Life Force & World Class Track Meet retrospective: Vic boss | NES Works

[@ThomasMHead]

Life Force and Contra were the go-to in my childhood whenever friends came over. Each was a half-hour of guaranteed familiar fun.

[@WarlockX4]

Great times. What a time to be a kid...

[@LorenHelgeson]

Yeah, Contra and Mega Man 2 were mine. I was terrible at Life Force as a kid, so I never played it with others.

[@jhoughjr1]

My first NES came with the power pad. It had 3plex cart with SMB, Duck Hunt and world class track meet all on the same cart

[@gospelx]

Life Force was literally one of the very first games we got for our NES back in the late 80's, along with The Legend of Zelda and the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt pack-in. It was easily our most played game as a family, not just because it was the only two-player simultaneous game we had at the time but largely due to the fact that it was so good. And still is! In recent years I've introduced Life Force to my kids as well as my nephew. No one wants to stop playing. The graphics are dated, but they're still so visually interesting that you can't help but pay attention. And the music comprises one of the best start to finish NES soundtracks around. I want to say your video "takes me back," but I seriously never left.

[@LoloDePuzlo]

If you have 2 hours to spare, you should take a look at the Salamander OVA. It's 40% space politics, 40% awkward love story, 15% actual space action, 4% "Oh hey I recognize that Gradius thing", and 1% "Even in space racism exists"

[@JeremyParish]

Sounds about as on-point as Life Force, the sexy space vampire movie

[@jhoughjr1]

You: Even is space racism exists... 40k: Suffer not the xenos to live!

[@jhoughjr1]

@@JeremyParish You should watch Brandons cult movie reviews for that one was quite good. I still recall my aunt saying "I don't think this has anything to do with the game" when I insisted on us renting it.

[@NanoGamingGamer]

I love the series, but the plot is an insane cluster fuck. The gradius wiki has a lot of information.

[@MrERLoner]

Spacism

[@Dimensiom]

Life Force is the only shooter that I was able to complete on one single life. It is also one of the only shooters that I have been able to complete, period.

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Man, how? The escape sequence after destroying Zelos is brutally unforgiving.

[@keenanwilkie7607]

@@PrekiFromPoland A lot of practice using an NES Advantage.

[@CLSharpman5000]

Man, you can imagine my disdain when I beat R-type III, only for the game to tell me "fuck you, now do it again" 😭

[@JodyBruchon]

I greatly enjoy hearing your love for Life Force beaming as hard as mine does. It's nostalgic for me, sure--but it's a top-tier game that represents the NES better than the vast majority of the others. Side note: I recently downloaded a massive torrent called NonGoodNES. It has heaps of the shovelware games from Japan that you mentioned in a prior episode. I have looked into the eye of the devil and will never be the same. Thank dog for Life Force.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

Some great writing in this review. Thanks for doing justice to one of my best-remembered childhood NES experiences.

[@TheLupineOne]

That translucent famicom cartridge is pretty cool. Reminds me a lot of those translucent cartridges used for Game Boy Color games.

[@MiriOhki]

Ooh, Bubblegum Crisis. (Smiles) played a lot of Life Force when I was a kid

[@cre8original]

Zelos is the planet consuming entity that you are flying inside of the NES version. That's why some of the stages look biological while others looks geographical because are part of the worlds Zelos ate. It is not just the final boss, it is the whole game.

[@chaseman94]

I play this game religiously every 4th of July. I've been doing this since 2004 along with Gradius 2 and Wario's Woods.

[@spacemammoth3334]

It felt like every kid I knew with an NES had this game and loved it. This was my main intro into the genre, ahead of things like Gradius proper. I remember being really confused about this as a kid because my uncle had a tape of a movie called Lifeforce. I assumed they were related, but he'd never let me watch it. I found out later they're not related and the movie is about space vampires lol

[@andrewharris9302]

NES WORKS has been such a informative and entertaining series. A masterpiece imao

[@Mansini77]

Life Force - what an incredible soundtrack.

[@MrERLoner]

The remixes on OCR are awesome. Tactile Freefall is killer

[@jhoughjr1]

RoadBritish Space Destroyer was the manual name of the second ship.

[@ace8214]

When it comes to localization practices, the world was simply a much bigger place back in those days... this would more or less be the norm until around the halfway point of the ps1's lifecycle. Importing games from the back pages of magazines like EGM was a real treat back then, lol.

