Hello to you and how you be? Dan Ryan here, you… there. Thank you so much for checking in and if you like what you see please comment and share. A little while ago Kris and I decided to take a concept from his movie podcast here, combine it with a thing we had been doing for a bit, the summer series, and create a new recurring segment for the SAG Pod, the Alphabet Souper Series. In said series we take turns picking a retro game to play over the course of a month in alphabetical order. (get it… souper series, like alphabet soup and a super version of the summer series… we’re quite clever) Now that we’ve made our way through the alphabet and did a Christmas special, it’s time to flip the order. I get to start us off with my pick for the letter A this time around and I went with a game I had always wanted to spend more time with, Alien Soldier. Submitted for your approval this is the Souper Series Retro Review for Alien Soldier on the Sega Genesis. As with all reviews here on the blog I will be using the wholly original, not copied at all from any defunct gaming magazine, SAG Pod ranking system, which is explained below.

Developed by Treasure and released for Japan and Europe in 1995, Alien Soldier is a chaotic run-n-gun gauntlet through 26 bosses in 25 levels. It’s sheer madness in the way only a Treasure game could be. Now to be fair, it was technically released for the US market as well albeit only through Sega Channel. For those of you who don’t know, Sega Channel was an online content delivery service for the Sega Genesis. It was launched in 1994, about a year or so before the decision makers at Sega decided to shift focus away from the 16 and 32 bit pockets of their business to the then new Saturn. The questionable timing, and cost of the service, a one time $25 fee for the adapter and a $15 per month subscription, meant that a large section of the Genesis user base simply never played the games offered there exclusively. The game, for better or worse, was designed with hardcore players in mind. Because of that, and its somewhat limited release, it didn’t reach the same level as Treasure’s previous release, Gunstar Heroes. Thankfully, Alien Soldier was re-released worldwide first for the Wii in 2007 as a part of the Virtual Console storefront as well as through Steam in 2011. It was also included in the Genesis portion of Nintendo’s Switch Classics in 2022.

The reality of Alien Soldier is sadly an unrealized vision of the creator. The beginning of the game treats, used here quite loosely, the player to a lengthy text crawl that is confusing and sometimes contradictory. It perhaps would have made more sense had the game actually been completed when it shipped but such was not the case. Treasure gained prominence with their release of Gunstar Heroes, an absolutely terrific game worthy of its own separate post. If you’ve never played it you absolutely should as it is a stone cold masterpiece action game. After their success, Treasure started work on 4 different titles, Dynamite Headdy, Light Crusader, Yū Yū Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen, and Alien Soldier. Originally the brainchild of one man, Hideyuki Suganami, Alien Soldier was more ambitious than Sega was comfortable allotting time to. Suganami wanted to make the game as a solo dev, and got very close to the finish line before needing to bring in additional team members to hit their January 1995 deadline. (the game shipped a month later) According to interviews with Suganami the version of Alien Soldier released into the wild was about half of what he wanted to include. Most of the worldbuilding was cut as were more than half of the bosses he had planned. These cuts, while not ultimately detrimental to the overall gameplay experience, really rear their ugly head when trying to understand the game’s story. I hope you paid attention to that aforementioned text crawl because once you started the game, it was never brought up again! But that was okay because Alien Soldier doesn’t need a story. What it needs is your time, your attention, and your willingness to get good as the kids say. It is boss rush the game, and it is beautiful. As always we have some really outstanding ways to experience this game right here on the site.

Mega EverDrive Pro (Base Black)

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This is the Base Black version of the Mega EverDrive Pro, nothing fancy. This cartridge comes assembled with a black shell and basic label.… read more

Graphics: 5 Alien Soldier looks about as good as a Genesis game can, which makes sense considering its late release. The sprite work here is incredible. Detailed, large, expressive, fluid, with no slowdown, you’d be hard pressed to find a better looking game on the system. While some of the designs may not be to everyone’s taste, it simply cannot be argued that the work is quality.

Sound: 4.5 Similar to the graphics, it is hard to ague that the soundtrack to Alien Soldier is not fantastic. The tracks really capture the mania on screen and provide a great background for the insanity. The sound effects are nice with different weapons having unique audio and the bosses and explosions, of which there are a lot, also get to shine. My main complaint with the sound and what keeps it from being a 5 is twofold, one, I couldn’t ever listen to the music because I had to be so locked into the action and two, the Genesis soundchip leaves just a little bit to be desired.

Control: 4 So we’ve come at last to the control… Look, for what a standard 3-button Genesis controller is able to realistically do, it’s fine. BUT, this game needs more than 3 buttons. There is just so much to do between moving, charging, changing weapons, dashing, parrying, it’s a ton of stuff in a tiny package. The fact that it works as well as it does is a testament to just how good Treasure is. Which is why it gets a 4. There is a 6 button rom hack available though which might be the “best” way to play.

Fun Factor: 4.5 At the end of the day, Alien Soldier is a very, very good game held slightly back by insane difficulty and overly ambitious control. There are two difficulty settings, Supereasy and Superhard to give you an idea of what the developers were going for. The difficulty is a badge of honor though and is inline with not only other Treasure games, but games of that era as well. The game rewards your patience and practice with a learning curve that never feels cheap. You will die a lot when you first play this game. And if that sort of thing bothers you then Alien Soldier is just not for you. If you can make it through the first little bit though, and see what the game wants you to do, man is it worth it. It is uniquely Treasure and absolutely worthy of your investment.

But I want to know what you think. Join the Stone Age Gamer discord, or you can find me on Bluesky to let me know your thoughts. In the immortal words of Billy Joel, “Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes; I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.” See you soon.