Life Force |
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Life Force AKA 沙羅曼蛇 (Salamander) is a well-known scrolling shooter that borrowed heavily from Gradius (NES). It has plenty of the staple scrolling shooter elements: different weapons, option powers, missiles, and memorable bosses. The level design lends itself to being inside of a human body and fighting off various invaders. Life Force isn't a direct port from the arcade, but a mash-up of Life Force (ARC) and Life Force Deluxe (ARC). Most of the game comes from Salamander, but the powerup system is taken from the deluxe version. Also, some of the levels have been completely redesigned like the Temple Stage and Cell Stage 2.
Screenshots
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The title screen.
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Shooting enemies in Cell Stage 1.
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Avoid the walls in the Volcanic Stage.
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The burning fires of The Prominence Stage.
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Things get pretty sticky in Cell Stage 2.
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The Japanese title screen.
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Music
VGMPF Album Art
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The music of Life Force was originally composed by Miki Higashino for the arcade version. It was arranged for the NES by several of Konami's staff. The NES audio has a warmer sound than the arcade soundtrack, but the fidelity is slightly lower.
Recording
# |
Title |
Composer | Arranger |
Length |
Listen |
Download |
01 |
Power of Anger |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:10 |
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Download |
02 |
Starfield |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:07 |
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Download |
03 |
Planet Ratis |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:11 |
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Download |
04 |
Burn the Wind |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:10 |
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05 |
Thunderbolt |
Miki Higashino, Suzuki Kyouta, Akira Yamaoka | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:26 |
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06 |
Aircraft Carrier |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
0:24 |
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Download |
07 |
Destroy Them All |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:23 |
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Download |
08 |
Poison of Snake |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
1:20 |
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Download |
09 |
Crystal Forever |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
0:24 |
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Download |
10 |
Peace Again |
Miki Higashino | Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, Atsushi Fujio |
0:56 |
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Download |
Credits
(Sources: Salamander (FC) Credits, Salamander (ARC) Credits, Life Force USA (ARC) Credits)
The credits of Life Force are pretty complicated. When you beat the USA release, you get a short ending with the Konami logo, but no credits. However, when you beat the Japanese release, you're treated to some extra animation and a staff roll. In the Japanese release music is credited to: Shinya Sakamoto, Satoe Terashima, Hidenori Maezawa, and Atsushi Fujio. Atsushi Fujio was probably the audio programmer, since he is usually credited as such in later games. The other three were probably arrangers of the arcade music since all of the music in Life Force is ported from the arcade games.
However, another complication arises because the arcade versions of Salamander and Life Force [USA] and Life Force Japan all have different credits! Using the process of elimination, we find that all of Salamander's music was composed by Miki Higashino, and Life Force's additional music was composed by Suzuki Kyouta and Akira Yamaoko. Only one track (Thunderbolt) is taken from Life Force, and that's why it credits the additional composers.
Albums
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1998-09-23
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2003-04-09
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2004-10-01
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2007-12-30
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2011-09-22
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2020-04-??
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Game Rip
Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Releases
France |
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Title: |
Life Force Salamander |
Platform: |
NES |
Released: |
1989-11-22 |
Publisher: |
Konami |
South Korea |
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Title: |
라이프 포스 사라만다 (Life Force Salamander) |
Platform: |
NES |
Released: |
1990-??-?? |
Publisher: |
Konami |
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Links