Apex Legends vs Salamander

Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale built around squads of “Legends” with unique abilities, praised for its fast, fluid movement, gunplay, and ping communication system.

Released in 1986 by Konami, Salamander is a legendary side-scrolling and vertically scrolling shoot 'em up that serves as a spin-off to the Gradius series. Players navigate the iconic Vic Viper and Lord British ships through bizarre, organic environments to defeat the eponymous alien threat. Famed for its unique power-up system that discards the traditional capsule meter for a simpler instant-upgrade mechanic, Salamander also introduced simultaneous two-player cooperative play and alternating vertical and horizontal scrolling stages to the genre.

• Excellent gunplay and movement
• Free to play
• Great non-verbal comms
• Strong hero design

• Simultaneous two-player cooperative gameplay
• Streamlined instant power-up system
• Varied horizontal and vertical scrolling stages
• Memorable bio-mechanical art design and soundtrack

• Squad play can frustrate solos
• Grindy cosmetics
• Steep aim skill ceiling

• High difficulty level can be punishing for newcomers
• Short overall campaign length typical of 1980s arcade games
• Limited modern platform availability compared to contemporaries