In Games

I Dug "Life Force" out of my collection, and noticed how it is extremely similar to Gradius. I played Gradius 2 (famicom) expecting the same game, and noticed it wasnt this game. what relation is it to the saga?

Here in america, Life Force to me is Gradius 2, yet i really want to play the real one, in Japan Life Force is called Salamander.

'Life Force' is closely related to the 'Gradius' series, which is the successor to the 'Nemesis' series, which also spawned 'Salamander' and the odd spin-off 'Parodius' before eventually becoming the 'Thunder Force' series.

Confused?
Maybe that's the way we're supposed to feel.

Anyway, they are all "shooters".