Alien Syndrome

It was ported to various home computers and consoles, including Sega's own Master System, becoming one of the best-selling titles for that console. It was included as a bonus title in the 2009 compilation Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. A sequel of the same name was released in 2007 to a mostly negative response from critics.

• Title — Alien Syndrome • Developer — Sega R&D1 • Publisher — Amiga, Atari ST, C64 NES CPC, ZX Spectrum ACE Software MSX DROsoft Game Gear X68000 Dempa Micomsoft • Composer — * Amiga • David Whittaker • NES • Noboru Machida • Platforms — Master System, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, NES, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MSX, MS-DOS, Game Gear, X68000 • Released — Arcade Master System C64 ZX Spectrum NES Amiga, Atari STJanuary 1989 CPC, MSX MS-DOS December 1989 Game Gear X6800025 March 1992 • Genre — Run and gun • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Sega Pre System 16, Sega System 16B

• Illustration — An example of gameplay during the first level, "Round 1". The player is taking control of Ricky whilst fighting alien worms. Two players control two soldiers, named Ricky and Mary, who fight through large eight-way scrolling levels while rescuing their comrades that are being held by aliens. At the start of each level, a time bomb is set onboard the infested ship and the players must complete their task before it runs out which will result in the ship being destroyed. After they have rescued a certain number of hostages, the exit opens and they can pass through it in order to fight the end-of-level guardian. If the guardian is defeated before the time runs out, the players are then able to move onto the next stage. Once all seven levels are completed, the game starts over with more aggressive aliens, and less time on the clock.

In 1988, the game was ported to the Master System, MSX, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System (published in North America by Tengen without a Nintendo license). Later, the game was ported to the ZX Spectrum (1989), Game Gear (1992), and X68000 (1992).

Alien Syndrome is associated with Japan.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Alien Syndrome as the third most successful table arcade unit of April 1987. The original arcade version of the game was reviewed in the July 1987 issue of Computer and Video Games, where Clare Edgeley described it as "one of the most gripping games" she "played in months", praising the Aliens-like horror atmosphere, chilling sounds, special effects, graphics and gameplay. She stated it was "the first time the atmosphere and sheer addictiveness of a shoot 'em up has transported me to another planet," and concluded that it "is fantastic". The Master System version of the game was reviewed in Console XS magazine, which gave it an 85% score. It was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon, which rated it two out of five stars.

The game was also converted to polygonal graphics for the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages re-release program and included in the US version of the Sega Classics Collection (it was removed from the European version to receive a lower age certificate). This version has updated controls, adding the use of both analog sticks, similar to that seen in Sheriff, Robotron: 2084, and Smash TV. The original arcade game was also included as an unlockable in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. A sequel of the same name was released for Wii and PlayStation Portable in July 2007.