Life Force (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Konami's 1988 shoot 'em up for the NES, Life Force.
Life Force is an NES classic. Whether you like shooters or not, it would be difficult to argue that this wasn't a landmark game for the machine when it was released - it far surpasses Gradius in its playability, balancing, variety, and supplants Gradius as arguably the best US-released NES shmup to this point.
It's a quasi-port of Salamander, which was a spin-off of Gradius (unfortunately the west would never see an official release of the amazing Famicom port of Gradius II), and it is closely related to the mainline Gradius games.
The American version of Life Force is particularly cool because of the graphical facelift the game was given - whereas the Japanese version felt more industrial with its mechanical enemies, the American one is more organic in its designs. The pulsing squirminess of many of these enemies and obstacles gives it a slight feeling of body horror, and the stage designs often resemble parts of the body. It's all quite unsettling, and serves as a clear inspiration for the style seen in Abadox (which was done by many ex-Konami employees for Natsume).
The graphics are extremely impressive and the soundtrack is loaded with classic Konami goodness. The gameplay is tight, precise, and quite demanding. The ship controls are quick and responsive, and the modified power-up system from Gradius allows you to approach the stages with your own strategies, and it all makes for quite a satisfying time. It is fairly difficult, too, especially in how claustrophobic most of the stages tend to be. There isn't much room for error at all here, but it is generally fair - well, except for that cheap sequence at the very end that is all but impossible to finish without dying unless you gave it committed to memory.
While it would eventually be surpassed in the NES's later years, Life Force is still a fantastic shooter that really stretched what could be done on the NES in 1988. I have a ton of fond memories of this one!
And if you happened to see this video in the hours directly following its publication... I have no idea what happened. Hahaha, I had uploaded the video, closed my laptop, and gone to bed, and when I got up I saw that somehow it had been made public. Oops. Now it has a title and a description, so hopefully that makes up for any disappointment from what was lacking before :) Sorry for any confusion!
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocom...) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@mymangodfrey]

I remember how amazing this game looked the first time I played it at a friend’s house. Lifeforce is a beautiful game even in 2019. That slowdown, though...

[@LorenHelgeson]

Indeed. I prefer the PC Engine version of Salamander, but this a very solid game that has held up very well. Back in '87 or '88, it was my introduction to shmups, and I still come back to it now and then.

[@julioenrique2584]

@@LorenHelgeson salamander from Japanese was faster than the slow

[@Broke_Guy_78]

I used to have this game back in the day, amazing game...... I no longer have the original but got it installed in my NES classic!!!

[@chanceForNotBeingRapper]

bro loving alien designs? 💀 impressive graphics but the flesh looks more horrifyingly to me than most modern horror games did

[@digitalworms]

The komami shooter collection on ps4 is pretty solid! Has the arcade versions no slow down at all!

[@AxeKick80]

This game felt so epic to me as a kid. I honestly think it was my favorite Nintendo game. I really miss these days.

[@Adamo_92]

The soundtrack of Life Force is even till this day, phenomenal .. when the creators were putting the music together for the game, they knew what they were doing!

[@splatbubble]

...and I would say the NES music is even more atmospheric than the arcade! Especially the damn Stage 3 :)

[@Zaxares]

Konami games on the NES always had stellar soundtracks (Contra, Jackal, the TMNT games etc.), but I agree that even among them, the Life Force soundtrack is one of their absolute best. :)

[@radfordmcawesome7947]

the boss music made the fights so intense

[@Dorelaxen]

I rented this one and me and a friend of mine stayed up all weekend playing it. The graphics were just jaw dropping. The fire stage, with the shooting gouts of flame, was truly unlike anything I'd seen on the NES before. Damn fine game.

[@1bosstv]

That Fire arc graphic was also used in Bucky O'Hare in the Red Planet. They had a lot of music that could have gone into another NES TMNT or Contra Game. Why didn't Konami make a Super Castlevania V, Super TMNT V, Super Bucky O'Hare II, Super Gradius IV, Super Contra IV? All these franchises and they didn't do anything with them!

[@Lyconnus]

Man screw that fire stage. Me and my mom hated it and still do lol.

