Alien Soldier

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Alien Soldier is a side-scrolling run and gun video game developed by Treasure Co. Ltd for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Alien Soldier is considered one of the hardest games ever developed by Treasure, and is rivaled only by Gunstar Heroes in terms of popularity and rarity. The game was released in Japan and Europe, but is very difficult to find in either region. An original Mega Drive copy of the game can often run anywhere between a few hundred dollars to sometimes close to a thousand, depending on the condition of the case and cartridge itself. The game was playable in America on the Sega Channel cable service and has been reissued for PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages Treasure Box disc. The Sega Ages version (Also with Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy in a 3-In-1 compilation disc) removes the Sprite Disp. Limit, which makes the game run in a smooth frame rate without any slowdowns in big boss fights with explosions. Also, the player can change it's gfx to pixels to no pixels, which gives them a hand-drawn look re-created by Treasure.

Contents

1 Main characters
2 Other notable characters
3 Gameplay

3.1 Weapons system
3.2 Items

Main characters

Epsilon-Eagle - The protagonist and playable character. Epsilon-Eagle is a member of a genetically engineered race capable of parasitic co-existence with machinery and animals, including humans. Epsilon was the leader of the criminal organization "Scarlet" before he was attacked by a special forces group. He hid inside the body of a young boy in a research facility for children with paranormal powers. When Xi-Tiger found him there he held a young girl hostage in order to force Epsilon to reveal himself. The young boy went into a rage and morphed into a hybrid with Epsilon-Eagle. After this, Epsilon-Eagle's evil side was in conflict with the good in the boy and he turned on his old terrorist organization (in particular Xi-Tiger).

Xi-Tiger - Xi-Tiger was a senior member of Scarlet, and took command of the organization after Epsilon-Eagle had been ousted, but quickly became unpopular as a leader. Xi later attacked the research facility, and sensed Epsilon there. Taking a young girl hostage, Xi threatened to kill the girl if Epsilon did not reveal himself. Xi-Tiger killed the girl and fled after Epsilon transformed.

Epsilon1 - Inferred to be Epsilon's evil twin, although he does not resemble him. Appears only once, as a giant mechanical eagle with laser cannon wings despite apparently being shown as a grayscale version of Epsilon-Eagle on the game cover.

Seven Force Kaede- Mysterious human Scarlet host encountered on level 20. Seven Force has several forms, including her human form. Seven Force is very similar to her counterpart from Gunstar Heroes, mainly because the boss changes it's form using the same pieces. The exact same background music as in Gunstar Heroes' Seven Force plays when you fight her, and the boss directly before her also appears in Gunstar Heroes. Despite her name, Seven Force only has 6 forms: Her human form, as well as Valkyrie, Medusa, Sylpheed, Artemis and Sirene Force.

Z-Leo - The final boss. Z-Leo is a massive, well-armed, anthropomorphic cyborg lion. He has a cannon for a left arm, a mechanical claw for the right, and twin laser cannons on his back. Z-Leo also sports his own distinctive "Z" logo on the right side of his chest armor.

It should be noted that the intro, especially the Engrish translation seen in the Japanese game, makes very little sense. The European (or "Overseas") release cleaned up the translation considerably.

Other notable characters

Antroid - A humanoid ant.
Bugmax - An antagonistic moth. Notable for having wings which utilize early textured polygon graphics, or at least a very good facsimile thereof.
Flying-Neo - This is a cadaverous, flying dinosaur with a rotor blade mounted on its back. It can become invisible. It is fought outside an airplane.
Joker - A large frog that appears to have its organs on the outside.
Sniper Honeyviper - An extremely Contra-esque boss with two heads. It hops around in a slow fashion.
Madam Barbar - A techno-organic crab fought in an airport. It attacks with bubbles and smaller crabs.
Destroyer Prototype, Mk1, Mk2 - The only recurring boss in Alien Soldier. It is also vaguely reminiscent of Contra. Destroyer consists of a core robot with various weapon and arm configurations.
ShellShogun - A large turtle/beetle mutant clad in Samurai armor who wields a katana.
Sunset Sting - A sentient, spiked plant form that appears to be made out of organs.
Wolfgunblood Garopa - One of the more odd bosses, this is a fedora and bandolier-wearing cybernetic wolf with a machine gun mounted on one arm. He rides a surprisingly limber cyborg horse.
Jampan - Although serving as a standard boss, Jampan is, like Seven Force, a cameo from Gunstar Heroes. Gunstar players will recognize this boss as "Melon-Bread", and "Pan" means bread in Japanese.

Gameplay

Stage 1

Alien Soldier is different from other side-scrolling shooters in that instead of long levels with several minor enemies before reaching the boss, the levels are notably short and easy before reaching a boss. This results in the game being mostly boss fights. The game has 25 levels and 31 bosses in total.

