Salamander (video game)

Salamander
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	WW: Konami JP: Sharp (X68000) EU: Imagine Software (home computers)
Programmer(s)	Hiroyasu Machiguchi
Composer(s)	Miki Higashino Hidenori Maezawa Shinya Sakamoto Satoe Terashima Atsushi Fujio
Series	Gradius
Platform(s)	Arcade Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Famicom/NES, Mobile Phones, MSX, PC Engine, X68000, ZX Spectrum
Release	Arcade JP: July 4, 1986 NA: October 1986 EU: 1986 JP: 1987 (as Life Force) Famicom/NES JP: September 25, 1987 NA: August 1988 EU: November 22, 1989 MSX JP: December 1987 EU: 1987 X68000 JP: October 1988 Amstrad CPC EU: 1988 ZX Spectrum EU: 1988 C64 EU: 1988 NA: 1989 PC Engine JP: December 6, 1991 Mobile Phone S! Appli JP: August 18, 2003 iOS WW: December 20, 2010 PC (as Project EGG) JP: March 3, 2014 (PCE)[1] JP: May 19, 2015 (MSX)
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, cooperative
Arcade system	Konami GX400

Salamander (沙羅曼蛇（サラマンダ）, Saramanda), retitled Life Force (ライフフォース, Raifu Fōsu) in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release, is a scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off of Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling stages. Some of these later became normal for future Gradius games. In Japanese, the title is written using ateji, which are kanji used for spelling foreign words that has been supplanted in everyday use by katakana. Contra, another game by Konami was also given this treatment, with its title written in Japanese as 魂斗羅 (kontora).

Salamander was followed with a sequel in 1996 titled Salamander 2.