Alien Soldier: Легенда Mega Drive

1995 video game

Alien Soldier is a side scrolling run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega for the Mega Drive. Retail copies were released in Japan and PAL territories while in North America it was only available exclusively via the Sega Channel cable service. The story follows a powerful being named Epsilon Eagle, who after being nearly killed becomes determined to avenge his near death and save his planet. The character has a variety of weapons and moves that the player must master to complete the game. Many gameplay ideas are borrowed from Treasure's earlier Mega Drive release, Gunstar Heroes (1993). However, Alien Soldier puts an emphasis on challenging boss fights with short and easy levels serving as downtime in between. Treasure began development on four games after the release of Gunstar Heroes, among these was Alien Soldier. Development lasted two years and was led by Hideyuki Suganami, who originally held ambitious plans and wanted to build the entire game himself. With the market for the Mega Drive quickly shrinking to make headway for the incoming 32 bit fifth generation hardware, Suganami received support from other Treasure staff and released the game with only about half of his original ideas realized. The team designed and marketed Alien Soldier explicitly for "hardcore" Mega Drive gamers, designing its difficulty and scoring methods for those that enjoyed the system's strong action game library. Alien Soldier was released towards the end of the Mega Drive's lifecycle in February 1995. Critics praised the game for its challenge and gameplay; these sentiments carried over into retrospective reviews where critics also highlighted the game's graphics, soundtrack, and overall intensity. Some negative critique was directed towards the hard difficulty, steep learning curve, and unorthodox gameplay, but many still recommend it to fans of Gunstar Heroes and the run and gun genre. The game's first re release was on the PlayStation 2 in Japan for the Sega Ages 2500 series which includes different regional releases and extra features. It was also re released worldwide on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, Steam in 2011, the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2022 and the Sega Genesis Mini 2 in 2022.

Alien Soldier is a side scrolling run and gun video game in which the player controls the main character, Epsilon Eagle, through 25 stages and 26 bosses.

After developing Gunstar Heroes, Treasure was divided into four teams working on separate projects: Dynamite Headdy, Light Crusader, Yū Yū Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen, and Alien Soldier. Treasure explicitly targeted the game for "hardcore" Mega Drive players and designed its difficulty and end game scoring methods with this in mind. Suganami described the game as "for Mega Drivers custom" and proudly placed the phrase on the game's title screen alongside a Mega Drive advertising slogan: "Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock!". Suganami was deeply invested in Alien Soldier and devoted a lot of personal time to developing it. They originally planned to create 100 bosses, but this was cut much shorter due to the time constraints. One of the bosses that was included, "Seven Force", was originally featured in Gunstar Heroes.

Alien Soldier was released on 24 February 1995 in Japan. The game received a physical cartridge format in Australia, Europe and Japan, but in North America, the game was delivered exclusively through the Sega Channel cable service. Released late in the Mega Drive's lifecycle and after the release of the Sega Saturn, Alien Soldier pushed the system to its technical limits. Suganami wished he continued working on it after release, believing he could have improved on the story and graphics. Okunari worked on the emulation software for the release and was delighted he would be exposing the game to more people. Alien Soldier was released again worldwide in fall 2007 on the Wii via the Virtual Console download service, and again for Microsoft Windows on Steam on 6 January 2011. The game was also re released on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on 16 March 2022.

For its original Mega Drive release, Famitsu provided Alien Soldier with a score of 24 out of 40. Mean Machines called it "a real gameplayer's game", citing the unrelenting waves of enemies and high difficulty. They noted how Treasure was beginning to establish a pattern of good games, and called Alien Soldier a modern classic. Simon Clays of Computer and Video Games found it to be challenging and unique by basing its gameplay on boss fights. Other editors from the magazine complimented the boss design and animations. Frank Provo of GameSpot reviewed the Wii Virtual Console release in 2007, citing the excellent graphics, sound, and general intensity of the game. He noted initial difficulty adjusting to the controls and game design. However, once accustomed, he said, "you start totally feeling what it must be like to be an army of one trading firepower with some of the universe's largest, most elaborate creatures. That's a great feeling." Lucas M. Thomas of IGN noted the game's many similarities to Gunstar Heroes and recommended Alien Soldier to those who enjoyed it. "Alien Soldier is a long lost piece of Treasure's action gaming legacy," said Thomas. "It's got the fast firing, high energy, overly explosive intensity that fans of the company have come to expect." Darren Calvert of Nintendo Life described the graphics and animation as some of the best on the Mega Drive. He found the game difficult, but still enjoyable for fans of the run and gun genre. Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer described the game as "manically paced" and "bizarrely creative" while also providing a disclaimer that it's "really hectic and difficult if you're not into this sort of thing."