Salamander

Manufacturer: Konami
Year: 1986
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Space
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color

Conversion Class: JAMMA
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Joint
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player
Controls:

Joystick: 8-way
Buttons: 2 [Shoot|Missile]

Sound: Amplified Either (Mono or Stereo)

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Salamander Description

Pilot your micro spacecraft through a space, eliminating the enemies, comets and other assorted obstacles. Collect the energy capsules to power-up. Defeat the end-bosses that appear at the end of the levels.

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Game Play

Move your spaceship using the 8-way joystick and destroy the enemies by pressing the shoot button. Pick-up the energy capsules to increase your power. Choose from the following power-up options:

SPEED UP: Five speed levels.
MISSILE: Press missile button to launch.
LASER: Your forward rockets turn into deadly lasers.
RIPPLE LASER: Use shoot button to fire.
FORCE FIELD: Protect your ship with barriers.
MULTIPLE: Increase your fire power by up to four times.

You can obtain multiple special powers but you cannot have LASER as well as RIPPLE Laser.

Miscellaneous

There were three versions of this game made: Salamander, the original Japanese release; Lifeforce, the U.S. version; and Lifeforce the Japanese re-release. Salamander was originally a spin-off of Gradius, but with a simplified power-up system and overhead stages. Lifeforce, the U.S release, is just like the Japanese original only with slighty different color palletes. The Japanese re-release has more organic looking graphics (since this version is supposed to take place in a planet eating) and adopts the Gradius power-up system.

VAPS Arcade Census

GAMES OWNED, WANTED, or FOR SALE BY MEMBERS OF THE VIDEO ARCADE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Uncommon - There are 16 known instances of Salamander owned by one of our 3,650 members who participate in our machine census project. Of these, 2 of them are original dedicated machines, and 14 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Of the 59,767 machines (3,520 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 12 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - There is one VAPS member currently looking for Salamander.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

For mono sound output, a jumper block must be installed on CN3. This will route the sound to the standard JAMMA pins. For stereo sound, move the jumper block to CN2 and the output will be routed to CN5. Pins 1 and 2 are the left channel audio while pins 3 and 4 are for the right channel. NOTE: mono and stereo sound cannot operate simultaneously.

eBay Listings

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Salamander Videogame machine and items related to it.

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for machines and parts made by Konami.

Alternatively, check out the IAM/KLOV custom report of the hottest coin-op machines on eBay, powered by Ace.com (updated throughoutthe day).

Photo contributed by: Julian Kershaw

Salamander - Title screen image

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