Salamander (From Matty Matt Show #MAMA0202)
July 4,1986 (Arcade JP)
October 1986 (Arcade US)
August 24, 1987 (Famicom/JP)
August 1, 1988 (NES/US)

Salamander is an arcade game released
by Konami in Japan in 1986 and was brought
to the US under the name: Life Force.
It was released for the NES in August of 1988.
It is a descendant of Gradius, but it
isn’t a direct sequel. The difference
between Gradius and Salamander is the
power up system. In Gradius, you must
equip your power up to use it; while in
Salamander, your power ups are ready
to use once you pick them up. Next, when
you lose a life, you respawn right where
you left off and continue, versus getting
destroyed and having to fight back from
the last checkpoint. Another difference
between the two games is that Gradius
takes place in space, while Salamander
and Life Force takes place inside a
living organism. You control the Vic Viper,
or Lord British starship through the
living being, referred to as Zelos in
the NES manual, shooting enemies and
avoiding things like fangs coming out
of the ground and cellular walls closing
in on your ship. Each level’s end boss
consists of an organ or body part that
you must destroy. In the first level,
you must destroy the creature’s brain.
After this, you switch from a side scrolling
shmup to a top down shmup. In Life Force,
you continue inside Zelos, while in Salamander,
the Vic Viper exits the creature and fights
in space, on its way to the final level aboard
Zelos’s fortress. Once you destroy the Zelos’
Life Force, you must navigate the corridors
with walls that have a small opening big
enough for your ship and escape the fortress.
Afterwards, you start back at the beginning,
back on level 1. That’s right. This is one of
THOSE games. This will have you play through
the game once, then have you play the same
levels, but at a higher difficulty.

Life Force is my preferred Konami shooter,
because I don’t have to worry about if I
equipped a weapon or shield, and I can pick
up where I left off once I lose a life.
That gives me time to worry about getting
hit by everything else in the game. 
Salamander and Life Force is available
as part of Konami’s Anniversary Collection
Arcade Classics for most major platforms.