[@thecunninlynguist]

A rental classic for me! I loved renting life force. Don't think I ever beat it as a rental though

[@jhoughjr1]

Didn't know the code back then? I don't think I beat it until I owned it.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Absolutely love this game. One of the very first impressions of video games, as a whole, which I experienced as a kid. About a decade ago, I picked up a copy of Salamander on the PC Engine, and learned about the weird dual history you spoke about between it and Life Force. Scaled back or not, I think the NES version is still very solid, and if anything it gives me something to look forward to when I eventually get around to trying the Famicom version. Also, after seeing your recent Gintendo stream, I'm really looking forward to that next episode.

[@DaneeBound]

Scramble, Gradius, Salamander, Life Force, Nemesis. That’s what I call branding.

[@JeremyParish]

Don't forget Vulcan Venture!

[@DaneeBound]

@@JeremyParish FFFFFFlickenteppich

[@michelegambierazzi]

To make things even more confusing, here in EU-land NES Salamander/Life Force is called... Life Force: Salamander 😁

[@leeleetan712]

Where's the Devil World in NES works 1986? Obviously. Where's the Bomberman in NES works 1987? Where's...... the Road Fighter in NES works 1988? Just Obviously. Why is he in North America NES europe new art challenge?

[@DaneeBound]

@@leeleetan712 The main NES Works chronology focuses on the release history in North America specifically. Road Fighter and Devil World never released in America to begin with (the latter because NoA said no), and Bomberman won’t show up on the American NES until January 1989, when the NES Satellite peripheral shipped. In any case, Devil World was already covered in NES Works GAIDEN as part of the Famicom’s 1984 line-up, and for Bomberman you have to wait until NES Works proper gets to it in like… no more than 40 episodes. And as for Road Fighter… maybe this can be a patreon request?

[@visionop8]

I unintentionally ended up with 4 versions of Salamander/Life Force lol. Of course my old copy on the NES and I got PC Engine Salamander about 15 years ago. Then I discovered Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus for Sega Saturn about 5 years ago and it comes with arcade ports of Life Force and Salamander which I was unaware of at the time of purchase because it was sold to me simply as Salamander 2. Strangely enough I can't decide which version I like best. I mostly play the PC Engine/NES versions but each version is really good and if you own only one you're just fine.

[@mendez704]

I love how your videos teach me to appreciate games even from genres I am not fond of (like shooters). Keep the good work!

[@jhoughjr1]

You might like life force. respawning does take away the "oh sit I died" so it makes it easier to remember what killed you next playthrough. The music and gfx are excellent.

[@HPRshredder]

Can’t wait to play Life Force. I’m picking up the “Salamander” version though. The cartridge is just 🔥

[@LorenHelgeson]

If you're a PC Engine fan, I also recommend you try that console's version of Salamander. It's pretty solid.

[@HPRshredder]

@@LorenHelgeson I definitely will once I make it to PC engine! I’m still working through Famicom titles though - then Master System, and THEN PC Engine lol. So maybe a few years 🙃

[@jhoughjr1]

Life force is probably the best NES game ever imo. It and Contra were regulars in my NES until I finally got into Dragon Warrior,

[@SNARC15]

@@LorenHelgeson I love playing that on the TG16 Mini, especially when you unlock the "enhanced" move that make it more like an arcade/PC Engine hybrid.

[@j0nnyism]

Yeah one of the coolest carts on a Nintendo console

[@vincentlee8787]

12:15 Come for historical analysis, stay for the eminently quotable "living meat barriers" and "throbbing conduit" Also wow, what a soundtrack. And that box art!

[@jhoughjr1]

it is truly a gem. I still listen to its soundtrack in my head.

[@Mikey-zj8bn]

Life force was my fav game on nes

[@coretaku]

That blue translucent shell made me Salivatemander. Heh. The co-op play always gets me goin'. Thanks for sharing Mr. Jeremy.

[@jhoughjr1]

damn fine portmanteau there.

[@mr_beezlebub3985]

Life Force has a typo on its title screen. The bottom of the screen states that the game is officially licensed by "Nintend of America".

[@ATippingBarn]

Wow. Bubblegum Crisis intro. That brings me back to the days of Animeigo

[@RogerPyoko]

They're still around! And they even put out Bubblegum Crisis remastered on Blu Ray.

[@jessragan6714]

7:01 "Of course, all the technical finesse in the world means nothing when it's squandered on a joyless mess of a game." I think they called that one Abadox. Glad to see you so enthusiastic about a game, and Life Force certainly deserves the praise. Salamander 2 was a worthy sequel with some serious 32-bit polish.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

Hopefully Salamander 2 gets an Arcade Archives release. Glad to hear that Life Force holds up, it was one of my favorite shooters as a kid and I definitely loved Konami's NES games. And Golgo 13 in the next NES Works! Nice.

