Aliens (エイリアンズ Eirianzu?) is a 1990 side-scrolling shooting game developed and published by Konami for arcades. It is based on the 1986 film of the same name. It never received a console port and remains as an arcade exclusive to this day.
Plot[]
The multinational conglomerate Weyland-Yutani Corporation has lost contact with its mining colony, Hadley's Hope, in LV426 Acheron. In response, the Colonial Marine troops of the USS Sulaco decide to send their team to investigate. The marines soon discover that the place is infested by an unknown parasitic alien life form and that the Hadley's Hope crew was either exterminated or used as hosts to breed the creatures' next offspring.
The game is a retelling of the events that take place in film; as such, it follows a similar plot, although it makes a few alterations to the story in order to accommodate it to game format.
Gameplay[]
Players take the role of either Lieutenant Ellen Ripley or Corporal Dwayne Hicks in their investigative mission inside the remains of the space colony while fending off against a myriad of xenomorphs of all kinds and life cycle states. The game is at heart a side-scrolling shooter, although unlike most games in this genre, the character sprites are considerably large and the playfield is mainly set in a 2.5D perspective, allowing up and down movement, sharing as a result many similarities to games in the beat 'em up genre. An innovation this game introduces to the genre is the ability to crouch, which is helpful for fighting short height creatures and is a stance adopted by default while traveling through ventilation shafts.
The player character makes use of the M56 Smartgun as their default weapon to fight against the aliens, but can also pick up different power-ups that come in the form of three-way laser guns, flamethrowers and missile launchers. In addition, players can throw powerful bombs for crowd control by pressing both buttons simultaneously. Furthermore, in some levels they can find and make use of the franchise's iconic Power Loader exoskeleton suit, a one-time power-up that switches their ranged weapon-based combat capabilities to a strictly melee mode, but which in turn greatly enhances their offensive output, allowing them to make short work of the aliens, killing most of them in a single hit and heavily damaging bosses.
The game counts with a wide assortment of minibosses and bosses which are fought in the normal 2.5D perspective. Adding variety to the main gameplay mechanics, at the end of some levels the player must fight an alien boss which attacks from the background, in a sort of vertical shooting gallery. After defeating each of these particular bosses, the player enters a driving sequence where they hop atop an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) and must shoot incoming aliens while it travels at full speed.
The game has six levels, with some of them based on locations from the film. Newt makes appearances in three of these levels, where she can be either seen escaping from the aliens, being abducted by them, or finally being rescued by the player. Her appearances are just aesthetic, though, and the player cannot interact with her or directly defend her in any way.
The final boss of the game is the Queen Alien, which is a stowaway in the USS Sulaco after surviving a previous encounter with the player. After she is defeated and once the credits finish rolling, the game continues on to its next loop.
Regional differences[]
The US version displays the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen.
The Japanese version features several differences compared to the North American and European versions of the game. These include:
- Titles have been given to each level:
- Level 1 - Living Quarters
- Level 2 - Factory
- Level 3 - Factory2
- Level 4 - Queen Alien's DEN
- Level 5 - Escape Route
- Level 6 - Battle Ship SULACO
- The color of the beams from the '3-Way' gun were changed from purple to orange.
- Numerous aliens feature darker and more movie accurate colors. Adult aliens are now purple instead of maroon, facehuggers are now flesh-toned instead of green, etc.
- Difficulty has been reduced overall. Many of the aliens, zombies, and mid-bosses can be killed with fewer shots.
- Special weapons and bombs appear much more frequently in the game, dropping from the sky for the players to use at regular intervals.
- It is now possible to attain extra lives in the game. If a player is still carrying a weapon from the last special weapon power-up, the next one to fall onscreen will contain an extra life. It comes in the form of a red ribbon with a bow wrapped around the word '1up'.
- Extra exploding barrels appear throughout the game.
- The subplot of rescuing Newt was entirely removed from the game; as such, she doesn't appear at all in this version.
- Both APC driving levels were also removed.
- When fighting the 'Shrinky-Dink Alien Quartet', the first one to fully enlarge will hop off the screen, leaving the player only to battle the remaining three.
- In addition to the other enemies, flying aliens now appear during the first Power Loader segment in Stage 3.
- In addition to the other enemies in this section, ground-popping aliens now appear earlier, during the nest portion of Stage 3.
- Many of the adult aliens in the elevator sequence of Stage 3 have been removed. They have been replaced with flying aliens, making this sequence much easier overall.
- Two new kinds of minor enemies appear in the game:
- An adult alien bursts out of the background wall during the vent portion of Stage 5. It acts similarly to the Ground-Poppers and is destroyed just as easily, although featuring new animations and seen from a different angle. It is the only one of its type in the game.
- The small form of the Shrinky-Dink Alien, as seen in the form of the second mid-boss in Stage 5, reappears in Stage 7. It stands alone on the catwalks with a ring of orange energy circling it as a manner of shield. It just takes a few shots destroy it.
- Flying aliens are much more frequent throughout the outdoor portion of Stage 5 and Stage 7.
- During the final battle, the Queen Alien doesn't breathe fire/acid. Instead, after flashing white, she sends out multiple images of herself as a manner of projectiles. These are wider and easier to get hit by.
- The Queen Alien constantly charges at the player, even if they already are in the Power Loader, making the final battle much more difficult.
Gallery[]
Packaging artwork[]
Screenshots[]
Promotional artwork[]
(front)
(back)
(front)
(back)
Trivia[]
- Ellen Ripley, who had dark brown hair in the films, is portrayed with short blond hair in the game. American promotional images and arcade game flyers show a different actress (not Sigourney Weaver) with long blond hair who also looks very different from the original character.
- Likewise, in American promotional images, Newt is played by another child actress who has long, black and voluminous hair, while the actress in the film, Carrie Henn, had blond straight hair.
- A conversion was planned for the Sega Mega Drive, but never released.
- An Aliens cabinet is seen in The Simpsons arcade game (also by Konami). However, it's revealed that a xenomorph which scares off a Space Mutant (a recurring movie franchise on the TV show) reveals itself to be none other than Marge Simpson inside the alien costume.
- American singer, pop star and entertainer, Michael Jackson, used to own this game. It was sold at the official Michael Jackson Auction on April 24, 2009.
External links[]
- Aliens (1990 arcade game) at Xenopedia
- GameFAQs
- Gaming History - Source of the 'Regional differences' section.
- MobyGames