Salamander Cheats & Cheat Codes for NES, C64, PlayStation 4, and Arcade

Salamander is a 1986 sequel to Gradius developed by Konami. Retitled Lifeforce in North America, the title is a side-scrolling shooter or “shoot ’em up” reminiscent of other games in the genre. While Salamander is technically a sequel it is closer to a spin-off to Gradius. Salamander simplified a lot of mechanics from the game that came before it so it’s almost like it’s a more accessible remake. The game saw many ports but its original arcade cabinet was by far the most popular. In Japan, Game Machine listed Salamander on their August 15, 1986 issue as being the second most successful table arcade unit of the month.

The Premise Of Salamander

Salamander has two-player cooperative gameplay. The first player controls Vic Viper and the second player takes the reins of the debuting spacecraft Lord British. The players can continue immediately from death instead of respawning from a checkpoint. The player gains power-ups by picking up capsules left behind by certain enemies, as opposed to the selection bar used in other Gradius games. However, the Japanese version of Life Force keeps the selection bar.

The Main Characters Of Salamander

• Vic Viper
• Lord British
• Saber Tiger and Thrasher (Iggy Rock and Zowie Scott)
• Van Landroth Frehley
• Lars XVIII
• Super Cobra
• Galaxy
• Purple Emperor
• Red Devil

Other Titles In The Series

• Scramble
• Gradius
• Salamander
• Nemesis 2
• Gradius II
• Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction
• Gradius III
• Nemesis
• Gradius: The Interstellar Assault
• Salamander 2
• Gradius Gaiden
• Solar Assault
• Gradius IV
• Gradius Advance
• Gradius V
• Gradius NEO
• Gradius ReBirth
• Gradius ARC
• Gradius the Slot

Salamander Cheat Codes

NES Cheat Codes

255 Life Glitch

There’s a difficult glitch available in the NES version of Salamander. Start a 2 player game. Bring the first player’s life to 0 and the second player’s life to 1. Now position your ships right on top of each other. They have to look like 1 ship. Now let yourself be killed and rapidly press the A button on controller 1 to try to steal a life from the 2nd player. If done right, both players will come back to life and the second player will have 255 lives to spare.

Game Genie Codes

The following codes require the third-party hardware, Game Genie. If you’re using an emulator to play Salamander these codes should work still.

• SUNK-YAVI Infinite Lives – Both Players
• LEKG-APGA Invincibility – Both Players (1 of 2)
• EEUK-LOEA Invincibility – Both Players (2 of 2)
• GXNG-IPSP Keep pods after death
• TOKT-NZLE Start with 30 Lives – Both Players
• GZKGILVI Infinite lives
• PEKVNTLA Start with 1 life
• TEKVNTLA Start with 6 lives
• GZSGLTSP Keep pods after death
• PEKGPTAA Start with Speed
• ZEKGPTAA Start with Missile
• LEKGPTAA Start with Ripple
• GEKGPTAA Start with Laser
• IEKGPTAA Start with Option
• TEKGPTAA Start with Force Field
• PEUTSTAA Start at the volcanic stage
• ZEUTSTAA Start at the prominence stage
• LEUTSTAA Start at cell stage 2
• GEUTSTAA Start at the temple stage
• IEUTSTAA Start at the mechanical city stage

Level Passwords for Commodore 64

Dual Mode Commodore 64 Code

If you started a 1 Player game and wish to play a Dual Game without having to restart, just press F1 to pause the game and then press F5.

Stage 6 Mini-Boss Skip Arcade Glitch

In stage 6 (Zelos’s fortress if you’re playing Salamander or the brain area if you’re playing Life Force), there is a mini-boss section consisting of multiple boss ships that fire sets of 4 lasers. Move your ship to the top of the screen and you will be safe until this section ends. This glitch does not work in the Japanese re-release version of the game (the one with a purple background in attract mode).

Salamander Unlockables

The Real Final Level

To unlock the real final level and boss, you need to insert the Gradius 2/Nemesis 2 game in the second cartridge slot of the MSX while the Salamander game is inserted in the first cartridge slot. When playing the game, collect the 5 “Predictions” found in each stage (except the first stage). If done right, you’ll reach the real final level, face the real last boss, and get a good ending.

PlayStation 4 Unlockable Trophies

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Salamander JP Title Screen.