Wow, has it really been over 3 years since we had one of these topics? I couldn't find any on this TCB anyway.

ROM Club (aka Game Club, and also apparently Let's Play) is where we pick a game, we all play it, and we talk about it. Yay!

strizzuth was about to suggest we have one, and I mentioned how we used to do it. So here we are.


I picked Life Force (NES) because I've pretty much played it for the first time lately. Though the first time I ever heard of it was when I rented something else (can't remember what), and found that they had given me the wrong game. Why didn't I play it some before returning it? Maybe I didn't get home before noticing. I dunno.

Anyway, Konami made the arcade game Salamander, a spinoff of Gradius. Similar gameplay, but with a different powerup system. When it was released in the US, the whole game was given a storyline taking place inside a giant organism, and the name was changed to Life Force. Then they took this theme a little further, and released an enhanced version of Life Force in Japan, now with Gradius' powerup system.

When the game was ported to the NES, it kept the Gradius-style powerups, but was still called Salamander in Japan.


History lesson over, start playing.

I suck so bad at this game I can't beat the level 2 boss even with the Konami code. :(

ohhh, when I sober up, I'll get in on this.

I was waiting until my copy of Salamander Portable arrived in the mail before making this post, and then I just procrastinated for a while, but here I go.


The first thing I will say about this game is that it's hard. Damn hard. Just not quite as hard as I thought at first. It helps that it has unlimited continues (while the arcade versions had no continues at all). That's just not enough when it seems impossible to beat any particular level. Thanks to the Konami code though, I managed to beat it. Then I managed to at least get to level 2 without the code. I'm sure I could do better if I kept trying.

The Gradius power up system turned out not to be the disadvantage I thought it was. Sure, arcade Salamander practically hands out Multiples (Options) like candy on Halloween, but it's a LOT easier to get the laser this way, and that laser is pretty handy. The levels are a mixed bag. Lots of places where the walls squeeze in on you are less forgiving on the NES, and those tentacle things all over level 1 are a lot harder to kill. While lots of the stuff flying at you in level 2 are easier to dodge, and it's a lot easier to get all the way through that giant mass of... meat in the first level.

The vertical levels are nice, and it's cool to see the Moai heads make an appearance. I guess what should be the most interesting feature is the simultaneous 2-player mode. Too bad I don't have anybody to play that with.


Overall it seems like a fun enough game that will go from controller-bitingly difficult to playable with enough practice. A little short though.

I mean to do this, i just haven't gotten to it. It's been a surprising amount of days since i've played *any* video games. :(