One of the classic shoot’em up series of the late 80s was Gradius, which was very popular on multiple arcade machines and home consoles. In addition, Life Force (known as Salamander in Japan) was also an enjoyable release on the NES. After many years, Gradius and Salamander are coming back in a new anthology of games entitled Gradius Origins!
This is really exciting for me because I’ve been a fan of Life Force for a long time, and this will allow me to play the arcade version for the first time. The full game list includes,
- Gradius (5 versions)
- Gradius II: Gofer’s Ambition (4 versions)
- Gradius III: From Legend to Myth (4 versions)
- Life Force
- Salamander (2 versions)
- Salamander2
- Salamander III
As shown in the list above, one thing that stands out is that many of the games include multiple versions. Although there have been collections with Gradius I, II, and Life Force before, I don’t think this variety of different versions has been done previously. Another new addition includes Salamander III! This is a big deal because there hasn’t been a new Gradius-related game in at least 14 years!
To me, that’s a huge reason to get this collection. Although its retail price is $39.99, that’s still pretty fair if Salamander III is worth $20 by itself. Moreover, it contains Gradius III and Salamander2, both of which are not obtainable on Steam. While it is true that Gradius Origins only have the first 3 games in the Gradius series, that does make some degree of sense. After all, the title of the anthology has the word “Origins” in it. If it sells well, then we might see another group of games featuring Gradius IV, V, Gradius Gaiden, and Gradius ReBirth available later.
The Gradius Origins collection is scheduled for release on August 7, 2025 on Steam, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
What do you all think? Are you excited about a new Life Force/Salamander title? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
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