[@WhoIsSirChasm]

"Next time on NES Works, the best pause sound on the console."

[@BB-te8tc]

"But Battletoads wasn't released until 1991... ohhh"

[@nfugitt89]

This video made me realize I haven’t been getting Patreon notification emails for the last month lmao. Good video!

[@MrSegmentfault]

Any LifeForce fan should listen to the MSX Salamander soundtrack. It's absolutely awesome thanks to the included sound chip, much better than both arcade and nes attempts.

[@gunma747j]

Sadly planet latis was missing from it,it could be technically able to recreate the stage for MSX 1 hardware...gofer 2 did handle it quite well

[@LorenHelgeson]

Wow! Here I was for the past decade or so thinking the PC Engine was the best version. That MSX rendition of Starfield is amazing.

[@promptcriticality6728]

Great Video and even better memories! Life Force was my first NES game that I beat when I was a kid!

[@GameplayandTalk]

Uh-oh, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode is next? That's going to be an interesting one..

[@darktetsuya]

man yeah I remember trying to play life force again on NES online... still brutal as it ever was, even with the extra 30 lives!! didn't realize the gradius games had such weird chronology you'd think gradius 2 was the true sequel... I do still love playing both on konami's arcade collection, though I may have to spring for the full gradius 2 arcade archives at some point. world class track meet I still technically have, from that grey cart that came with the deluxe set with the pad AND the zapper. also, almost pretty good timing on the next episode, I know the games would at least get mentioned in passing with the creator's death a couple weeks ago!

[@thejackal007]

Absolutely love Life Force on the NES. Found the Salamander arcade to be crushing in difficulty at times, yet it still oozed charm (especially when you beat Zelos and it crashed through the stage, emitting a weird yell at the same time. Looking forward to seeing Duke Togo in next episode and I imagine there will be snippets of good lore regarding the unfortunate passing of his creator.

[@jessragan6714]

The last boss in Salamander 2 was even better. "I'll take you to hell WITH me!"

[@Bobby8451]

One of my favorite SHMUPS. The soundtrack will forever stay with me.

[@rootbeer_666]

You forgot to mention that Life Force/Salamander introduced one of the best boss music tracks to the series, Poison of Snake. Such a great soundtrack, damn.

[@Will-xk4nm]

One of my top 3 NES Carts includes a reference to the creator of my favorite gaming franchise of all time? These are the kinds of amazing details I watch this channel for. Hands down the best retrogaming content on KZbin.

[@Badcrow7713]

That feeling when you find a cool video series, but you actually started with the most recent one and already can't wait for the next video

[@BB-te8tc]

I love the voices in the arcade version of Life Force, particularly the exclamation of "Kidney stones can not be destroyed!"

[@JeremyParish]

That's why it's SO important to hydrate properly every day

[@jessragan6714]

"Destroy dangerous antibiotics!"

[@apolycarp]

Thanks Jeremy for your consistency.

[@JeremyParish]

A compulsive routine is the only reality I know

[@Sambeck63]

Seriously, this is the most underrated channel ever! Such a good job on every video!

[@dezm101]

Gradius on NES got my attention as a kid, but I couldnt get too far. After playing Life Force, I knew I was going to be a shooting game fan for life!

[@wonderguardstalker]

Never knew how technically impressive this one was, always glossed over it. In part to the naming system this series has

[@MarcBarkyMarta]

Another quick note - only two versions of Salamander/Life Force send you back to a checkpoint in single player: the MSX and PC Engine versions. The arcade versions - all three of them - work just like the NES game here in terms of immediate respawning to continue play in single player. Salamander for MSX was a completely different game so that makes sense, but I have no clue why they left a checkpoint system in the otherwise very arcade accurate PC Engine version.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Oooo, that tease for the next episode... After your stream, I went ahead and pulled out the cart I've had since the mid 90s and finally beat it. It wasn't as difficult as I'd remembered, and I especially love exploring the maze sections. Drawing them as I went, to figure them out, is still one of my favorite gaming memories.

[@notthemilkybarkid]

Huh, Starfox 64 sure took a lot of inspiration from Lifeforce! That fire level has to have been the basis for Solar.

[@jhoughjr1]

I still remember my jaw literally dropped first time I saw the prominence zone. and the music.