An interesting touch to the game is the status bar that gives information about the player current and maximum health, the current and maximum energy of the selected weapon and the current and maximum health of the boss of the stage. The player can alter the status bar at the beginning of the game to show each details either in numerical format, a bar format, a series of "????" or a combination of the 3. If the player wants more challenge, it is possible to make all of the details to be "????", thereby denying any visual information of the health of the player, weapon energy and the health of the boss. Similarly, if the player wants to be more careful, the player may change the status bar to give numerical details so as to know exactly how much health and energy remains.

Another nifty feature is that if the player were to be hit by an enemy or projectile that would have been fatal, the player's current health will always be reduced to 1 first. The player will only die if he gets hit thereafter, reducing health from 1 to 0. This, in a way, gives the player a second chance to recover and continue with the game.

Epsilon has several moves which can be used to help aid the player.

Weapon Change - (A button) Allows the player to change Epsilon's weapon. Ammo only recharges while a weapon is not selected.
Shoot - (B button) Shoots the selected weapon. If the selected weapon's ammo meter has run out a tiny flame will be fired instead.
Jump - (C button) Epsilon's jump is helpful not only in dodging enemy bullets, but can also be used to walk on ceilings.
Shoot Mode Change - (Down + A button) Allows the player to change between Fixed Shot (where Epsilon stands still while firing, with the D-pad directing gunfire) or Free Shot (where Epsilon can run while firing, but can't change direction of gunfire). Ammo consumption is higher in Free Shot mode.
Counter Force - (B button twice) Produces a short-ranged, disc-like shot that can damage enemies and convert enemy fire into health stars. Works regardless of weapon selected and even if the selected weapon's ammo meter has run out.
Hover - (C button while in air) Freezes Epsilon in the air, which is useful for jumping across large gaps or staying above water. Epsilon can only hover once each jump.
Zero Teleport - (Down + C button) The most important and helpful technique, when performed Epsilon zooms across the screen at a high speed. He is immune to damage while Zero Teleporting, and if the Health Bar is full and flashing, Epsilon will do a Phoenix Teleport, a devastating, flaming dash that can destroy any small enemy, and can heavily damage bosses. Epsilon loses some health (30-50 HP depending on difficulty level) in the process and can not perform another Phoenix Teleport until he has refilled his life.

Weapons system

Before the game begins, the player is required to choose four weapons from an assortment of six. The same weapon can be chosen more than once, and you can switch weapons by picking up new ones in the levels. The available weapons are as follows:

Buster Force: Similar to the Force Gun in Gunstar Heroes, this weapon fires a stream of energy bullets. It is unable to penetrate some of the heavier enemies' armour.
Flame Force: Standard flamethrower, inflicts a lot of damage but runs out quickly, has a limited attack range and is ineffective against metallic armored enemies. Additionally, it doesn't fire while submerged in water.
Sword Force: Fires a range-limited laser that inflicts higher damage when an enemy is closer, and less when farther away. It is unable to penetrate some of the heavier enemies' armour.
Ranger Force: Fires four small fireballs in a spread pattern. Ideal against a group of small enemies.
Homing Force: Projects flames that home in on enemies, reveals weak points on bosses, bypassing almost any armour that deflects other weapon projectiles. Typically weak, it is best used as a last resort weapon on bosses, but it is extremely efficient at wiping out groups of small enemies. It doesn't fire while submerged in water.
Lancer Force: Fires a large, piercing energy beam that can destroy many enemies in a straight line. It is extremely powerful, but has limited energy and long reload time. Very powerful against slower bosses. It is unable to penetrate some of the heavier enemies' armour.

There are two other ways of attacking, and that is the Counter Force or attacking with an depleted weapon. Both of these attacks deal very little damage (depleted weapon does 1 damage to the boss), but they are able to bypass all types of armour. During certain boss fights, where the bosses only expose their weak point at certain points, the player is able to deal damage to the boss in between through either of these attacks.

Items

There are only a few items that can be picked up in the game.

Weapon Pod: Upon picking up a weapon pod, if the image of the weapon pod differs from the currently selected weapon, the weapon pod will change the selected weapon to the image shown on the weapon pod. If the image and the weapon pod and the selected weapon are the same, the weapon pod will increase the maximum amount of energy by 250, up to a maximum of 2000. Additionally, picking up a weapon pod refills the energy of the selected weapon. Shooting the weapon pod changes the image in the pod to the weapon the player used to fire at the pod (for about 3 seconds).
Life Pod: Usually located at hard-to-reach areas, a life pod will increase the maximum amount of hit points of Epsilon by a certain amount. As an added bonus, it will also fully heal Epsilon.
Small Life Force: Almost always found by destroying enemies or countering enemy fire, they only remain on the screen for a while before flickering away. They restore 30 HP to Epsilon.
Large Life Force: More rare and uncommon, they are usually dropped by mini-bosses and tougher monsters, though the normal cannon fodder monsters also do drop them, albeit at a very small chance. They, too, only remain on the screen for a while before flickering away. They restore 100 HP to Epsilon.

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