Alien Soldier (Sega Mega Drive Game Review)

Boy oooh boy! Whatta freaking game!

Alien Soldier is a side-scrolling run and game video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega.

It was released physically in Japan and Europe, but in the US, only via Sega Channel. I never played this when I was a kid, but this game is craaaazyyy!

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. Somewhere in 1995 towards the end of the console life cycle.

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 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 and Steam.

You simply don't find games like this on SNES. I don't care what you say or how much you like SNES, I like it too, but you simple doesn't. I remember this game being hard as nailzzz. It needs some time getting used to controls, but when you, do, it is a blast!
This is practically a boss rush! You have something like 25 stages, little introduction shooting, then boss one after another.

Gameplay

Bosses are crazy fun. There are 6 weapons to choose from, but you can carry only 4 and toggle between those. You can also see before each stage what each weapon does and even test it out. How cool is that!
You can double jump, hover in the air. Ammunition can be replenished.
The player can also perform a dash across the screen, which when at full health, will become a deadly move called "Phoenix Force" that will damage any enemies in its path. There is also a counter move, that if timed properly, will change enemy bullets into health.
Sprites are huge, animations are badass and music is kinda alien cool.

Alien Soldier Upside Down Attacking

Alien Soldier Boss battle Stage 3

    

Alien Soldier Horse Boss

If you are a fan of 16bit MD music, here is the soundtrack:

 

Alien Soldier is like my baby… no, strike that, it is my baby. And she’s very cute. It was a difficult birth. In the end we had to perform a dangerous C-section on the mother. So she’s a premature birth…

"With Alien Soldier, I wanted to make an entire game by myself: all the programming, obviously, and just about all the graphics. The game system is uniquely fun, but after the development I thought of new things I could have added to make it even more interesting. If only I had spent more time on the programming, I could have made the attack animations and the multi-sprite boss movement more realistic." - said Hideyuki Suginami from Treasure

Japanese cover looks slick!

For such a unique and awesome game I would give it 9/10.
You definatelly have to try it if you haven't already.