Video games - Salamander 2

Home > Listing Index > Video games > Salamander 2

	Video games - Salamander 2

is a scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Konami in 1996. The game is a direct sequel to 1986's Salamander
and is part of the long-running Gradius series, although it is considered a spin-off. The game is notable as it is the first in the Gradius series to include three-dimensional graphics. It retains all the characteristic elements of its predecessor; two-player simultaneous gameplay, the same enemy bosses, and inclusion of vertically-scrolling levels.

Gameplay

Like the original Salamander, and as opposed to the Life Force releases, Salamander 2 abandons the selection-bar based power-up system, in favor for a simplified system that focuses on powering weapons up based on specific icons. For example, the player cannot increase his ship speed until a speed icon is picked up; additional speed icons further increase the ship velocity.

Several weapons, when additionally upgraded, turn into a 'super' weapon for approximately ten seconds. If the player has the ripple laser, and then gets another icon for it, the player will receive the high-powered Buster ripple for a short period of time. Options have been slightly changed with the arrival of 'option seeds', which are small options that orbit the ship firing only the basic initial shot. Two option seeds can combine into one full option. Moreover, options can also be sacrificed to utilize a short-term homing beam weapon.

Several enemy bosses typical to Gradius games return, including the Golem (the first level boss) and the Intruder (the second level boss). There are a total of six levels. Since the game does not push the player back if a life is lost, many people consider this title to be signficantly easier than other titles in the Gradius series. Once the game has been completed, it starts over at a much higher difficulty. The music changes to remixed versions of Salamanders music.
Levels and bosses

Stage 1: Cell 1 (horizontal)

Stage 2: Synthetic Sun (vertical)

Stage 3: Cell 2 (horizontal)

Stage 4: Battleship (horizontal)

Stage 5: Asteroid Hell (horizontal)

Stage 6': Fortress Zone (vertical)

Ports

Salamander 2 was not made available as an individual port, but was released to the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation as a part of the Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus. See Gradius compilations for additional information on this release.

Screenshot gallery

Image:Salamander2_02.png Image:Salamander2_03.png Image:Salamander2_04.png Image:Salamander2_05.png

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Salamander 2 ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Salamander 2; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay