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[doncale]

I figure this will prolly be forgotten in the tsunami of Shenmue Online but oh well

When Sega announced the 2500 series, there were a few titles that
right away I knew I wanted a remake. Golden Axe, Space Harrier, and
Hokuto no Ken were no brainers, but another title that really was
looking forward to was Alien Syndrome. Having spent countless hours
and having fond memories of the game, I was looking forward to the
remake. However, having been disapointed with the remake of Golden
Axe, I was a bit skeptical on how good it was.

Having just finished the remake, I can honestly say thankfully it
turned out to be a good game, maybe one of the best of the Sega Ages
series. The game has lost none of its difficulty, and in fact is in
many ways even harder. The game can be played in 1 player, or, with 2
players co-operatively. That alone is IMHO worth the price of the
game.

First off, instead of a pure birds eye view, the view is now slightly
isometric with 3D characters that don't look that bad (compare to
Golden Axe say). Gameplay is identical to the original, you start off
with the basic machinegun, with a number of different weapons
upgrades, such as fireball, flame, laser, and some which I don't
recall, such as bombs and homing missiles. You can also get "options".
Kinda like weapon helper bods in Gradius which fires on their own. You
can arm up to 2 options. The entire game is played with 3 buttons, one
is a regular fire button, which fires your weapon in the direction
you're facing, the other, really handy button is a strafe fire weapon,
which allows you to shoot and move yet still facing the same
direction, and the last, is a bomb (which I don't recall in the
original game), which clears the entire screen.

The stage sequence appears to be the same as the original game. I
don't remember the name of the original stages, but the shapes of the
ship is the same and the bosses seems to be the same, although more
nasty. There are six or seven stages and each stage has different
aliens, from really agile ones to super tough ones. Which adds a great
deal of variety to the gameplay. The basic premise is the same as the
original, rescue enough people, and exit the ship before it blows up.
You have a quota of # of people you must rescue before you can exit
the ship but you can rescue more if you like. After you exit the ship
you have to fight the boss, and again there is a time limit. When you
play 2 player co-op, the game is much more difficult. The aliens
swarms like locusts and some are quite tough and require many shots to
take out. Taking out alien generators will slow their spawn rate, but
the generators are usually quite tough.

This is IMHO one of the best Sega Ages games. The simple gameplay but
nasty difficulty brings back the ol' school gaming fun. The 2 player
co-op mode is alot of fun as well. Fans of the original should
definitely looking getting it when it become available in their
region.

 

[radios shipping overview]

I might grab this one. The original is one of my favorites of the bunch, and if the remake is decent, I'm pretty interested (especially considering how the original never received a perfect port and how I don't plan to get a Master System ).

 

[jarrod]

Any screens?

 

[Link316]

I wish they would also include the original versions in these Sega Ages games

 

[DCharlie]

"Gameplay is identical to the original"

I disagree to some extent

the premise is the same, but the game plays out differently.

It almost feels more like a large scale smash tv with loads of enemies to kill, which ain't how the original felt.

It's actually pretty kick ass (although that could be down to my super low expectations).

And i thought the first boss was a fair bit different ? Maybe i'm imagining that though.

 

[doncale]

Any screens?

4 dark Playstation2 Alien Syndrome pictures
http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000067822_screenshots.html

can't tell very much from these.

I wish they would also include the original versions in these Sega Ages games

you should be put in charge of this whole Sega Ages effort


by far the best home version of AS is the Sharp X68000 port, and its basicly a direct port of the coin-op http://www.emulatronia.com/reportajes/x68000/x68-aliensyn.htm only the bosses are in different order (i.e. first boss on X68000 is second boss on arcade)....not counting the new PS2 version which I have not seen in action.

 

[nitewulf]

wow, that looks pretty cool, sorta like canon spike? never did play alien syndrome.

 

[Lyte Edge]

"Gameplay is identical to the original"

I disagree to some extent

the premise is the same, but the game plays out differently.

It almost feels more like a large scale smash tv with loads of enemies to kill, which ain't how the original felt.

It's actually pretty kick ass (although that could be down to my super low expectations).

And i thought the first boss was a fair bit different ? Maybe i'm imagining that though.

This is out already? Did any other Sega Ages games come out along with it?

