"Salamander" - Turbo Views Import #5 (PC-Engine game REVIEW!)

[harlequintears]

You know, your voice kinda reminds me of the narrator from "The Powers of Ten". Excellent review as always, best regards from Costa Rica

[spida1a]

@harlequintears Ha. I don't think I've heard that one yet. I always hear the "bald guy from Total Recall." Lol. Thanks for watching!

[kingstonlj]

100% Awesome review - and a great, classic game.... Thanks!

[spida1a]

@kingstonlj Well, thanks a lot. I like this game a lot. :)

[Polywanacraka]

If it weren't for our nice, mature, honest, giving & caring friends at Nintendo we would have gotten this game in the states. This is a gem & a must play for any shooter fan if you don't own the downgraded (but still good) NES version or the arcade version.

If this shows up on the virtual console I bet your vid sold a few people Chris. Thumbs up for me!

This gave me the urge to play some Gradius II Gofer... Is that normal? :P

[richycline]

Quality review as always Spida *long drawn out sigh*

[spida1a]

@richycline Ha ha. Thanks very much!!!

[DoomedDuckBabyMario]

oh and did i forget to mention....game play wise (very close to the arcade version in both graphics and game play)

[DoomedDuckBabyMario]

nice review. salamander pc engine is a very nice game. probably one of the closest retro home console ports to the arcade graphic wise

[tiakpark]

Hey, did you say "Vic Viper?" That was the name of Leo's hyper-advanced Lev unit from Zone of the Enders: the Second Runner. It was the only Lev that could keep up with an Orbital Frame. It makes sense seeing as how both were made by Konami.

Hideo Kojima actually worked on the Zone of the Enders games. If you haven't played them I'd highly recomend them.

Good review!

[spida1a]

@tiakpark Cool, thanks for the suggestion~ :) :)

[Psycausis]

Agreed. It is fun but, the arcade version and this port of it can get a bit irritating and times. Mainly because it's kind of a fast scroller compared to the old NES version but, even so, it's still a nice addition to 16-bit shooters and a must have for Gradius collectors.

[123doomdoom]

@Psycausis Nah this is one of the easier Konami shooters i played.

[Psycausis]

@123doomdoom, oh is that so? Well you must be pretty good at shooters then. Got any vids to back up those words?

[kirgeez]

Love this game...:) I wish I would have gotten this for the TG-16.

[cyclo1224]

dude i think life force on nes cost me my 11th year on earth if i wasnt playing it i was thinking about playing it ...i beat that game so many times its not even funny...im new to your vids and i love um man...GREAT REVIEW

[spida1a]

@cyclo1224 Sweet. Thanks my friend. I appreciate it. Have a great New Year,

[123doomdoom]

Just got myself a copy...amazing conversion. Konami knew how to program for the PC Engine. damn!

[walruscupcakes87]

Awesome review. Stop sighing though!

[spida1a]

@walruscupcakes87 Hey, thanks my friend.

Ahhh....the sighs of nostalgia! How I miss the days! :)

Thanks for watching!

[Konuvis]

Nice one Chris, you're right the old school Konami logo was the stuff of legend. I hate the new one.

And did you see Rare's new kindergarden logo??

[mrfuzzer1]

Great review one question, why didnt this title make it to the us and eu? I cant imagine it was too late to the scene.

[spida1a]

@mrfuzzer1 Mostly because Konami games (along with most other third-party games) didn't come here at that time. A lot of people blame Nintendo's stranglehold on third-party licenses keeping them from being released over here. Boo!

[mrfuzzer1]

@spida1a I see.

[spida1a]

@mrfuzzer1 Yeah...it sucked. Ha ha! :)

[BygJuce85]

Great review! This is personally one of my favorites that you've done recently. I really like the nostalgic feel you bring to the review. I guess it helps that the game is also outstanding :)

And the part where you said, "[The sound] just sounds like this game"... totally feeling that lol. Well said!

[spida1a]

@BygJuce85 Awesome.  I'm so glad someone understood me. Ha ha!

Thanks as always!

[AlmightyKrang]

Another excellent review spida1a!! I have always been a fan of this series and love the PC Engine's music (just a huge fan of the sound chip in the system - such unique music from those games) and yeah, that Konami intro chime brings back so many good memories (^__^)

[Progearspec]

Good review spida yeah the pce version is a good conversion of the arcade one.Btw for some triva the jpn version of life force for the nes had differrent endings depending,what your score was.Also if you enjoy the original alot the salamander deluxe pack for the Saturn&PS1 has it's sequel on it.

[AlmightyKrang]

@Progearspec

Yeah, the Deluxe Pack for Saturn is excellent for Salamander 2 in particular. You can also import it for the PSP which has no region lock.

[Progearspec]

@AlmightyKrang I have the salamander deluxe pack for the sega saturn so no worry's.Though recently i did get a psp i may get the collection any ways to have,salamander on the go.

[PhatPhunk]

Nice review! I have to get this one! Didn't know there's a vertical mode for it! But oh boy.. looks tough!

[Telekenesis123]

Personally I like the Life Force name a lot better than Salamander ;)

[kingstonlj]

A classic shooter full of great visuals, music and gameplay. Nice review - thanks!

