Salamander 2

THERE’S ALWAYS A BIGGER FISH

» ARCADE » 1996 » KONAMI

I’ve played a lot of shmups in my time and as a result it can often be hard for the genre to surprise me. I remember playing Salamander 2 for the first time back in the late Nineties, and while I was deeply impressed with the visuals that were being chucked around the screen, the mechanics certainly weren’t that much of an improvement over those in Konami’s original 1986 classic.

Ten years of separation between the two games certainly meant that Salamander 2 was a strong assault on the eyes, thanks to its often garish colour schemes, neat transparency effects and gargantuan, detailed sprites. Konami’s fastidious approach to replicating the key beats of the arcade original was also deeply pleasing, but mechanically, Salamander 2 felt stale.

In fact, when Golem appeared halfway through the first stage, flailing at me with its familiar long clawed arms and eyeing me ominously with its single orb, I almost rolled my eyes at its appearance, humouring the huge floating brain as it made its way to the level’s end, ready to stop my ship from continuing its journey, a voyage that was already feeling a little too familiar to me.

Approaching the end of the stage, Salamander 2’s music stepped up a gear, signifying to me that my battle with Golem was close to hand. I’d faced this boss countless times in the past, and I certainly wasn’t threatened by the few lasers that were being spat towards me, but Golem wasn’t a boss… Golem was a distraction. Without warning, a gigantic, many-eyed beast called Biter launched forwards, grabbing Golem in its huge maw and munching on it with so much ferocity that Golem’s limp arms were soon the only indication that it had ever floated in front of me.

Biter’s epic entrance immediately shook me from my complacency and proved that even though I thought I had Konami’s new game pegged, it still had plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Needless to say, I eventually sought out a copy for my Saturn and it remains in my collection to this day.