Alien Storm (Mega Drive)

For other versions of this game, see Alien Storm.

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NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Alien Storm
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Steam, Nintendo Switch Online
Publisher: Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (JP, EU) Sega of America (US) Sega Corporation Sega Corporation
Developer: Sega CS M2
Distributor: Atoll (BX) Hent Gruppen (SE rental) Datart International (CZ) Tec Toy (BR)
Original system(s): Sega System 18
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-06-28 ¥6000 G-4048 US 1991-07 1121 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 1994 SUB EU 1991-09 1121 EU ▼ (Sega Channel) 1996 SUB BX 199x ES 199x UK 1991-Q3 £34.99 1121 SE (Rental) 199x CZ 199x AU 199x BR 1992-02 SA ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUB UK 199x £? ? US ▼ 2010-10-26 $2.99 34315 EU ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.49 34315 DE ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.49 34315 UK ▼ 2010-10-26 £1.99 34315 AU ▼ 2010-10-26 $3.49 34315 US ▼ 2019-01-30 $0.99 34315 EU ▼ 2019-01-30 €0.99 34315 DE ▼ 2019-01-30 €0.99 34315 UK ▼ 2019-01-30 £0.79 34315 AU ▼ 2019-01-30 $1.35 34315 US ▼ 2019-01-30 $0.99 34315 EU ▼ 2019-01-30 €0.99 34315 DE ▼ 2019-01-30 €0.99 34315 UK ▼ 2019-01-30 £0.79 34315 AU ▼ 2019-01-30 $1.35 34315 JP ▼ 2007-03-27 600pts US ▼ 2007-12-17 800pts EU ▼ 2008-01-11 800pts AU ▼ 2008-01 800pts JP ▼ 2022-12-16 SUB US ▼ 2022-12-15 SUB EU ▼ 2022-12-16 SUB UK ▼ 2022-12-16 SUB AU ▼ 2022-12-16 SUB

Alien Storm (エイリアンストーム) for the Sega Mega Drive is an interpretation of the 1990 Sega System 18 game, Alien Storm.

Story

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."

Gameplay

The game is a beat-'em-up and plays virtually identically to the arcade version of Alien Storm. It mixes brawler gameplay with first-person shooting sections. Characters walk with and and move backwards and forwards in the plane with and . They roll with , which passes through enemies. They run with or , which can also pass through enemies if the player continues to hold in the direction of the run. Characters jump by pressing while running.

Characters fire their weapons with , which can be pressed repeatedly in quick succession for a chain attack. Rapid-fire can be enabled in the options before starting the game. Weapons consume a small amount of energy. When characters run out of energy, their regular attacks are replaced with weaker melee attacks. Attacking while running or dashing consumes no energy. Characters can perform an overhead attack while jumping. Each character also has a special attack that damages all enemies on screen with , but this attack consumes a large amount of energy.

For the first-person shooting sections, the targeting cursor is moved with the D-Pad and shoots. Items are collected by shooting them.

Energy can be restored by collecting items. Health restoring items are very sparse and given out randomly during first person sections.

The game supports two-player simultaneous play. This version also features two additional modes: The Duel, similar to the mode of the same name seen on Golden Axe, where the player battles nine rounds of enemies, and a versus mode where two players can face off against each other. The Duel can only be selected if there is one controller plugged in, which means it is inaccessible on emulators or official versions that are permanently set to have two controllers plugged in (including the Steam version).

Characters

	Gordon
	A human male. His regular attack is the Thunder Bazooka, and his special attack is summoning a gunship.
	Karla
	A human female. Her regular attack is the Fire Blaster, and her special attack is summoning a ballistic missile.
	Slammer
	A robot. His regular attack is the electric Whip, and his special attack is self-destructing (and then reassembling himself).

Items

	Energy Unit
	Replenishes some weapon energy.
	Life Kit
	Replenishes some life.

Missions

	Mission 1
	Mission 2
	Mission 3
	Mission 4
	Mission 5
	Mission 6
	Mission 7
	Mission 8

History

Legacy

This version of the game was included in Mega Games 3 and Mega Games 6 Vol. 2. It was also re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2007 and 2008, and was also bundled as part of Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360.

Sega Channel broadcast history

North America

• 1994-12-01 – 1995-01-01
• 1995-04-01 – 1995-05-01
• 1995-09-01 – 1995-10-01
• 1996-06-01 – 1996-07-01
• 1997-02-28 – 1997-03-14

PAL regions

• 1996-07-01 – 1996-08-01
• 1997-07-01 – 1997-08-01

Argentina and Chile

• 1997-07-01 – 1997-08-01

Versions

Unlike other ports of the game, the Mega Drive version overhauls virtually all of the levels from the arcade game, while also changing graphical elements so that the game is more suited to the Mega Drive's hardware. Though the game plays almost identically (save for differing enemy placements and tweaks), it is shorter in length, and drops some audio tracks in favour of brand new ones presumably to fit the new levels. The changes are not as distinct as those found in other early arcade-to-Mega Drive conversions, namely ESWAT: City Under Siege or Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, but they are significant enough for it to be classed as a different Alien Storm game. The Mega Drive version also changes some story elements, such as removing the characters working at a food truck named Alien Burgers.

The game is identical in all regions and not region-protected.

Production credits

Main article: Alien Storm (Mega Drive)/Production credits.

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Alien Storm (Mega Drive)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

PDF

Advertisement on the back of the US Jewel Master manual.

Artwork

• 
• 

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score ACE (UK) 70 ACE (UK) PAL 25 Ação Games (BR) 58 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 38 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 75 Consoles + (FR) 90 Console XS (UK) PAL 78 Cool Gamer (RU) 50 Computer & Video Games (UK) 78 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 70 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 40 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 75 Weekly Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 73 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 96 Games-X (UK) 62 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Joypad (FR) PAL 84 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 84 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 46 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 74 Mega (UK) PAL 50 Mega Force (FR) PAL 70 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 63 MegaTech (UK) 78 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 53 Mean Machines (UK) 71 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 78 Megazone (AU) 84 Player One (FR) 92 Power Play (DE) 73 Raze (UK) NTSC 88 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 83 Sega Power (UK) NTSC 50 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 79 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 74 Sega Mega Drive Review (RU) 50 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 72 Tilt (FR) 90 Tilt (FR) 90 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 45 Video Games (DE) 76

	69
Based on 42 reviews

Alien Storm (Mega Drive)

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart PCB Manual

Mega Drive, BX†
Cover

Mega Drive, SE Rental (HENT black)
Cover

Mega Drive, SE Rental (HENT black; ALT)
Cover

Mega Drive, CZ/SK (Datart)
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Alien Storm (Mega Drive)/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK, AU
• Alien Storm on Steam