Area 51

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Area 51
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Midway Home Entertainment (US), GT Interactive Software (EU), SoftBank (JP)
Developer: Mesa Logic, Tantalus Entertainment, Perfect Entertainment
Distributor: Sega-Ozisoft (AU), Tec Toy (BR)
Licensor: Atari Games
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Sound driver: SCSP (1 track)
Peripherals supported: Virtua Gun
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1-2
Official in-game languages: English Français Deutsch Español
Release Date RRP Code JP 1997-02-07 ¥5,800 (5,974)5,800e T-18613G US 1996-11-20 T-9705H EU 1997-03-14 T-25408H-50 DE 1997-03-14 T-25408H-50 UK 1997-03-14 £44.9944.99 T-25408H-50 PL 1997 209zł209 AU 199x FARE01SSC BR 1997-04 191x34
Non-Sega versions Arcade PlayStation Windows PC

Area 51 (エリア５１) is a 1995 arcade light-gun game developed by Mesa Logic and released by Atari Games. It was ported to the Sega Saturn in late 1996 by Tantalus Interactive and Perfect Entertainment and published by Midway Games, alongside versions for PlayStation and Windows PCs.

Story

Soldiers of the Strategic Tactical Advanced Alien Response (S.T.A.A.R.) military team have been deployed to Area 51 to repel an invading force of aliens, known as the Kronn, and alien-created zombies, who are taking over the facility. The team, led by Lieutenant Stephanie Grant and Sergeant Major Marcus Bradley, must infiltrate penetrate Area 51 and activate the nuclear self-destruct sequence.

Gameplay

Area 51 is an arcade, on-the-rails shooting game using light guns. The player must defeat genetically modified zombie soldiers and aliens without harming allied S.T.A.A.R. team members. The graphics are prerendered, using human actors (similar to Mortal Kombat) for soldiers, and full-motion video to simulate moving through the world. The game supports two-player cooperative play. The Arcade mode plays through all the stages of the original arcade game. There is also a Practice mode where players can practice shooting in a room with endlessly spawning enemies; players do not take any damage from enemies in Practice mode.

Players can use control pads or Virtua Guns. The game can also be played in "Cowboy Mode," where a single player uses two guns. Using a control pad, the D-Pad moves the crosshair, shoots, and reloads. Players start the game with semi-automatic pistols that hold 8 rounds each. Players are equipped with a limited supply of grenades, which are thrown with . Grenades are not aimed but attack every enemy on screen. Using a light gun, pulling the trigger while the gun is pointed at the screen shoots while pulling the trigger while aiming away from the screen reloads. Grenades are thrown by shooting the grenade icon on-screen.

The game contains numerous hidden rooms. By shooting certain objects in the correct sequence, players can unlock shooting exercises, weapon stashes, and bonus items. Other backdoors allow players to warp ahead to later stages instead of following the game's otherwise linear path.

Players have a limited amount of lives, depicted by crosses on the bottom of the screen. When an enemy appears, players have a limited amount of time to shoot the enemy before taking damage from it and losing a life. Shooting a fellow S.T.A.A.R. member also costs a life. Players lose their weapon upgrades when they lose a life. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued if the player has a credit remaining.

There are five selectable difficulty levels (Novice, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert). Players can also set the starting number of lives and credits in the options prior to starting the game. Players can also enable looping, where the game starts over from the beginning when completed.

Objects

	Power Up
	When equipped with the starting pistol, shooting a Power Up equips players with either a shotgun or a machine gun. Shooting a Power Up when already holding a shotgun equips an automatic shotgun. Shotguns allow a greater field of error for targeting an enemy but only start with 5 rounds. Machine guns fire quickly and start with 10 rounds. Both the machine gun and automatic shotgun allow the player to keep the trigger pressed down to unleash rounds.
	Ammo Crate
	Ammo crates can be shot open and can contain extra grenades (each player can hold up to 9 grenades at a time) or extended ammo clips that allow the player to hold more rounds at once (10 for the shotguns or 19 for the machine gun).
	Barrel
	Explosive barrels can be shot to damage nearby enemies.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	Stage 7
	Stage 8
	Players must destroy the alien craft before it escapes for the good ending.

History

Legacy

Area 51 was followed by Maximum Force, produced by the same team at Mesa Logic, but with an entirely different setting. An arcade-exclusive sequel called Area 51: Site 4 was released in 1998.

Versions

The Saturn version of Area 51 is relatively close to its arcade counterpart, but chooses to present itself with an added border (a feature that remains through the entire experience and is absent from other versions). The resulting smaller field of view means that all 2D graphics and full-motion video clips are rendered at a lower resolution than their arcade (and PlayStation) counterparts.

The nature of disc-based media means transitions between scenes have a slight delay as the game loads in new data. This is particularly noticeable in the attract sequence.

Like Virtua Cop, Tiger also produced a handheld version of Area 51 as a part of their Laser Games series of miniature light-gun games. The folding gun included with this version is reliant on infrared technology.

Production credits

Midway Home Entertainment Team

• Producer: Ken Humphries
• Test Supervisor: Mike Kruse
• Lead Tester: Rob Reininger
• Testers: Todd Papy, Chris Thornton, Jesse Meza, Pablo Buitrago & Randy Slafsky
• Print & Production: Debbie Austin, Shawn Murphy, Dave Young & Jon Mongelluzzo
• Special Thanks: Brian Fritts, Bill Hindorff, Howard Lehr. Tona Hess & Kirby Fong (GT Interactive)

Coin Op Team

• Producer: Rob Rowe
• Programmer: Charlie Grisafi
• Game Design: Mike Hally
• Art & Design: Steve Caterson
• Video Production: Brent Englund
• Lead Technician: Darrell Robinson
• Stop-Motion Animator: Jody Burgess
• Product Manager: Derryl DePriest
• Audio & Music: Jeanne Parson & Michael Stein
• Hardware Engineer: Brian McKee

Mesa Logic

• Concept & Game Design: Robert Weatherby
• 3D Animators: James Mestemaker, Guy Fumagalli, Hector Silva & James Webb

Tantalus Entertainment

• Programmer: Julian Crooke
• Artist: Alun Bjorksten
• Executive Producer: Arthur Kakouris
• Support Programmer: Shane Stevens
• Quality Assurance: John Szoke
• Technical Director: Andrew Bailey

Perfect Entertainment

• Producer: Colin Fuidge
• Quality Assurance: Matt Stamps

Source:

US manual

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Magazine articles

Main article: Area 51/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Area 51/Promotional material.

Gallery

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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Ação Games (BR) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 56 Freak (IL) 82 Gambler (PL) 66 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 73 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 81 Intelligent Gamer (US) 42 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 56 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 73 Playmag (FR) PAL 77 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 66 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 66 Saturn Power (UK) PAL 69 Secret Service (PL) 40 Sega Magazin (DE) 65 Sega Power (GR) 69 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL 72 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 67 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 81 Ultra Game Players (US) 65

	67
Based on 20 reviews

Area 51

Saturn, JP
Cover
Spinecard Disc

Saturn, US
Cover
Disc Manual Reg Card

Saturn, EU
Cover
Disc

Saturn, AU
Cover
Disc

Saturn, BR
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Area 51/Technical information.