Alien Soldier

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Alien Soldier is a 1995 run-and-gun game by Treasure for the Sega Genesis. While it shares some similarities with other run-and-guns, the focus here is on lightning fast reflexes instead of using the strongest weapon avaliable. You play as Epsilon-Eagle, a cybernetic birdman who fights against the rogue organization Scarlet, travelling throughout the galaxy and leaving large amounts of carnage in your wake.

The plot, if it even matters, concerns a criminal organization of genetically-engineered beings called "Scarlet" who terrorized the planet Sierra. Their members are able to live within humans, animals and machines via a parasitic ability. Epsilon-Eagle, the leader of Scarlet, was ambushed by a team of Sierrans with super powers, and thrown into the space-time continuum. The new leader of Scarlet, Xi-Tiger, was hated by his own men for being too ruthless compared to Epsilon, and as such he wanted to destroy Epsilon once and for all. Xi-Tiger attacked a Sierran research laboratory where he sensed Epsilon in the body of a boy. He took a random girl hostage so as to force Epsilon to come out. Epsilon, instead, transformed from a boy into a cyborg birdman. However, Epsilon's good human side began to overcome his evilness and made him want to fight the demons. This annoyed Xi-Tiger, who killed the girl before running away. The plot actually makes even less sense as it proceeds, with the planet blowing up and Epsilon ending up fighting a giant mechanical lion called Z Leo without the player really having any idea who he is or why this is necessary.

Epsilon's a handy fellow, able to carry four weapons at a time. Each one of these can be chosen from a list at the start of the game:

Epsilon-Eagle has several unique abilities at his disposal, including a dash-like teleportation, levitation, a bullet-neutralizing shield, as well as a Ceiling Cling. All of these require the player to be on their toes, as waves of enemies and powerful bosses come after them. Even on the easiest difficulty, the game is obscenely hard in Treasure tradition.

Tropes used in Alien Soldier include: