64 version before I ever got the NES version, so by default that's my favorite. Never finished either port or the arcade version, though.
Are you using an emulator for the Android version? If so, what emulator do you use?
Yes but I can't remember what it was called. It's on my emulation PC which I'm not using at the moment. Just Google Windows Android emulator. That's how I found it.
I've looked at Android emulation before, but never did anything with it. It always seemed like it would be more complicated than most emulators.
lurkerrekrul no, this is really easy. It's like a system withing Windows. Well, I guess it is really.
What I mean is that Android is a whole other OS that I'm not familiar with.
Retro Core virtual box right?
this is one instance where a home port, in my opinion, plays even better than its arcade counterpart. I prefer the C64 to the arcade, and also in the case of Moon Patrol, I actually prefer the Apple II gameplay to the arcade. Arguably same with Choplifter.
For Choplifter I have to go with the Master System port. That's so smooth. Quite challenge on later stages though.
Boa tarde! este Salamander tem como colocar apk aplicativos no mega meu amigo.
How looks the Amstrad CPC version?
If my memory serve's me I think I originally played Gradius on Nesticle for Dos as a teenager and not long after that I was looking through bargain bins at Electronics Boutique and I saw a cartridge called Life Force. I was about to toss it out the way but the spaceship artwork looked eerily similar like the Vic Viper. Deductions kicked in and I thought, "Is this a Gradius Sequel?" Compulsively dumped the game and my cash on the counter to make it mine and gleefully came home to fire it up. Needless to say....completely engrossed for months lol!! XD
Good buy. I love it when you find something then realise it's actually a cool item you're holding.
So while the PS1 and Saturn ports are both pretty much arcade perfect, I think the PS1 version is actually the one that has the exact resolution. The arcade game is 256px wide, and that's probably the most common resolution for the PS1. The Saturn only goes as low as 320px wide in 240p AFAIK, so the game is boxed in with 32px of black space on each side. You might be right about the slowdown silulation though, but eh, I'll still take the PS1. Darius Gaiden on the other hand...
The Saturn version has two screen modes. Arcade and Saturn. Same on the Gradius collection and detane Twin Bee collection. So you can play with black boarders down the side or remove them in Saturn screen mode. Capcom fighters often have this option too.
@@RetroCore Interesting! It looks like the Saturn mode extends the playing area to 320px wide. That's really cool actually. However - it still doesn't make what I said incorrect. :)
Well lifeforce on msx it's a reskin of Gradius 2 but with updated graphics but parodius keeps original graphics
The Amstrad version scrolls too fast??
I'd have to say that for me I'd have to go with the android port for visual/ audio and just smooth game play, but the arcade(mame with cpu over clock preferably) /saturn versions for the difficulty and game play which get harder each playthrough the 16th being awesomely insane hard and EVERYTHING SHOOTS AT YOU... ALOT, but still like the visual/audio. Some Japanese guy posted a video of round 16 on youtube for saturn if you want to see what in writing about. Japanese version of life force is my favorite revision.
I agree, the android port is very good. Just a shame it was never released.
I've never aged the Saturn version past the 3rd loop. 16 must be nuts.
+Retro Core if I'm not mistaken I believe the android version is a port of the nes version
Ive gotta say...are gradius and this linked? Obviously i know paradius is a er...parady...but this reminds me of gradius lots
In a way they are linked I guess.
You have some problems with some videos that appear shaky. Also is funny that the X68000 version still has the "please deposit coin" text from the arcades.
Shaky? I'm not sure I know ow what your u mean. Do you mean the scrolling on the MSX version?
I think the insert coin text on the X68000 is there just for Arcade image. A lot of close to Arcade conversions did that.
nevermind, is a stupid and useless feature of my video card that sometimes turns itself on.
Lord Alfajor
Oh, I see. Okay, no problem.
It is a pity that the Android remake has not been released. Looks great. Konami is only interested in pachinkos, since it only lives on reselling classic games.
Yep, the talent has long since left Konami.
There was never a two player mode on the C64 version of Salamander.
Salamander is one of my favourite shooters. played it a lot in the arcade and still do, The PC Engine is my favourite home port. Defo harder than the arcade.
+MongolianCh0p only gradis ii lmao
c64 version was very impressive !! love the NES game still to this day!
You can disable slowdowns in both PS1/Saturn so the Saturn port isn't any more "fresh" than the PS1 port.
I'd say the PS1 port is slightly better, mainly because the sound effects in the Saturn port are a bit off, also the score display is lower than it should (for accuracy's sake)
How do you disable the slowdowns? There's no option in either the PlayStation or Saturn ports. Is there some sort of secret?
Retro Core
In options you have to set the wait control to "off", same as Gradius II port.
Marcel Weber
I see. I wondered what that was about. Bit of a strange name for a slowdown option.
I use to play the c64 version a lot when I was younger. I could never get past the first stage though. I still have the game cassette around somewhere.
Give it another try. It's not that hard really.
Ok, so I gave it a try on an emulator today and there is something about this game even 25 years on that I don't get on with. It took me 5 attempts to get to the boss. I beat it and then on the second level I lost my last life in seconds. Perhaps its horizontal shooters that I'm bad at, as I'm fine with Ikaruga etc but I'm not great at Border Down.
*****
Ah, you see I'm great with Border Down but hate Ikaruga with a passion. Maybe you are much better at the tate shooters.
Have you ever done 'Vigilante' by Irem? That would be cool :)
Yep, show 23 - th-cam.com/video/X_tKYU7vODY/w-d-xo.html
Ah, thanks m8
The msx version has awesome music, better than arcade one.
dat SCC chip
I think so too. It's reall good. Better than the Famicom.