[@sneakyquick]

Life force is a top ten nes game

[@MarcBarkyMarta]

Quick note: Gradius/Nemesis 2 for MSX was not a Japanese exclusive. It was known as Gradius 2 in Japan, and Nemesis 2 in PAL territories. Weirdly enough, the Japanese cartridge label says "Gradius 2" in katakana, but "Nemesis 2" in English.

[@HydraSavior]

Come for the bad puns, stay to get your socks rocked by gaming history.

[@the_sixxness]

LifeForce on the NES was better then the Arcade.

[@retronemesis7064]

Salamander is the coolest looking famicom cartridge.

[@shane1489]

I don’t know how Life Force appeared in my collection but I can say with certainty that I play it more than any other NES game…

[@TJ-vh2ps]

The music in this game is so good! It instantly takes me back to playing the game with my brother. Rented from Blockbuster! 😎

[@Panzer_the_Merganser]

Thanks for the phenomenal series, this one hit nostalgia right in the creepy-armed, one-eyed brain.

[@nigelhighlands3131]

Aaaaand, now I wanna play Life Force for the first time. Fantastic retrospective.

[@AnthonyCurley]

I didn't realize Life Force came around this early. It had to be the best soundtrack to date.

[@lastburning]

I played Salamander on C64 as a kid. Never got further than the second stage though.

[@MrMegaManFan]

The only lineage harder to discern than Gradius is Wonder Boy.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

That discussion will likely be coming soon to NES Works 1988 when Adventure Island rolls around. Doesn't help when even Sega makes it murkier with title changes.

[@rodneylives]

The soundtrack in Salamander/Life Force is among Konami's best. It's REALLY GOOD. That opening joke is terrific. And I love any talk on Gradius-line games that mentions Scramble, a game I remember hearing about as a kid although never got to play back then. I wonder where Super Cobra falls in the series?

[@jessragan6714]

A personal favorite: Theme of the Golem, aka Poison of Snake. Boss music just doesn't get much better.

[@TheVioletBunny]

I was obsessed with this game as a kid. I’m not playing it again on the switch via the arcade anniversary collection.

[@FloatingSunfish]

6:41 Whoa, I always thought the Vic Viper's pilot was always male judging by the voice acting in the later games. Konami pulled a Samus on us!

[@tinypinata505]

Life Force was my jam!

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

To add to the fun, the game got *both* titles in the U.K., being released as _Life Force Salamander_ …

[@David-ln8qh]

Reminds me of XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[@ricksloan5588]

I could beat life force as a kid but rarely got past the first stage in gradius.(damn volcanoes!) Making it easier was a smart move. Best shooter on the nes by a mile.

[@cantrip7]

That boss finish at around 14:40 was SICK. 🤘

[@murphiverse]

Really fun two player game. This was the only shooter I could ever get into or beat.

[@TheDumontShow]

This episode was great as usual. One thing for the next episode: Dedicate it to Takao Saito. I'm so looking forward to this next episode. I'm a huge Golgo 13 admirer. There's never been a cooler character in manga since.

[@JeremyParish]

The G13 episode is about 25 minutes long, 10 of which are dedicated to Saito's legacy. Will that work for ya?

[@matthuck378]

Life Force was the only shmup I had for the NES, and I loved it. Played it so much, lol. I think the only games I played more were Metroid and LoZ.

[@topdamagewizard]

This is the first game where the torch was passed from father to son in our house. My dad was impressed when I beat this one.

[@joesaiditstrue]

can we get a shout out to the greatest videogame box art of all time

[@bryanjensen2614]

You crack me up... Life force: 18 minutes of coverage World class track meet: 1 minute 14 seconds

[@JeremyParish]

WCTM has already been covered extensively in the Stadium Events episode... did you really want me to reprise that same material?

[@bryanjensen2614]

@@JeremyParish KNowing that you did it previously? NOPE.

[@HybridAngelZero]

If I didn't know better, I'd think Konami's marketing teams were intentionally conspiring to make this as obnoxious to keep track of as possible xD It really is amazing that they accomplished the NES version of Life Force on a standard chipset. You could call it a miracle... a Bio Miracle ;D

[@struntsi]

And again a suprise girl under the helmet _SHOCK_

[@JeremyParish]

Not in THIS version, sir. What a scandalous suggestion... that there would be a pilot in the spaceships... dear heavens.

[@fayezfawzi3255]

fantastic work :).

