Nintendo Entertainment System · 1988
Salamander
沙羅曼蛇
- Developer
- Konami
- Publisher
- Konami
- Composer
- Miki Higashino
- Country
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- Series
- Gradius
- Release year
- 1988
- Alternate titles
- Life Force / Salamander · Life Force
Standard · 🇯🇵 JP · CIB: 113,2% (Fri Apr 24 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)). Standard · 🇺🇸 US · CIB: 111,1% (Fri Apr 24 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)). Standard · 🇪🇺 EU · CIB: 146,8% (Fri Apr 24 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)).
Standard
| Región | SEALED | CIB | LOOSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇯🇵 JP | €310.04 €263.53 – €356.55 | €96.89 €82.36 – €111.42 | €27.59 €23.45 – €31.73 |
| 🇺🇸 US | €271.40 €230.69 – €312.11 | €67.83 €57.66 – €78.00 | €14.28 €12.14 – €16.42 |
| 🇪🇺 EU | €272.32 €231.47 – €313.17 | €84.96 €72.22 – €97.70 | €20.87 €17.74 – €24.00 |
Prices show the median of recorded sales (source: eBay + Heritage auctions + PriceCharting aggregates, the same data that feeds your portfolio). Differences between regions reflect rarity: Japanese AES copies are typically 2–4× cheaper than their European equivalents because they had a much larger print run.
Description
Salamander, released as Life Force in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release, is a 1986 scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for arcades. A spin-off of the Gradius series, 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 , with M2 developing another sequel, Salamander III, for Konami's Gradius Origins collection on August 7, 2025. On April 23, 2026, Konami Arcade Games held the Salamander Lottery, a lottery sale to commemorate the series' 40th anniversary. The lottery sale offered a chance to win Salamander items featuring numerous original illustrations, as well as special postcards as bonus gifts.
Source: Wikipedia · Read more
Releases
| Platform | Region | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Entertainment System | 🇯🇵 JP | 1988 | Konami |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | 🇺🇸 US | 1988 | Konami |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | 🇪🇺 EU | 1988 | Konami |