[avenuePad]

Awesome! I cleared this one just a couple weeks ago. Great stuff. :)

[SPac316]

I have Life Force for the NES. Good game, but it is indeed tough. So I too admit to using the 30 lives code.

[naikanomtom]

Nice review Chris!! Once again, you're video is making me itch to get this game and try and fail, try and fail, get eaten by gigantic brain matter, then.....try and fail....but have fun all at the same time. I raise my beer glass to ya!! ^__^

[SplatterTrigger]

Hardcore shooter! You can also pick this up for the import PSP for a decent price.Such a classic.

[Corad4]

Lol i remember playing the NES version non-stop until i got game over, in loop 3.

And it seems like they fixed many unbalancing issues in this version as well.

Such as Stage 4's boss, in the arcade, the balls(no pun intended) would NEVER leave the screen until you beat it. Then the other stages were overly hard.

Otherwise, PC-Engine did had many great Gradius games including the first game, Gradius II :G.N.Y, and this one. :3

Great review...but still didn't cured my Gradius sickness.

[TheMathius78]

Cheers and whistles from your audience!!! You rock, Bucci!!!

[chaosgreyblood]

Pretty close for a perfect score for this game. Is there a game that earned your 5-chip approval?

[futurematt5]

Chris, this is awesome, you really do make the best PC Engine reviews out there, well done indeed!!! You need to be seriously hardcore to get into this game though!!

[TheLumberjackass]

nice one chris , really great video and, you just reminded me of a game which had completely slipped my mind , so for that, thank you.

im now going to find this on mame and play the living hell out of it :)

cheers bud !!

[ThePixelReport]

Very good review!!! The salamander boss music is one of the best boss songs of all time!

[jc30081983]

destroy them all

[card969]

Nice review man i rem playing this game alot.

[katsujinken10]

looks cool. can't resist a good 2D shmup

[NadrianATRS]

I think this review is the most orgasmic out of all of them

[Nintega]

Yay! Finally you got to review a Gradius game! I would love to see you review Parodius next :)

[TestForEcho]

You can actually turn the slowdown off in the Sega Saturn version.

[scir91]

this is my second favorite shooter of all time, right after radiant silvergun :)

[fruitbane]

Ah, the import reviews. I'd love to see more of these. So many gems that never fell stateside into the US collection.

[jboypacman]

LifeForce/Salamander can be tough but it is a pure classic shooter no matter if your playing it on the NES or PC Engine. Great review as always Chris.

[nihilistbr]

Hard as hell. But it deserves a "Rebirth" version... ;)

[atarileaf]

I loved Lifeforce on the NES. It was one of my favorites. I knew this original version existed but have never seen it being played before. Without the code, I'm not getting anywhere though :)

Love the review. Another excellent job :)

[DynasticHero]

i'm going to make my own shooter and call it "Dr. Frustration"...at least everyone will be warned...haha. Great review once again.

[metalcoola]

Another great review,im big fan of shmups,even through,i suck at them :}

[duhmez]

Played the bejesus outta lifeforce on the Nes. Awesome.

[shorty1k]

I didn't even know there was a PC engine port! This game rocked on the NES, but the TG-16 always gave such perfect renditions of shmups. The PC engine version of Gradius is so much better than the arcade version.

[samus2008matt]

I've always considered Life Force/Salamander my all-time favorite shump! Great review!

[markvergeer]

Great review. Great game! Like you I am most familiar with the Nes Lifeforce game. I am quite a fan of the Gradius/Nemesis/Salamander/Par­odius series and have those games for

ZX Spectrum, C64, MSX, Original Gameboy, GBA, Nes, Snes, PSP and I think I forget some here... :P

[lostSUND4Y]

Yay a shooter, now we're talking. =)

Life Force is quite good, i mean it's no Cave, Treasure or Toaplan games but still worh a crack at every now and then.

[linkuofcourage]

Awesome review

[fvgotch]

Awesome review Chris, had blast watching it!

[pocketmego]

New Spida1...YAY!!!!!

I hate these games...because I love these games. So hard and yet so utterly addicting. Another shooter that bitch slaps you over and over and you keep going back for more and more.

Sublime agony!

Excellent video!

[HappyConsoleGamer]

Nice review thanks Chris!

[niker411]

wow, great video, im just loving on this game

[Coolbird00]

VICK VIPER!!! lol

[ShinmaRyuu]

Lord British lol. Who knew they had space ships in Ultima :D

[earthguardian2]

nice job i love airplane games but hard to find this days for me

[starsoldier1]

I have to track this down, I loved the NES version.

[pookieizzy7]

That's the basis of most shmups: Skill, precision and how much of a badass you are

[AntichristDemoncore]

I wish I had this version instead of the NES one D:

[misterintellivision]

excellent review! this is another one I'll have to track down :)

[hyrulesurfer1]

did this come out before R-Type?

[nectarsis]

@hyrulesurfer1 The original arcade version of Salamander predates R-Type by a year.

[Angelostar88]

@hyrulesurfer1

Yes, it came out in the Arcades in 1986 and R-Type 1987...

The PCE version of Salamander in 1991 and the PCE version of R-Type

in 1988 :)