[@Naiki_Eri_Vescida_Yanmi]

this game reminds me of gradius, i love how many of these retro space shooters still look crisp. makes me want to play some of them again

[@Bloodreign1]

@@Naiki_Eri_Vescida_Yanmi It reminds you of Gradius because it is part of that series.

[@RoastBeefQueefSniffer]

Still remember whipping my nes controller in absolute rage playing this game and yet also being wigged out by the art. Miss being a kid.

[@oldguyrips535]

I still think this game has one of the best NES soundtracks of all

[@TheManubarcafan]

yes

[@beauwhitlock5034]

I’m 44 and that brought me back. That game was a lot of fun and me and my stepbrother would play it for hours

[@rapinbatches]

One of the greatest NES games of all time. Period.

[@Rgoid]

Said no one EVER.

[@susa817]

Agreed. One of my top 3 favorite NES games for sure.

[@AllrightNOR]

Loved this game

[@felipepineda1585]

​@@Rgoid- go roid elsewhere Game was the ish!!!!

[@quickmanz]

One of the best soundtracks as well.

[@thecopperswordgames9646]

some people were born to play these types of games.. you are one of those people... this is outstanding

[@NintendoComplete]

Tyvm :) that's awesome of you to say

[@Zaxares]

@@NintendoComplete I did wonder why you never used any of the Speed options though. Was it because it starts to become a bit difficult to control once your ship is moving too fast? (Or because the Options start spreading out more and thus it makes it more difficult to focus their fire?)

[@NintendoComplete]

@Zaxares I don't like how too many speed ups makes it harder to move through tight spaces.

[@m.x.1800]

Got to love those classic Konami tunes and other audible goodies!

[@ozzymorrison8628]

Holy shit! What an ending..this game was difficult

[@_sparrowhawk]

LOL

[@iamthemedici]

This game really brought tears to my eyes, I had this vague memory of this game, and I can’t believe it seeing it again

[@Seafoamgaming]

I can't believe we finally got to NintendoComplete the Video Game

[@nsilentnite]

Boss music. That’s what I am talking about

[@Mr.Spongecake]

Called "Poison of Snake." It's been in a few Gradius games as well but Life Force has my favorite rendition of it.

[@egocide9034]

The nostalgia is off the chart.

[@moviemetalhead]

*Life Force (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete*

[@Musicradio77Network]

I still have this game. One of the best in the “Gradius” series, and also an excellent sequel to “Gradius”. It gives you 30 lives when you do the famous Konami code like “Contra” did. The music sounds perfect, but I want to use it for my “MTN Gang” series.

[@Mr.Robert1]

I came here to bring back great memories of myself playing with my son. I spoiled the shit out of him but he deserved it. Great kid...He was so young that I have a picture of him playing video games with him holding his blanket! I got him almost every console. The last one I got him was Xbox. Then I got him the Live package with a Cisco Wireless router that I needed to pair to my Motorola. That turned out to be a nightmare but I didn't give up and I eventually got it to work. After that he was old enough to get his own toys.

[@Mr.Robert1]

I remember getting this big controller. That had a black joystick with a round nob on the end. Had turbo buttons to keep all shooting games on atomic and had a speed control. Still never had the patience to beat this game although. We got great mileage out of it. Thanks for posting, brings back great memories for me.

[@Seras99]

NintendoComplete: The Motion Picture!

[@Lordhumongus]

There were a few games I never saw the ending. Top Gun, Life-force and Ghost and Goblins. Nice work

[@Aleksa_Milicevic]

Love Life Force, especially the music ❤️

[@7force990]

Great game,Konami is my favorite game producer. They should have put the pharaoh as the final boss.

[@Peter_Morris]

Whew. Title scared me for a moment. I thought you were actually done. This game is STILL a favorite. I’ve been slowly working my way up to 10 million points on my 3DS using save states. It’s funny because once you hit 255 lives (or what I assume is that many) it flips over to zero. I never would’ve known that w/o save states.

[@phantom-lo5gs]

Brings back so many memories as a young child in the early 90s

[@Charlesbjtown]

Completely forgot about this game! I remember thinking this game was next level back then.

