(CC) 1CC "Demo": Salamander 2 (Arcade/PSP) - 1-ALL Clear (985,100 to 2-3)

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Published on December 1, 2022 1:36:54 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL8vwKDc3Lk

Game:

Salamander 2 (1996)

Duration: 25:36

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Salamander 2
©1996 Konami

Salamander 2 is somewhat obscure in the grand scheme of Gradius/Salamander/Parodius games, and when you take a glimpse at it, it's sorta easy to understand why. It doesn't depart from the usual formula too heavily, but it does enough to make it stand out.

That being said, Salamander 2 has some amazing game design. The stage design is unusual but interesting enough to make it feel unique compared to most other games in the series. You've got two organic stages, a stage full of flaming planets, and a couple stages worth of battleships. The boss fights are very creative if not annoying to figure out, and the soundtrack? Spectacular. Unfortunately the PSP version of this game doesn't fully capture the greatness of the original game's soundtrack (notably, the reverb is excessive compared to the original game), but nearly every song in this game (and even the unused ones) slaps hard. This is one of my top tier favorite Gradius soundtracks by a long shot, up there with Gaiden, IV, and V.

There's just one problem with this game, though. Its difficulty. I have no idea how this game's rank system works, but it will almost certainly go berserk near the end of loop 1. You have to be a whiz at shoot 'em ups to successfully weave through the fast bullet patterns thrown at you, and a lot of this game is thinking on the fly, especially in stages 5 and 6. The stage 6 boss took me ages to figure out how to fight properly (even now it trips me up sometimes) and the final boss is a living hell. I don't know how anybody who could 2-ALL this game (because this game only has 2 loops) is even human. Much like the Parodius arcade games, you only get two extra lives, meaning you can't just death abuse your way through this entire game. Playing as the Super Cobra (player 2) reduces rank as opposed to playing with Vic Viper.

There are two ways to rack up points in this game, and I showcase one of them in this run. In stage 1, you can have your Options positioned inside the Brain Golem to take it out, awarding 100,000 points right from the get go. Another 100,000 can be scored by spawning a golden battleship in stage 4 and properly dismantling it.

As this is a "sequel" to Salamander, it bears more resemblance to that than other Gradius games. It has the same instant respawns and automatic power-up system as the original Salamander. Power-up spawns in this game are mostly random, unlike Salamander, so planning power up routes and recoveries is pretty much an impossible task. There's also three kinds of lasers: The regular Laser, Ripple, and Twin. You can actually double upgrade each of these for a short period of time. The rapid fire of the Ripple and Twin lasers makes them much more preferable than the regular Laser, so I stick with them whenever I can.

You can have a lot of fun with the Options in this game, too. In this game, there are two kinds: The regular kind, and what's known as the "Option Seed", which is a mini-Option that orbits your ship and fires automatically. Collecting two Option Seed orbs counts as a full Option. You can also launch your Options and use them as heat-seeking grenades on enemies, but you have to be strategic about it. This particular gimmick is great for clearing out hordes of enemies and racking up damage against bosses.

Overall, this is a great game, but I don't enjoy playing it for its sheer difficulty. I doubt I'll ever manage a 2-ALL of this game, but who knows. It's a short game with great music, great visuals, and some neat mechanics, so it's a shame that the difficulty drags it down for me.

Played on my PSP using Salamander Portable.

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