🟢︱Salamander III Review

20 Mar, 2026

List of all Gradius Games I've Reviewed

※ Preamble

Unlike this March, March last year was one notable month for me and some selective folks of certain gaming franchises because there was a Nintendo Direct that gotten me pretty hyped up for more games. There, it introduced us to the likes of Pokemon Legends ZA, Fantasy Life, a Story of Seasons DS Remake, Shadow Labryinth, and for me personally, Rhythm Heaven Miracle Stars, Metroid Prime 4, Witchbrook, and Gradius Origins. Gradius Origins especially sincesince that game would introduce a brand new game in the series after the last one in 2010, Gradius ReBirth is no longer accessible to get through official means. The game? Salamander III. Bundled with the Gradius Origins Collection, As a sequel to Salamander II, it thought of switching around the mechanics of that one to be used directly by the player instead of finding the powerups throughout the gameplay, and features another boss that fights back similar to that one, too. Despite the hype train I've had up to the game's release, I didn't get the game until now, where I think that the game is a bit underwhelming compared to what I was hoping for. I don't want to drag out this introduction for too long, so let;s talk about it.

※ Story (2/5)

Despite how complex it may seem, Gradius to my knowledge doesn't seem to go all deep into their stories with most of the games revolving around some enemy base attacking the world of Gradius/Salamander and that the main group of people who hold the Vic Viper and such sending them off to destroy them to restore peace to the world. In the case of Salamander III, it's exactly this: It follows the events of the original Salamander, with the Salamander Force quickly regaining strength not too long after they've destroyed the enemies' base. The Gradius Army also had been going through some trouble as the Bacterians have been using the Dark Force to continue their goal of spreading across the Galaxy, and with no other choice, the imperial Princess of Latis sends out the Lord British Mk III as well as getting the Gradius Army's Vic Viper Type L to destroy the opposing forces.

Quite simple, but I do wish to have something more unique in the future.

※ Gameplay (3.5/5)

The best way I can describe the gameplay for Salamander III is....

Salamander III? More Like Salamander REBIRTH!!!

As for the game's contents, the length of the game is having six stages total (one more than ReBirth) taking place within space as per usual, and the gameplay mechanics are similar to Salamander 2 but with some changes. The most notable one being the upgraded weaponry featured in the game isn't based on picking up the same weapon again, but being tied to one of the face buttons with it being called "Burst Mode." in Burst Mode, stuff such as the standard shot, the standard straight laser, and the ripple laser get their upgraded versions from 2 but it lasts for a couple seconds and leaves you vunerable for a short bit before restoring your shots. There's also the Multiple Change which changes the way your multiples move around with it moving more like a snake fashion similar to one of the option modes in Gradius III SNES, and the force field is similar to how it works in Japanese Life Force where it spawns a shield orb on all parts of the ship, but leaves you vulnerable to diagonal shots. I personally never liked how this system worked, always preferring the one introduced in Gradius II, but this one works good enough. After finishing the game once, you also unlocked the Gray Layer, a ship that's essentially an older Jade Knight from Gradius Gaiden which works the same as such but with minor tweaks. The twin laser also is used with this ship, and the Burst Mode variant is the Spear Laser from Salamander II.

Let's go back to Gradius Rebirth for a bit. Another issue I've had with it is the fact that it's another homage to Gradius--the previous one was Gradius Gaiden back in '97', and that one fundamentally changed everything that came before it, turning the game to one of the best in the series: Giving players the ability to change the slot bar positions to get options first, shields second, and stuff. It's a bit overpowered, but it adds so much replay value to a already fantastic shmup known for it's replay value with the many ways you can use the slot bar. Gaiden also took the stages that came from past games and overhauled them with unique, unseen from Gradius, effects and designs, while also providing new ones as if it's a new game in the mainline series: The snow stage and the graveyard are what I'm mainly talking about. It also primarily has unique enemy ship designs, with barely taking any inspiration from past ones: The only ones that I know that actually share some of the old ships is the graveyard stage, one of the bosses in the boss parade, and the exclusive one that appears in other loops than the first one that's essentially a stronger Big Core Mk.III from Gradius III. When you compare Gaiden to ReBirth..... It's night and day.