[@rcd3945]

Esse jogo marcou minha infância, na época os graficos impressionava! Lembro que nas sextas-feiras eu e meus amigos saiamos da escola e ia direto na locadora alugar esse jogo e passavamos o final de semana inteiro jogando... isso em 1991! nem dá pra acreditar que já se passaram 30 anos... que nostalgia ver esse video e relembrar do passado!

[@pmnelson81]

What a great game. Always wondered why they couldnt make more classics like this

[@tomtsu5923]

This was such a great game for it's time. Awesome graphics and gameplay and very challenging. Played the hell out of this game as a kid. Nice run!!

[@ps-lover8380]

My favourite nes game I love the music

[@truthmon]

This is hands down my favorite game of all time! 🎉😅

[@Uriah625]

Man, used to play this game all the time back in the day. Just bought it again, after some 30 years can’t believe I beat it after the 3rd attempt without having to use the Konami code. The thing that surprises me is you take no speed!

[@yorshka6955]

Speed is bad because when you are slow you have better control over your ship. If you know the level and know when to avoid stuff you don't really need it

[@TexasAggie97]

A sequel that lived up to the original!

[@upamanyukashyap6811]

this game..to reach level 3 was a dream back during my childhood..just managed to.somehow see the level..could never cross.. without checkpoints and save option its impossible to complete this game..Incredibly tough it was

[@jonwhitt3679]

Probably the most underrated NES game of all time.

[@user-rk6nt5qy8c]

I remeber finding it so trippy as a kid that inside a Salamander in space an anciet Egypt godess would show up in their ornaments. 5th element vibes.

[@atiff451]

I never went beyond the level 3,nice to watch, Old memories awaken..

[@bolch88bb8]

The people who composed the music for these games are nothing short of geniuses....also the sound effects are fucking awesome. Me and my cousins would rock this for hours also contra :) back in the day :)

[@goodlookinkidbrad]

The soundtrack of my youth

[@karenmcdonalddozier2985]

Love and miss this game ❤

[@tigerpause2470]

I dont remember going vertically.Its been over 30 years!WoW!

[@wildfoxfire2080]

Dude when I was a kid, this game gave the my first Rage Quit, I mean shit thrown and broken things. I finished it though before discovering there's a cheat code of 30 lives. Love this game to hate. Childhood memories.

[@Skynet666officialchannel]

the bosses back then were seriously creepy i don't remember them dying so fast though

[@Mr.Robert1]

Same. Killed them with my controller that had a turbo button that enabled all shooting games to go fully automatic. but like you said I don't remember the bosses dying that easy even with that feature. Strange now that you mention it.

[@georgiaguardian4696]

This game looked epic and high tech when it came out!

[@Shedshananigans]

Wow. What great memories of my childhood. Thanks for posting!

[@Izthefaithful]

Nes music is seriously the best what I remember most from gaming back in the day Wow does Life force have a metric ton of flicker and slowdown though lol

[@PEEERRRR]

Best KZbin game 2019.

[@movieclipz5034]

Did this legend just no death Life Force? I remember barely being able to beat it with the 30 lives cheat. Great job

[@quingun00]

It's a piece of cake to do "A no death run" with Life Force,I did them when I played this game way back in 1988-1991

[@johnworld27]

Wow this game brings back so many memories

[@HE360]

This game is like Contra taking place in space jets and in outer space.

[@AdamSpade]

This might just have been my favorite NES game. Hi5 for the drunk upload. 😂

[@heroetroyano1]

One of my favourite games for NES. Such great memories! And bad ones too, I never had that incredible ability. In fact I remember everything until the last scene where the planet explodes, I always died in the escaping part, so I think this is the first time I actually see the ending. So sad! 😅 Thanks for the playthrough.

[@venomhemi3914]

1 of my 1st Nintendo games! 1987 🙂

[@miniontm69]

That boss music is one of the best.

[@redblade8160]

I remember playing that game when I was fifty years old in my childhood.

[@jasonkibler9316]

What I really liked about this game is there was virtually no limit to how awesome you could make your weapons. As long as you stayed alive, they just kept getting more powerful.

