Salamander 2 is an arcade shoot 'em up released by Konami in 1996. It's approximately the 9th game in the Gradius series. Though Salamander is a spin off of the main series, the Gradius series has generally had confusing naming conventions from the start. The original Gradius was also called Nemesis on some international release yet future games used the Gradius title whilst the later Nemesis games are actually unique titles not just renaming for different regional releases of Gradius's later sequels. Salamander, a spin off of the original Gradius also wasn't left unscathed from this kind of confusion being called Life Force outside of Japan (with Japan then getting it's own version of Life Force with Gradius's power up system and a slightly different aesthetic). Confused? Me too and I've been looking into this for a while. The only series I know with more confusing title releases and names is Wonder Boy. Anyway I digress, Salamander 2 fortunately had no such change in it's name as it was never released outside of Japan though it later got released from it's arcade confines to both PlayStation and PSP collections, but they use English due to their arcade nature making them perfectly playable still to international audiences.
Salamander 2 keeps many of the features that made the first Salamander such a good little game and more enjoyable to me over it's mainline contemporaries. The power up system is simple and slightly less punishing. Collecting speed up and options power ups as well as ones that change the main weapon and missile type. When you die you lose your speed bonus but can recollect many of your options orbital guns meaning you aren't instantly turned into a new born kitten if you die. It also has a slight mix of horizontal and vertical levels and both play really well similar to the first title I really liked. Visually I think it's a great looking title. The usage of colour, sprites and art just make it still have a fairly crisp modern feel to it that made games like Gradius IV that came out 3 years later look immediately outdated and to top it all off it's not impossibly hard to beat making it generally a far more accessible title.
That said, I think it's predecessor despite being 10 years older stood out more to me. I enjoyed the overall gameplay of this more, it's less frustrating than sections of the first but the organic theme isn't leaned quite as much into and feels a little bit more like a generic shoot 'em up when all is said and done. I've still got a lot of these games to play and I'm especially looking forward to Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V but at this point Salamander 1 and 2 are however the best in the series even with their minor flaws.
Salamander 2 keeps many of the features that made the first Salamander such a good little game and more enjoyable to me over it's mainline contemporaries. The power up system is simple and slightly less punishing. Collecting speed up and options power ups as well as ones that change the main weapon and missile type. When you die you lose your speed bonus but can recollect many of your options orbital guns meaning you aren't instantly turned into a new born kitten if you die. It also has a slight mix of horizontal and vertical levels and both play really well similar to the first title I really liked. Visually I think it's a great looking title. The usage of colour, sprites and art just make it still have a fairly crisp modern feel to it that made games like Gradius IV that came out 3 years later look immediately outdated and to top it all off it's not impossibly hard to beat making it generally a far more accessible title.
That said, I think it's predecessor despite being 10 years older stood out more to me. I enjoyed the overall gameplay of this more, it's less frustrating than sections of the first but the organic theme isn't leaned quite as much into and feels a little bit more like a generic shoot 'em up when all is said and done. I've still got a lot of these games to play and I'm especially looking forward to Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V but at this point Salamander 1 and 2 are however the best in the series even with their minor flaws.