 

[PanopticBlue]

You failed to mention (Dcharlie did briefly but I don't think anybody caught on), in addition to the control scheme in the first post, you can also use just the 2 analog sticks and play the game straight up Robotron-style. This changes the way the game plays quite a bit over the original Alien Syndrome, which is one of the hardest freaking games I have ever played. That goes for either Master System or arcade versions. (You can't credit feed in the arcade version, I would love to see a video of someone beating that game)

Playing this way makes the game way easier than the original, but even still it's more fun that way. I can't get enough Robotron/Smash TV style games.

 

[gunstarhero]

MagicBox has a movie of the Ages version (linked below) - I remember both the arcade and the SMS versions being facking HARD. I beat the SMS version I think, but the arcade owned me. Great game, hope it sees a US release. I almost forgot there was a NES version from Tengen back in the day!

Alien Syndrome movies - from MagicBox

SMS box:

NES cart:

 

[doncale]

the ONLY true, direct port in existance of the arcade original to a home platform

 

[aku:jiki]

I played the Ages version. It sucked hard. Why was I not surprised?

 

[The Bookerman]

Alien Syndrome movies - from MagicBox

WTF is up with that huge erecting penis boss.

 

[WarPig]

I played it too, wrote it up for GMR. It's not much like the original version, and IMO lacks a lot of its visual charm -- the old one was an off-kilter 2D game with kinda cool gooey graphics for the time, the new one is just crap 3D. The dual-analog control is pretty cool, and I like some of the new guns and boss designs, but not really worth the bother altogether.

DFS.

 

[BenT]

The movie looked cooler than I expected. It at least plays ok, it would seem.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that 3D Ages Hokuto no Ken comes with the original Mark III version on the disc. It's debatable which one is more painful to play.

 

[Hotsuma]

The Ages Alien Syndrome is okay. I just get the feeling that Sega doesn't give a fuck about some of their older games though. It's sad to see a company with such a rich arcade history give the very things that their fans remember them for such 'okay' remakes. At least OutRun is getting the respect it deserves (with the care being given to OutRun 2).

 

[aku:jiki]

(with the care being given to OutRun 2).

Too bad it's probably just Sumo Digital taking all the care, with Sega still not giving a fuck.

 

[Hotsuma]

Too bad it's probably just Sumo Digital taking all the care, with Sega still not giving a fuck.

Nah. AM2 stated that they are directly involved with the translation. Honestly, I've got to give Sega credit on most of their Xbox support. Panzer Dragoon Orta, HOTD3, and JSRF have been great and OutRun 2 looks like it will continue that trend. I'm hoping Spikeout Extreme is as good as the Model 3 game was said to be.

 

[bjork]

I wish they would also include the original versions in these Sega Ages games

Don't they all? The only one I've got is Fist of the North Star, but it's got the SMS Black Belt on it also.

 

[Shinobi]

Alien Syndrome was one of the coolest 8 bit era games ever. It was basically an Aliens-style game that managed to create a lot of suspense due to the regeneration of aliens, the timer, the need for a certain power up or weapon in different situations, and the bosses themselves. Oh yeah, the music too...very simple, but did the job. And the game was hard as fuck...up till now I still haven't finished the SMS or arcade versions. I'd love to see Sega make a FPS version of Alien Syndrome on a next gen machine, complete with those ugly ass bosses.

Some of Sega's arcade games back then were cool as hell because they were loosely based on some of the movies or TV shows of the day. Thunderblade was based on Blue Thunder, Afterburner was clearly based on Top Gun, and I'm sure Days of Thunder was an inspiration for Daytona.

 

[aku:jiki]

Don't they all? The only one I've got is Fist of the North Star, but it's got the SMS Black Belt on it also.

I'm pretty sure none of them, but that particular one, do.

 

[doncale]

Alien Syndrome was one of the coolest 8 bit era games ever. It was basically an Aliens-style game that managed to create a lot of suspense due to the regeneration of aliens, the timer, the need for a certain power up or weapon in different situations, and the bosses themselves. Oh yeah, the music too...very simple, but did the job.

the coin-op Alien Syndrome was indeed one of the best 16 bit games during the 8 bit era.

 

[doncale]

wit all that said, I need to get the new PS2 version, just for curiosities sake.