Last year, we had Gradius Deluxe Pack from Konami. It was a very cool albeit short compilation featuring Gradius and Gradius 2. Konami gives us a little more this year with Salamander, Life Force and Salamander 2 all packed into one disc. All of the original arcade code is featured, much like what Namco has done with their popular Museum series. A collection of pictures from all three shooters is pictured below.

	Salamander is the first game in the series. Salamander features both horizontal and vertical levels and continues the Gradius tradition of multiple blobs that you can collect to increase your firepower.

	Life Force continues the Salamander series with glob-like enemies and organic tissue serving as the backgrounds. The weapon systems are essentially the same as Salamander.

	Here are the vertical levels from Life Force. Jelly-like, moist and squishy creatures are the order of the day in this sequel. The creature to the left looks like it is made of brain matter.

	By far, one of the most stunning looking shooters available anywhere, Salamander 2 features incredible graphics with SGI rendered shine. The detail on this hulking mollusc-style crustacean is simply awesome.

	Creatures from the 'humongous worm' family of elongated invertebrates assail our relentless warrior. The organic theme of past Salamander shooters plays out beautifully here with glistening organs and tissue structures.

	To the left, a vertical level from S2. Not all enemies are organic, there is the usual share of metallic bosses and rabid steel wingmen who try to take you down. To the right, we have a powerful multi-tentacled mega-beast with one big eye and a lil' one.

Konami has another great product on their hands. Since the release of Salamander Deluxe Pack is unlikely in the USA, this is definitely one for the collection. The two classics (Salamander and Life Force) are fun in their own right but Salamander 2 blows away a lot of what is out there right now and looks every bit as good as X2 which is due out later this month in the USA. X2 is the sequel to the great looking but difficult to play Project X from the European Amiga. In this new Salamander package, shooter fans will get a taste of shooter history and also experience an awesome new shoot 'em up in Salamander 2. Highly recommended.