Alien Storm

Not to be confused with Alien Syndrome.

Alien Storm
Sega Genesis cover art
Developer(s)	Sega (AM1) (arcade version) Sega (AM7) (MD/Genesis version)
Publisher(s)	Sega
Composer(s)	Keisuke Tsukahara
Platform(s)	Arcade, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Virtual Console, Cloud (OnLive)
Release	Arcade JP: 1990 Mega Drive/Genesis JP: June 28, 1991 NA: 1991 EU: 1991 Master System EU: 1991
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up, shooter
Mode(s)	1st-Person Perspective, 3rd-Person Perspective, Side-Scrolling

Alien Storm (エイリアンストーム) is a 1990 beat 'em up/shooter arcade game by Sega. It was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System. The Sega Mega Drive version was also released on Wii's Virtual Console in 2007. The game appeared in Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Plot

A homicidal alien race is invading Earth, and the only thing that stands between them and world domination are a special forces team known as the "Alien Busters", composed of Karen (absent in the Master System version, named "Karla" in some versions), Garth (named "Gordon" in some versions) and Scooter (the robot, named "Slammer" in Master System and PAL versions).

Gameplay

Alien Storm is a side-scrolling beat em up. The game resembles Golden Axe, with a similar artistic style, three playable characters (a man, a woman, and a novelty character) and pick-up or power-up special attacks. The player (one player only on the Master System version, up to two players on the Mega Drive version, three on the arcade version) selects from the three different characters to embark upon a quest to save the Earth from an alien invasion.

All of the Busters are playable from the beginning of the game. There are six missions to complete (eight in the Mega Drive version) with several stages, and each mission has the player blasting aliens, from the streets to the mothership, where the mother of all aliens can be found. This task becomes increasingly difficult with each new mission, and the aliens are capable of hiding inside objects such as plants, postboxes, trashcans, drums, and other items. Each mission has an objective such as rescuing people or destroying a UFO.

After defeating certain aliens, flying heads will appear, which can be shot to collect life or energy. Energy is used specifically to power the energy-based attacks of the player's weapon (such as flames or electricity) and to use the much more powerful special weapons.

In a similar format as other early Sega arcade games, each character has unlimited usage of various short-range attacks, i.e. punches, kicks. Along with these standard attacks, each character has their own individual weapon (Garth's weapon that shoots lightning is replaced with a flame weapon in the Master System version). Special attacks are also included, and vary depending on the character chosen at the start of the game. For instance, Garth summons a U.S. Air Force starship that drops bombs across the street (in the Master System version he has Karen's special, a ballistic missile strike). Scooter will teleport out of his present location and leave a series of bombs that will blow up on the appearance of aliens, after which he will re-appear (in the Mega Drive version he just explodes, leaving his head, which his new body returns to retrieve). Karen calls down a nuclear missile, which incinerates every foe on the screen. However, a large amount of energy is depleted by using each character's special attack, and cannot be used if the energy of the player's character is too low.

There are few bosses in the game. The arcade original features an alien spaceship, an alien brain and a single boss in the middle of the game that has three distinct forms. This boss is repeated as a common enemy near the end of the last mission. The Mega Drive port has two of these forms as three separate bosses. At the end of each mission, the side-scrolling gameplay shifts to either a shooting gallery perspective where the player must take out the aliens that pop out of various locations, similar to the bonus stages of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer, both also by Sega, or a running section that is similar to the side-scrolling mode but plays like a horizontal shooter instead with projectile weapons.

Videos

Alien Storm Arcade multiplayer gameplay

Release

In the console and Japanese arcade versions, Garth has red clothes while Karen has a yellow outfit. In the US arcade version, Garth is dressed in blue and Karen is in red.

In October 1993, Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s, with the former seeking a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage and sales of hardware and software for both Sega Genesis and Game Gear. On September 28, 1994, both parties reached a settlement in which it involved a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five titles each year across their systems until 2001. The Master System version of Alien Storm was one of the first five titles approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar, but it was never released.

Reception

Reception

Review score

Publication	Score
Sega Master Force	77%

External links

• Alien Storm at MobyGames
• Alien Storm at the Killer List of Videogames
• Contemporary reviews of the arcade version at Solvalou.com
• Mean Machines – Alien Storm – Mega Drive review at Mean Machines
• Alien Storm at Arcade-History.com
• Alien Storm at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
• Alien Storm Manual (Sega Genesis)