The Wonder Years 10.04.07: Week 24 - Alien Soldier
Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 10.04.2007
A veritable cornucopia of boss battles.
Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'll be discussing some of the hidden gems and instant classics of gaming's golden era. Some of these games may crop up on the Wii's Virtual Console at some point, some may be consigned to the annals of history. Either way, they're worth tracking down if you missed them first time round, or replaying if you were lucky enough to catch them. Let's take a trip to:
ALIEN SOLDIER
(Treasure, Genesis, 1995)
Yes, that's right, it's time for "Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock!". Or at least it is if you happen to have the privilege of playing one of the most appallingly translated games ever released. It really is up there with Zero Wing. Released in its home market of Japan first, Alien Soldier is a traditional 'shmup' with a cracking story - it seems that in the year 2015, the shadow of the evil terrolist [sic] group called Scarlet blocked the way to the outside universe for human beings. Due to super genetic engineering, members of Scarlet were able to conquer A-Human. A-Human planned to assassinate Scarlet's leader Epsilon Eagle; however he escaped and took over the body of a young boy. Conflicting emotions led to Epsilon Eagle renouncing his evil ways and launching a campaign to defeat new Scarlet leader Xi-Tiger - "I'll never let you go, Xi-Tiger!" It all makes a bit more sense when the endgame credits inform you that the producer was named "Viva! Choco Monkey DX".
Ah, but thankfully, a healthy dose of Engrish isn't the only thing that Alien Soldier has going for it. Released at a time when developers Treasure were still in the process of cementing their reputation as shooter-makers par excellence, the game pays heed to criticism of the Genesis Contra adaptation Hard Corps, which was roundly criticized for featuring an unhealthy pre-occupation with boss battles, often at the expense of the rest of the game. Channeling the mindset of a ten-year-old boy, Treasure flipped the bird directly at the critics with Alien Soldier - still falling into the run and gun template, the game features levels of an average fifteen to thirty seconds in length, before overloading protagonist Epsilon Eagle with a massive array of bosses. How many? 31 to be precise, in only 25 levels. Holy fullscreen carnage, Batman!
The boss-centric ethos means that the actual mechanics of the game are relatively simple. Choosing at the outset from four of six weapon types (Epsilon Eagle also has two specials, a teleport and a counter that transforms enemy projectiles into health pickups), the player is immediately thrown in at the deep end. Spending a few moments at the beginning of each stage frying some baddies and collecting health, it's not really long before you're thrown into battle against the first boss. Better get used to that pattern, because 'formulaic' isn't the word. However, you won't notice the repetition to a great extent due to the originality on display with the boss design - there's a deluge of mechanoid anthropomorphic creations from crickets to spiders, not to mention touches of brilliance like a cowboy werewolf riding a robotic horse. There's also a self-referential nod or three to genre stablemate Gunstar Heroes (also developed by Treasure), as some bosses feature in both games.
As the title screen lovingly decrees, Alien Soldier really is designed with "Megadrivers custom" in mind - fookin' hard, it is. Of course, I've mentioned in previous columns my inability to seem competent at this particular genre, so perhaps I'm overstating things a little, but the sheer number of giant boss battles, coupled with an at times deliberately clunky control system, means that the game will take a fair few attempts to complete, even if there isn't a lot of physical mileage for the player to cover. It never grates though - the action never lets up and the baddies are unrepentant (hey, they didn't conquer A-Human by being pushovers). If you're into these types of games, Alien Soldier represents a more than credible choice for your next blasting fix.
The game itself is pretty rare nowadays in both its Japanese and European incarnations (a recent bit of research turned up a couple of copies for sale at around £20 / $40, but that's the first time I've seen more than one copy on eBay at the same time), but is relatively easy to come by on the PS2's Sega Ages compilation, along with fellow Treasure run & gunners Dynamite Headdy and its more famous brother Gunstar Heroes. It even comes with revamped graphics, removing the slowdown that afflicted the game to a minor degree during the more intense boss battles. Sadly, however, the overseas release has seen the humorless developers go to the length of tidying up the Engrish translation. It's worth going out of your way to play a Japanese copy if you get the chance though, as I can't stress how amusing the text really is. Of course, if you do have to settle for the PAL version, you're still in for a treat. The game is something of a cult icon for fans of the genre, and deservedly so. Just be prepared for a broken controller or two along the way, unless of course you have a "68000 heart of fire"!
Alien Soldier trivia
It's apparently possible to complete the whole game on the hardest difficulty setting in a little over twelve minutes. Seems some people have more dedication than sense.
The game was one of a minority of Japanese releases to make it to Europe but never to the US. In your face!
Alien Soldier is an honorable mention in my official all-time Top 100 games.
Splendid visitation possibilities
The place to come for random retro gaming tidbits, links and videos, and general amusing games-related stuff collated from the interweb.
If you didn't believe me about the twelve minute thing and require visual proof, look no further:
For those handheld gamers who feel that their Nintendo DS looks a bit too modern and a bit too shiny, why not take a leaf out of the following book and design your own retro DS?
And finally, one of the curiousest gaming curiosities I've ever seen advertised for sale. Does anyone know what this thing actually does? If so, answers on a postcard please.
Every week in this section I'll endeavour to provide you, the faithful readers, with a fascinating insight into the various forms of entertainment currently dominating my spare time.
This week, I have been mostly enjoying:
Heroes of Might & Magic III - yep, the network game we started last week is still going. You can't fault the lasting capacity of this series. Now if only I could manage to capture orange's dungeon for more than two turns at a time...
In Your Honor by Foo Fighters, following my usual trend of keeping an album behind most bands' output. Still, I picked up this 2 CD set for a fiver and it's one of the best bargains I've found in a good while.
Desperado - yeah I finally got round to taking the DVD back and getting them to change Adam Sandler's cheesy mug for the disc that was actually supposed to be in the case.
and Splinter by Adam Roberts, a vibrant homage to Jules Verne that proves just what a good author he really is.
And finally…
As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line. You can also check out my science fiction column "The Flux Capacitor" over at 411 Movies. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - 40-hit combos in a quality arcade port. Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.