[@heavydecibel]

The best looking F-16 2D-sprite of them all? At least as a child I always pictured the protagonist as a F-16.

[@OhmiKuma]

That clip of BGC though!! But why's it dubbed? It wasn't dubbed in the year you are presenting for Life Force. :)

[@j0nnyism]

Later nes games really do look like they were made for a different console. The advantage of on cart chips I suppose

[@fatenabu1]

holy crap your joke at the beginning, wasn't expecting it and I spat my water everywhere laughing so hard...

[@jasonking3182]

Just think 6 years before this game came out a home counsel game was et on the Atari 2600

[@Nestalgba92023]

And Vanguard for the Atari 2600 (1982)? It has both horizontal And vertical stages as a shooter.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Life Force is an excellent nes game and I will play it. 😀👍🎮

[@jakubdudkowski6457]

My Life Force cartridge was broken - the first boss was immortal. Probably a piracy prevention mechanic triggered on games pirated into the Polish market. Regardless, I had great time with it and still remember it to this day. I was also more than happy to play it later on a multicart which allowed skipping levels.

[@gunma747j]

You need to shoot the eye of the golem, otherwise you can't hurt it

[@jakubdudkowski6457]

@@gunma747j I remember doing it for minutes, with no effect. Back in the 90s Poland had only a pirated version of NES called Pegasus and cartridges were available in stores and flea markets - but no original NES. Some games had anti-piracy protection, e.g. Robocop 3, a romhack of Shatterhand, in which a boss at the end of the elevator stage was immortal.

[@gunma747j]

@@jakubdudkowski6457 interesting,never saw that before

[@ovinophile]

Track Meet reminds me how we used to get tired of stomping on the Power Pad so we’d just kneel down and start rhythmically punching it with our fists.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

The Gradius series generally makes the game harder when you cash in on the power-ups. So dying doesn't necessarily mean you're screwed. Trust me on this - I don't have the reflexes to beat the games without losing all my power-ups a thousand times or so.

[@jasonhunter2819]

Yeah, Life Force was...definitely easier...I could tell because I could actually beat it!

[@brux357]

I’m mad for laughing at that intro

[@aaronreid8375]

Sal-a-man-der... haha and I thought I was bad with We'd-eat-her

[@mresturk9336]

One weird quirk about Life Force: if you have a NES Advantage controller and try using its so called 'Slow Motion' feature Life Force's horizontal stages will go completely haywire. The background tiles will start to be drawn in wrong. Causing a chaotic, often unplayable, mess of mismatched walls. Since the bosses are made from background tiles the slow motion will deform them too.

[@Monkey_SK]

I do feel we need to see footage of Jeremy in full flight on the power pad, for game research purposes of course.

[@lmello009]

I had a blue 72-pin Gradius 2 pirate cart. Made it to the last stage once.

[@j0nnyism]

Salamander. That is it’s proper name.

[@gitgeronimo9375]

The original Nintendo Entertainment System did actually include game boxes for Duck Hunt and Gyromite

[@johnnygrind77]

I always considered and thought that Gyruss was also part of the Gradius series, I guess because younger me just assumed since since both were space shooters that started with the letter G.

[@JeremyParish]

Good news for Mario, Mega Man, and... Mystery Quest

[@johnnygrind77]

@@JeremyParish At least I didn't think that all the games with "Kid" in the title were the same kid haha

[@jessragan6714]

@@JeremyParish No. No no no. Don't even go there!

[@ginormousaurus8394]

Galaxian, Galaga, and Gaplus might have put that idea in your head.

[@rickdavis32]

Life force also has some of the best box art on the nes!

[@MissAshley42]

Huh. I always ignored Life Force because I assumed it was just more Gradius. I didn't know it has two-player! I'll have to scoop it up sometime.

[@neurath2638]

Great content as always!

[@ihaveallthecoins2785]

So Life Force was a woman the whole time in Japan, neat.

[@kranibal]

Left field question.... Are there going to be more Gameboy Works books produced in the near future? {EDIT}: I got the answer at the end of this video, thanks!

[@JeremyParish]

It's going to be a while, sorry.

[@Yupppi]

I always thought Life Force: Salamander was "just" a Gradius spin-off. For me it was better than Gradius though. The PAL version though, all the flashing and lag makes the volcanic rock maps a hell to dodge. Exactly those "better fitting for NES" vertical stages. It's one of the best games on NES I've played, but I've only once gotten to the fifth stage, the runs usually end at second or at least third stage. The music alone is worth attempting to get to the end.