The ZX Spectrum port of Konami‘s classic arcade shooter, Salamander, was programmed by Andrew Glaister, with graphics by Stuart Ruecroft, and was first published by Imagine Software in 1988. While aspects of the game are very good, it is unfortunately a good example of an unfinished and cut-down game being rushed to market…

The graphics, scrolling and controls are all decent. Where the game falls apart, though, are the levels, which are incomplete, and – in some cases – utterly bare-bones and devoid of details. The third stage, for example, is the iconic Salamander fire level, with the solar flares. In the Spectrum version, this has been reduced to a straight and featureless tunnel – with no solar flares at all – and with just the same enemies coming at you for a few minutes. The fire dragon boss is completely missing at the end of this level, too. Level four (the vertical cave level) has been reduced to merely the end battle against the metal wall (reducing it down to two vulnerable points, instead of three); levels five (horizontal space battle) and six (vertical city lights) are missing in their entirety… All of which indicates a publisher unwilling to give the developers enough time to make an effective game; basically ripping-off people who bought the game by providing only the bare minimum. Which is a pity, because this could have been a good game.

The loading screen is excellent, and the first level gives you the impression that this is a really good conversion, but after the first vertically-scrolling level, and noticing its missing boss fight, it quickly becomes apparent that Imagine probably skimped-out on paying the devs to finish the game…

Note: it is possible that there’s another explanation for Salamander‘s lack of content (like, for example, the devs being fired, or walking away from the project before completion), but it seems far likelier to me that the publisher would try to save money by rushing the development process through as quickly as possible. If you worked on this version of Salamander, and know exactly what happened, then please leave a comment below to clear up the truth of the matter.

More: Salamander on Wikipedia
More: Salamander on World of Spectrum