Salamander III takes all of what's been done with the Salamander series and remixes them into a brand new package marked as a sequel to Salamander 2. Despite this, it's taking some steps back than taking steps forward; Salamander 2 was nothing like the first! The game had a visual overhaul, combined with having a boss that actually fights back--something no other Gradius game has ever done, not even Salamander did that. But with this new game, not only the stage theming is the same as previous Salamander games, but this boss also fights back but is a bit easier this time 'n around. The fact that the first stage is the only unique stage in the entire game featuring a new variant of the Big Core series of ships shows how much fanservice Salamander III is delivering more than unique and original content, which the entire Gradius series lacks.

※ Replay Value (3/5)

Gradius and Salamander games don't really have any major changes with how they handle future loops other than making it harder since they're originally arcade games with an arcade mindset, although with games such as Salamander II bringing some changes to future loops, there's still some differences than your first one. In the case of Salamander III, it's making what was done in the first loop, but make it harder, changing the way enemies move, react to your shots, and removes strats that could've been done in the first loop.

※ Graphics (2.5/5)

Ever since I saw more of Salamander III, one of the major complaints that I have is the sprite style clashing. M2's Gradius games so far have been mostly incredibly detailed, lacking in vibrant colors that's mostly shown from the environment with some of the enemies, ships, and such taking a bit of the same factors. Gradius ReBirth's art style reminds me a bit of Gradius Gaiden where they both are incredibly detailed but the difference between them is that Gaiden is a lot more vibrant, taking full advantage of the capabilities of the 2D components of the PlayStation. Salamander III is more like Gradius ReBirth, but with the sprites for mainly the ships and some background components being in the art style of the first Salamander game, which to me, is a bit weird to look at.

When you consider the art styles for all Gradius games made, they have a distinctive art style that's consistent with everything the game has to offer. Some of them may not be as detailed as other games in the series due to system limitations (mainly pointing towards Nemesis and Gradius: The Interstellar Assault for this comparison), but they try their best to stay as consistent as they can. When you look at Salamander III, it looks like it's trying to be a Gradius ReBirth with the well detailed backgrounds and scenery, but with some aspects of the pixel art being based and/or even taken from the first Salamander but with some improvements. The first Salamander was made in '86 and I assume the technology between what the Konami GX400 (the system board it, Gradius, and TwinBee were using) was capable of wasn't as...detailed as what is shown with ReBirth and Salamander III. So, seeing these styles clash with each other is a nitpick that I have towards the graphics of this game, and as for the reason for this being such..? I don't know. It's not to say that I hate the graphics for this game, however: If we ignore the "reused style," the detailed sprites are spectacular! The one with the giant Moai statue as the boss is my most favorite one of the bunch; It got an intimidating voice similar to Gradius II and Gaiden, as well as it being the best boss in the game both gameplay and visually.

※ Soundtrack (2/5)

Similar to the graphics, the soundtrack is also a weakpoint in Salamander III. Whereas Salamander 2's main loop provided new and unique music provided by the legendary Naoki Maeda, Jane "chibi-tech" Nisperos, the composer for this new entry revisits some of the music taken from the Salamander games, arranging and giving new life to them. Normally, I'd be okay with this since Salamander 2 did it with subsequent loops after the first one as a nod to what came before such. For III? 90% of the soundtrack are arrangements of the first Salamander. Sure, some of them were unused from the arcade release, but it's still technically reusing songs from that game, and as a person whose destroyed The Legend of Dark Witch series since they reuse assets more than the total amount of Terraria playthroughs I've done in my life, I'm one that doesn't appreciate the reuse of media, unless it's for maintaining brand recognition like goombas and koopas in the Super Mario series. I know the difference between competent and incompetent use of asset reuse, and Salamander III is the former since its predecessor done a better job of providing something new to the Salamander 2 series than this new entry.

But if I were to say my favorite tunes disregarding everything, it would have to be... the first stage and the boss theme.

※ Verdict/Other Thoughts (3/5)

I think I've pretty much said what I was trying to say to the people that I've talked about this game to on Discord lol, but in a much more cohesive manner since all I posted was my 3/5 rating from Backloggd over to them and whatnot. Salamander III isn't a bad game, heck, I don't think that I actually hate any Gradius game lol. Gradius IV is the only one that I think is the low bar, but the soundtrack for that game is one of my personal favorites. I just think that for a new game that hasn't had a game since 2010 not counting rereleases, it's a bit underwhelming to me as a fan of the series, but I do appreciate coming back to this one sometimes since a lot of work has done to bring back the spirit of Gradius in the modern day. Shmups still remain to be one of my most favorite genres, and I'm looking forward to trying another one in the future.

Thanks for Reading!