Alien Storm (Mega Drive)

From Sega Retro

For other versions of the game, see Alien Storm.

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AlienStorm MD title.png

Alien Storm
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,0006,000 G-4048
Sega Mega Drive
US
Sega Mega Drive
EU
Sega Mega Drive
AU
Sega Mega Drive
BR
Wii Virtual Console
JP
600pts600
Wii Virtual Console
US
800pts800
Wii Virtual Console
EU
800pts800
CERO
Missing Parameter!

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.

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.

Gameplay

Gameplay is virtually identical to the Arcade version of Alien Storm. The mixture of brawler gameplay and first person sections, as well as the limited amount of weapon energy available, sets these games apart for the competition and similar inhouse games. Health restoring items are very sparse and given out randomly during first person sections.

This version also features two additional modes: The Duel, similar to the mode of the same name seen on Golden Axe, where you face off against multiple rounds of enemies in one go, and a versus mode, where two players can face off one on one. Strangely, The Duel can only be selected if there is one controller plugged in, which means it's inaccessible on emulators or official versions that are permanently set to have two controllers plugged in, such as the Steam version.

Brawler sections

A damages all enemies on screen but consumes a big amount of weapon energy. B is a standard weapon attack that can be chained. It consumes a bit of weapon energy. C makes the character dash. Double tapping a direction is for running. Attacking with B while running or dashing consumes no weapon energy.

First person sections

B is used for shooting.

History

Legacy

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

Versions

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

Production credits

Mega Drive version

Source:
In-game credits

Digital manuals

Magazine articles

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

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
70 №48, p60/61[4]
90 №1, p90/91[5]
78 №118, p52-54[6]
70 №25, p22[7]
96 №24, p46[8]
62 №13
84 №1, p62-64[9]
84 №19, p131
46 №5, p90
50 №9, p19
25
78 №1, p76[10]
71 №11, p68-70[11]
92 №13, p56/57[12]
73 №10/91, p146
88 №12, p34[13]
83 №23, p40
60 №23, p52
79 №1, p19[14]
74 №18, p64
90 №93, p76[15]
76 №2/91, p85[16]
Sega Mega Drive
74
Based on
22 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[17]
ACE (UK)
70
[4]
ACE (UK) PAL
25
[18]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
38
[19]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
75
[20]
Consoles + (FR)
90
[21]
Console XS (UK) PAL
78
[22]
Cool Gamer (RU)
50
[23]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
78
[6]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
70
[7]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
40
[24]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
75
[25]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
73
[26]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
96
[8]
Games-X (UK)
62
[27]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
50
[28]
Joypad (FR) PAL
84
[9]
Joystick (FR) NTSC-J
84
[29]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
46
[30]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
74
[31]
Mega (UK) PAL
50
[32]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
70
[33]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
63
[34]
MegaTech (UK)
78
[10]
Micromanía (segunda época) (ES)
53
[35]
Mean Machines (UK)
71
[11]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
78
[36]
Megazone (AU)
84
[37]
Player One (FR)
92
[12]
Power Play (DE)
73
[38]
Raze (UK) NTSC
88
[13]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
83
[39]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC
50
[40]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
79
[14]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
74
[41]
Sega Mega Drive Review (RU)
50
[42]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
72
[43]
Tilt (FR)
90
[44]
Tilt (FR)
90
[45]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
45
[46]
Video Games (DE)
76
[47]
Sega Mega Drive
68
Based on
41 reviews

Alien Storm (Mega Drive)

Mega Drive, US
AStorm md us cover.jpg
Cover
AStorm md us cart.jpg
Cart
Alienstorm md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
AStorm md eu cover.jpg
Cover
AStorm md eu cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
AStorm md jp cover.jpg
Cover
AlienStorm MD JP CartTop.jpg
AStorm md jp cart.jpg
Cart
Alienstorm md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
Alienstorm md br cover.jpg
Cover
AlienStorm MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
Alienstorm md br manual.pdf
Manual

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
AlienStorm MT cover.jpg
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 f5ac8de5
MD5 b63052973d5d550087d6b36ce8487fb1
SHA-1 e4f8774c5f96db76a781c31476d06203ec16811a
512kB 1991-06 Cartridge

External links

References

  1. File:ACE UK 50.pdf, page 118
  2. File:GamePro US 023.pdf, page 38
  3. File:Supergame BR 07.pdf, page 28
  4. 4.0 4.1 File:ACE UK 48.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ACE UK 48.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content
  5. File:ConsolesPlus FR 001.pdf, page 80
  6. 6.0 6.1 File:CVG UK 118.pdf, page 52 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 118.pdf_p52" defined multiple times with different content
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:EGM US 025.pdf, page 22 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:EGM US 025.pdf_p22" defined multiple times with different content
  8. 8.0 8.1 File:GamePro US 024.pdf, page 82 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:GamePro US 024.pdf_p82" defined multiple times with different content
  9. 9.0 9.1 File:Joypad FR 001.pdf, page 62 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joypad FR 001.pdf_p62" defined multiple times with different content
  10. 10.0 10.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 76 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p76" defined multiple times with different content
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:MeanMachines UK 11.pdf, page 68 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 11.pdf_p68" defined multiple times with different content
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:PlayerOne FR 013.pdf, page 56 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:PlayerOne FR 013.pdf_p56" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 13.0 13.1 File:Raze UK 12.pdf, page 34 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Raze UK 12.pdf_p34" defined multiple times with different content
  14. 14.0 14.1 File:SegaPro UK 01.pdf, page 19 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 01.pdf_p19" defined multiple times with different content
  15. File:Tilt FR 093.pdf, page 74
  16. File:VideoGames DE 1991-02.pdf, page 81
  17. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 17
  18. ACE, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-11-08), page 108
  19. Aktueller Software Markt, "November 1991" (DE; 1991-10-11), page 144
  20. Beep! MegaDrive, "July 1991" (JP; 1991-06-08), page 30
  21. Consoles +, "Septembre 1991" (FR; 1991-09-04), page 90
  22. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 127
  23. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 13
  24. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 288
  25. Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 18
  26. Famitsu, "1991-07-26" (JP; 1991-07-12), page 1
  27. Games-X, "18th-24th July 1991" (UK; 1991-07-18), page 38
  28. Hippon Super, "July 1991" (JP; 1991-06-04), page 113
  29. Joystick, "Septembre 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 131
  30. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 90
  31. Mega Drive Fan, "September 1991" (JP; 1991-08-xx), page 115
  32. Mega, "June 1993" (UK; 1993-05-20), page 19
  33. Mega Force, "Septembre/Octobre 1991" (FR; 1991-09-13), page 88
  34. Mega Play, "July/August 1991" (US; 1991-0x-xx), page 63
  35. Micromanía (segunda época), "Noviembre 1991" (ES; 1991-1x-xx), page 46
  36. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 137
  37. Megazone, "April/May 1992" (AU; 1992-0x-xx), page 40
  38. Power Play, "10/91" (DE; 1991-09-xx), page 146
  39. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 40
  40. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 52
  41. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 64
  42. Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 14
  43. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 86
  44. Tilt, "Septembre 1991" (FR; 1991-09-xx), page 76
  45. Tilt, "Décembre 1991" (FR; 1991-1x-xx), page 34
  46. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 12
  47. Video Games, "2/91" (DE; 1991-06-07), page 85