AlWo73

Oct 29, 20233 min read

Old Skool Shoot-Out: Part 3

OLD SKOOL SHOOT-OUT!

Part 3

SALAMANDER

(Konami, February 1988)

Some debate over who actually released this sequel to Nemesis, as sources are divided between Konami and Imagine. Think Konami tried first, then realised they weren't very good at marketing, or Spectrum games generally, so tossed it over to the Imagineers. Would this game make more of an impact than its predecessor? And what does it have to do with salamanders?

Great load screen, promises excitement to come...

Weapons choice is good, including diagonal fire. And laser FTW!

Those big grabby arms are cool and unique

Sound FX are okay, not too grating

The game is colourful in bits despite the nearly all white sprites used

Poor menu tune, not smacking of arcadeness

Those annoying repetitive waves at the start to get your weapons, a la Nemesis

Those big grabby arms are actually a total pain to deal with!

Incredibly narrow landscape very near the start - far too early surely

With only 3 lives you have to do the first stage over and over and over and...

Crash - 79%

YS - 4/10 (wow)

SU - 8/10

Ace Magazine - 88%

C&VG - 65%

Games Machine - 52%

Spectrum Computing user score - 55%

OVERALL 66%

Arcade Styling - 80%

Playability - 65%

Unique Features - 80%

OVERALL 75%

R-TYPE

(Electric Dreams, December 1988)

Before R-Type, Bob Pape's only claim to fame was doing the Speccy version of Rampage, which I rather enjoyed. He wrote a book about making this game called "It's Behind You" oddly, have to have a nosey at that some time. All programmers really should read it as well, as he seemed to be possessed by the devil when making this game, like Robert Johnson at the crossroads. Did he sell his soul?

Brilliant graphics, really pushing the machine to its limits

Astonishing use of colour - what colour clash?!

Variety of weaponry is impressive

Runs super-fast without being unplayable

Fiendishly playable and addictive thanks to decent checkpoints

Your ship looks like it's got a droopy... nose

Some very pernickety end-of-level situations with little room to breathe

The game might be a little too quick for its own good

There are no Jaguars in the game despite its title

This game failed to bring about world peace as we know it... as yet

Crash - 92% Smash

YS - 9/10 Megagame

SU - 90% Classic

Ace Magazine - 87%

C&VG - 93%

Games Machine - 90%

Spectrum Computing user score - 84%

OVERALL 89%

Arcade Styling - 93%

Playability - 88%

Unique Features - 89%

OVERALL 90%

SILKWORM

(Virgin Games, July 1989)

So we've had a few vertical planey shmups, now for a horizontal helicoptery one. I've not actually been in a helicopter (as I'm still alive) and it does worry me how you could probably bring them down far too easily by just shooting at the blades. Could this be a significant handicap for this, the last of our old skool shooters?