[@MattyIcecubes]

Gradius has aged terribly. Life Force has aged beautifully.

[@jeffcallicott9269]

Marty, it is interesting you say this. I had the chance to play Gradius not long ago, and made the same comparison. Gradius seemed so.. old? Yet I recall Lifeforce, in all its 8-bit glory, looking and sounding so much better than Gradius. Great minds.

[@MattyIcecubes]

​@@jeffcallicott9269Life Force is known as Salamander outside of North America; but as a kid, it was part of the Contra universe in my eyes, because it had the same sound effects lol. I used to envision Life Force as being the dudes from Contra piloting their fighter jets to escape the alien planet after destroying Red Falcon.

[@lorenzowright5814]

Bad Opinion

[@joshuafoight9579]

They are literally the same graphics

[@MattyIcecubes]

@@joshuafoight9579 Wrong

[@tinocarbajal4445]

Oh yeah i remember life force my favorite game it's good to see you thanks for the upload

[@andersonvillar8331]

Zerei este jogo em 1990, muto nostálgico pra mim.

[@suezuccati304]

So many obscure cards in Yu Gi Oh are references to this game

[@TheTastyMarmot]

I've never made it past level 3 when I was a kid. Those solar flares kill me every time

[@palehorse864]

24:50 congrats, you killed the final boss and saved humanity, now I hope you saved enough lives to actually win the game.

[@BryanDenham]

i remember playing this game so many years ago when i was a kid .i really loved this one, all tho i dont think i ever made it past lvl 2 LOL. Nice work you did awesome .

[@upamanyukashyap6811]

This game was some serious level tough..Without any save option, no check points to resume and only 3 lives..Could never go beyond level 3

[@Adamo_92]

They key to winning this game is not really about strength, it's about SPEED and more than anything.. PLANNING AHEAD!

[@ptbunz2501]

You completed your channel? Awesome! Nintendo Complete Completed Nintendo Complete 😛

[@kieferskunk5101]

The arcade game that this is based on was really cool for its time too. I remember how it advertised "Stereo sound!", among other things. It had voice samples like "Entering abdominal wall", "Kidney stones cannot be destroyed", "Gas emission", etc.. It was definitely about infiltrating some giant biological being, though I don't remember the full plot, such as it was. The NES version added a level that wasn't in the arcade version (the Egyptian crypt).

[@vioisme]

im getting anxiety from watching this..hard game back in the day!

[@Mr.Robert1]

Did not bring me into full anxiety but it did have me on edge. I know what you're talking about. I pulled this game up to bring back memories of my son and I. He was so young playing the games that I got him I have a picture of him actually holding his blanket! I'm a grandfather now. Amazing. I got him every game under the sun. Last thing I got him was the Xbox , then I got him the Xbox Live package with a Linksys router that I had to pair to my system. Then he was on his own. Old enough to get his own stuff.

[@ijansk]

There is a NES game like this one that I played in 2000, I loved it so much, but I haven't been able to find it on the net ever since. I have forgotten most about the game. I remember the intro starts with a pilot who gets in his spaceship and flies off into space from either a moon or an asteroid of a yellowish orange colour. I don't remember very well if this moon/asteroid explodes after he flies off into space or not. The rest of the game is more or less like this, except you play horizontally, from left to right. There was a final boss that probably was something like a brain with eyes and tentacles. This last memory may be a falsee memory. My memories of the intro are more faithful because it is what I can remember the most. Finally, the title of the game. I think it was something with "galactic" or a Word related to "galaxy". As years go by my memories of the game fade, but if You happen to what nes game I am talking about or manage to find it would make me so happy.

[@NintendoComplete]

That's Abadox! :D Awesome game. Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6LVqp9roc9qi9E

[@ijansk]

@@NintendoComplete That was not the game I tried to describe, but your referenced has helped me narrow down my search and, after, 23 years I could finally find it 😊🥲 The game is Sector Z. Your reference was really helpful and I'm so glad I could find it. If you could make a video of Sector Z that would be awesome. Thanks!

