16 Bit World

Your Retro Game Source Outlet
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • RSS
  • Home
  • retro news
  • Dos Games
  • Genesis
  • Emulation
    • Amiga
    • Playstation
    • Android
    • Dreamcast
    • Sega
    • Wii
  • Sega CD
Search the site...
  • Home
  • retro news
  • Salamander

Salamander

July 6, 2015 / admin / retro news
0

If there’s any type of retro gamer that has to have a PC Engine, the shoot-’em-up fanatic is that type. The system is well-known for its brilliant blasters, from Hudson’s Star Soldier series to Namco’s Galaga ’88, and once the CD system is factored in you can get even more in.

One of the earliest shooters I got for my system was Konami’s Salamander, a Gradius spin-off which simplifies the power-up system and adds vertically-scrolling levels into the mix. Eschewing the straight space theme of its predecessor, Salamander’s look is different straight from the off, with enormous teeth and pulsating growths littering the organic first stage, before progressing to fire themes and the like. It’s a pretty sweet-looking game, all told.

Instead of collecting tokens to spend on power-ups, Salamander sees you picking up icons just like any other shoot-’em-up. While it removes a little of the trademark Gradius character, it does do a little bit to alleviate the problem of losing all your power-ups upon death – you can immediately grab Option drones and missiles, rather than having to save for them. The orientation-switching doesn’t actually add a lot to the game if we’re being honest, but it does break up the pace a little. We prefer the horizontally-scrolling stages over the vertical ones, but that might just be us.

All in all, Salamander is a good shooter for any PC Engine owner to take a look at. While it’s no longer the best home version of the game available, it’ll certainly fit into most collections quite nicely.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Pinned

  • Unofficial HD ‘Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis’ Remake In Development →

    In 1992 Lucasarts applied their expertise in the point ‘n’ click genre to an iconic hero. Indiana Jones and the… Read more…

Recent Posts

  • Mupen64Plus v2.5.9 released!
  • 2019-02-14 Recent Releases
  • CENSOR Prototype of Sonic 2 Rediscovered by Hidden Palace
  • Gui0x52 released!
  • GameBoo released!

Recent Comments

  • zredgemz on Watermelon Unveils New Mega Drive Brawler Paprium
  • Old School Game Blog on New Amiga game released in March 2017: Lumberjack Game
  • Ronan Lynch on Sonic X The Complete Season 3 DVD now available to pre-order
  • RetroPlayers on New Atari Jaguar Controller In Development
  • RetroPlayers on New & Updated Nintendo Famicom Disk System USB Adapter ‘FDSemu’ ROM Loader Out Now

Archives

Categories

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

In The Cloud

2014 2016 2019 Adventure Analysis Android Atom Awards Denver emulation Football Forecast Game Games Gaming Genesis Global Growth Industry Launches Living Market Mobile Nintendo Online Pacific Partner Personal Playstation Portable Releases Report Research Retro Rise Sega Share Size Sponsor Startup Their Tool Touchstone Video World

Archives

Categories

@2013 16Bit World