Refers specifically to the classic shoot-'em-up arcade game by Konami, released in 1986.
Salamander is a shooting game released by Konami in 1986.
Gradius is another Konami shoot-'em-up series; Salamander is a spin-off with two-player simultaneous play and different power-up systems.
The kanji 沙羅曼蛇 are ateji applied to the English word 'salamander', chosen for the video game title. The reading サラマンダ comes directly from English.