[@NintendoComplete]

@@ijansk Oh really? Ah, I was so certain haha. Your description matched that game so perfectly. Well, I'm glad you found what were looking for.

[@coreymacgregor176]

I'm officially impressed

[@MrNodrog518]

This was 1 of my favorite games as a kid

[@devastator5607]

Whoever is playing s good and knows all the traps...😃😃

[@aoconnor2933]

Played this endlessly when I was 6 years old never to get beyond Level 3. Revisited the game while deployed in Iraq almost 20 years later and ONLY then did i beat it lol that was over 10 years ago... maaaaaaaaaan lol

[@joshuajoseph5998]

Congratulations 😆

[@Mr.Robert1]

LT Rob United States Air Force retired. I bought my kids every console every toy that I never had growing up. I made sure they had everything I spoil the living shit out of them but they were great kids. They're adults now with their own homes and I'm a grandfather where the hell did the time go? Just hit 61 !

[@aoconnor2933]

@@Mr.Robert1 congrats on making it to 60s and beyond. Yea the time is flying.

[@TanzDerSchatten]

My aunt bought us this one the Christmas we got our NES. We put a lot of miles on it.

[@VF1Skullangel]

The closest thing kids got to a Robotech game for the NES back in the 1980s

[@lavoisiersamuels5180]

Wish they come with a upgrade version on the switch luv this game

[@rjcupid]

14:50 One of the most underrated songs on the NES.

[@skanazo8575]

Lo jugué cuando tenia 6 años, y ahora con 37 lo volveré a jugar

[@They_drew_first_blood]

I beat Gradius on NES without dying and now I’m attempting to do it on LifeForce.

[@Captain_Crayzay]

I remember when we got this game and we beat it in the same day. Kind of disappointed but had plenty of replayability.

[@PassportBrosBusinessClass]

It’s amazing how many times KONAMI repackaged Gradius

[@anthonyguillot3532]

Up up down down left right left right B A Start

[@abomasnow4]

+30 lives to you!

[@devastator5607]

That code lives with me some 30 years later😆😆

[@iansamuelson3666]

Well played sir. That fire level actually looked easy.

[@taramichelemanning8210]

This is EPIC! LOVED this game so much...thank you for this! ✈️🌌

[@psycowesocial9866]

That last run was sick.

[@2ingrams]

One of my all time favorite nes games

[@IanRei]

My favourite childhood game. Though, the moving Moai's statue give me some nightmares

[@nsilentnite]

Put me in mind of legendary wings

[@wadewilson8011]

This was basically Contra in spaceships. I remember my friend and I staying over my his aunt's house one weekend. We played Super Contra and this all weekend. Ordered some Little Caesars pizza (back when they actually did the pizza pizza (2) deal). And we ordered the 'Bigfoot' pizza.

[@radfordmcawesome7947]

even when the framerate dropped because of too many things on the screen, it felt like a part of the game

[@tinocarbajal4445]

Life force deserves a remake

[@tigerpause2470]

👏🏾

[@ttnaaaable]

What a wonderful game!

[@oscartristan7173]

I remember beating this game back in the day. Using a Game Genie. 😅

[@Coffin.Rabbit]

Good memories for this game cool

[@azrael7922]

Cool, now a speed-run plz XD I kid, thanks for the vid!

[@rajkumarlakra2269]

Wow thanks for uploading :D

[@romulomanuelpichihuapacase5881]

Recuerdo cuando niño en 90's nintendo Gradius también eran de estos prototipos de naves solo que veías un plano de lado para jugarlo, saludos y gracias por compartir

[@William15051964]

When you die and restart in the first level it's better to start again from the beginning. You need all weapons to complete the game succesfully, believe me I've spend numerous hours on this game. Nintendocomplete played this game almost exactly the way I did to complete it.

[@chanceForNotBeingRapper]

this game's vertical shooting levels hurts my eyes badly😅 if it was a 4k 120fps modern game i think i would be in hospital soon

[@ronaldandrews283]

Not many know about this game.Most know about and played Gradius.

[@splatbubble]

Ever notice how the music on the even numbered boards has kind of a "happy" intro before the more sinister music? Hmm... maybe board 1 and 5 have that too hahaha