Aliens: The Arcade Game (1990)
Aliens: The Arcade Game is a 1990 side-scrolling shooter developed and published by Konami. One player controls Ellen Ripley, and a second player joins as Corporal Dwayne Hicks, on a run through the colony on LV-426 from Aliens. The flyer shows a blonde Ripley in a tank top and a dark-haired stand-in for Newt, and those actors are not Sigourney Weaver or Carrie Henn.
Plot Summary
On the version sold outside Japan, Ripley started on foot in the colony and found Newt. A flying Xenomorph carried the child off. The APC stages come later in that version, as part of getting Newt back. The Japanese release has no APC stages, and Newt does not appear in it. Pink Xenomorphs were the ordinary adults, and they came up through the floors. Konami used separate colors for the other creatures: green Facehuggers, purple Runners, and orange Xenomorphs that jump. Chestbursters broke out of hosts fixed to the walls.
The stages after the colony ran through the factory, the Queen's den, the Escape Route, and the Sulaco. A boss ended each stage. On the Sulaco, Ripley fought the Queen at the airlock. Hitting the Queen with the power loader, or shooting her enough times, pulled her out into space. Pinning her in the airlock with the loader and lighting its torch sent her into space. A second player joined as Hicks and followed the same route.
Gameplay
Aliens: The Arcade Game is a side-scroller on a horizontal monitor. Ripley can move up and down the playfield, and Hicks uses the same movement when a second player joins. They start with an M56 smartgun. A pickup replaces it with a flamethrower, a missile launcher, or a three-way laser, and that gun lasts until the player loses a life. Pressing both buttons throws a bomb, and each life has eight health points.
In the vents Ripley crouches, which keeps her under the low ceiling and away from the shorter creatures. Hicks crouches the same way when a second player joins. Some colony corridors hold a power loader. Climbing into it drops the gun for melee hits that kill most Xenomorphs in one strike. The loader lasts only for that part of the stage, and the next life starts again with the smartgun.
Release
Konami published Aliens in March 1990 in Japan and Europe, and in April 1990 in North America. Satoru Okamoto directed the game, and Masanori Adachi wrote the music. The flyer lists two-player play, a horizontal monitor, and buy-in continues. A Mega Drive version was planned and was not released.
The version sold outside Japan has eight stages, and two of them, partway through the game, are the APC runs built around Newt. The Japanese release leaves those drives out, and Newt does not appear. It titles the remaining six stages Living Quarters, Factory, Factory 2, Queen Alien's Den, Escape Route, and the Sulaco.
Conclusion
Aliens: The Arcade Game is Konami's 1990 side-scrolling game about Ellen Ripley and Dwayne Hicks on LV-426. Both releases fight through the colony and end on the Queen aboard the Sulaco. Only the version outside Japan includes the APC stages, and those come partway through the game.
External Sources
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