After seeing the c64 port of this, with sound and music simultaneously, I really question the c64 games that made you choose between the two. The c64 could clearly do both. There's plenty of other games that do, but this one does them both really well.
It might have been unclear as to how in the early days of the c64, but I suspect as time went on it was more either laziness, or, more likely, managers saying "You don't have time to implement a sound priority queue, just ship the game."
I never heard of this game in the US when I was growing up. Arcades were limited in Hawaii and I wasn't into NES. Only when I got a modded PS1 I had a bunch of Japanese import games as a bonus which included the anniversary edition. Too bad it is Konami so the only way to play and enjoy these games is through retro consoles and emulators. Did Konami make pachinko already, not that I bothered to even google anything Konami nowadays.
Yep, there are Konami themed Pachinko
machines. Also, many Japanese TV programs use sound effects that all originally
came from Konami games. It's as if Konami sold off their sound effect library.
Sometimes, I think TV studios made agreements with various companies like Toaplan, to use their sound effects. According to an interview I read, TV studios would ask for sound effects because they couldn't make the sound effect that they wanted themselves.
ubervirtuoso ah, the would also make sense. Mark n Japanese TV we can hear so many sound effects from games.
wish there was a steam version that looks like the android version
Maybe there is in China but not steam of course.
Saturn no doubt!
Not enough "Power of Anger" need moar!!!
Indeed you're right.
my favorite game is penguin! it's the best!
i always lose when i fight my brain...XD
Awesome!
as usual, Konami/MSX for the win, amazingly well done considering this little (great) machine, but the best example on the machine is Space Manbow for me, a masterpiece on MSX !
also i like a lot the PC-Engine version, very special with a scrolling up/down, the only one with it if i am right.
good job & don't forget, DESTROY THE CORE !!!
Space Manbow is excellent however that's on the MSX2, a more powerful MSX. The original MSX is very bad at horizontal scrolling however I've seen examples of when it can scroll well. Not many but there are ways to do it using sprites as the background layer.
PC Engine is a fantastic system and one with many great shooters on it. It's also home to some of the most difficult shooters!
right MSX2 ^^ forgot to mention,
also about Konami/MSX, i am always astonishing by some combinations between cartridge & disks www.bifi.msxnet.org/?main=konami/combinations.html but you probably know that yet :p
riright :), MSX2 forgot to mention it. you mean kind of hacking or overclocking ?
*EDIT: just realized that you know it watching the Graduis video.* (Original Message) another amazing thing with Konami on MSX are all the combinations possible between certain cartridges using the 2 cartridge ports of the MSX.
here the list of games & their acts = www.bifi.msxnet.org/?main=konami/combinations.html
these Game Masters (1&2) aren't essentials but looks very cool to have/try.
cheers
I've read about these dual cartridge compatable games but I've not really looked in to it much.
I'm currently using a Flash cartridge for my MSX2.
pretty cool, knowing how very rare these MSX games are today ! cherish this cartridge ^^
honestly i only knew 1 guy, ha no, kid & it was awesome to play this unknown machine with a SMS pad ^^
i also have flash cart. & everdrives, very useful tools :), i saw too much of PCE these days that i have connected my DuoRX today, long time not seen ^^.
More like a spin-off to Gradius.
The c64 version is most impressive. This little piece of hardware is very collectable, indeed.
Yeah, C64 owners must have really loved rubbing it is to the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad fanboys back in the day.
Adaptative AI on a shooter in PC Engine? That's something I gotta try!
Yeah, it's odd to think of but if you play it you'll notice that when you are powered up and blazing through a level the difficulty is really ranked up. Die and loose everything and suddenly there's less stuff attacking you.
That's really cool, I gotta really try it someday. The only game I heard such system implemented was Daytona USA.
The better your times the faster the opponents becomes. And I am not that bad at all in Daytona!
As I said earlier in the r-type port from msx here also you give the sound not justice fore the msx port. Music is way to slow when you set msx on 50 hz in stead of 60 hz. Please watch this video how the sound should be: th-cam.com/video/4rYffqQaBmM/w-d-xo.html. Also you know there is enhanced version with smooth scrolling and even voices from the arcade? See this vid: th-cam.com/video/gucvTZU7FJI/w-d-xo.html. It is really running on a MSX-2!. Not om MSX-1. that is why it runs so smooth! I like to hear what you think of it. There are also smooth scrolls for Gradius 1 and 2 on msx-2 (search for "enhanced" and see the new magic for msx-2 or higher machines.. I love this. It is possible to do it on msx-2 smooth side scroll. Please redo the video and set msx on 60hz. Because the sound is too slow and horribel to listen too. Also it gaves better playability. It responds faster on the msx.
You do realise that outside of Japan most people played the MSX in 50htz.? So to them this is quite normal. Also, outside of Japan the MSX2 wasn't very successful.
I do own a Panasonic MSX 2 (there's a video of it on my channel) but I tend to run games in 50htz since that's how most saw them. By the way, at lest I ran R-Type in 60htz.
Where can one find the Android version? I want it.
I'm not sure. I was gifted it via a friend. I'm sure googling Android Salamander should bring up some hints.
+Retro Core very cool, not going to deny that it does look amazing.
Amstrad version = arse gravy.
Why this game looks like gradus v ? even music and bosses are the same.
Beacuse both games are king of connected. Gradius came first however development of Salamander was kind of a ....... well, I don't know really. Both games are very similar though and by the same developers.
+Retro Core I had an idea the two games were related looking at the gameplay :P
+Retro Core Lord British FTW
stevacus I'm Lord British? Hehe, nice.
+Retro Core lol. I meant the second player ha, but if you want the title go ahead ^_^
for me PC Engine version of Salamander is superior over arcade and NES versions
Msx best version