Alien vs Predator (SNES video game)

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Alien vs Predator
AvpSNES boxart.jpg
North American box art
Developer Jorudan
Publishers
Producer Tom Sloper
Designers Mitoshi Asakawa
Y. Furusawa
Programmers Fumihiro Sugiura
Mitoshi Asakawa
Yoshiaki Tejima
Artists Hisaya Yabusaki
Katsunori Nakabayashi
Mitsuru Ishida
Composer Tenpei Sato
Series Alien vs. Predator
Platform Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Release
  • JP: 8 January 1993
  • NA: September 1993
  • EU: November 1993
Genre Beat 'em up
Mode Single-player

Alien vs Predator [a] is a 1993 beat 'em up video game for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by Jorudan and published by Information Global Service in Japan and by Activision internationally. An arcade game of the same title was released by Capcom eight months later, but the two games are different and their storylines are unrelated to each other.

Contents

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot SNES Alien vs Predator (Aliens vs. Predator).png
Gameplay screenshot

Alien vs Predator is a beat 'em up video game in which the player controls a Predator and must advance through various stages killing all of the Aliens. The player character may become temporarily invisible and may charge their energy weapons to destroy all onscreen enemies at once.

Story

The game is set on the planet Vega 4 in the city of New Shanghai. A work crew performing underground construction discovers a colony of Aliens which attack them and then quickly moved to the surface. The city is quickly overcome by the Aliens, but the citizens send out a distress signal to Earth which is also received by a passing Predator ship. The Predators decide to hunt the Aliens on Vega 4, seeing them as challenging prey.

The player battles through six stages, fighting various types of Aliens and bosses. Many of the boss enemies are Aliens which have gestated in different types of animals and thus demonstrate characteristics of those animals. These include an aquatic Alien that emerges from a dolphin, a primate-like Alien gestated in an ape, a winged Alien gestated in a bat, and a snake-like Alien. After battling the Aliens on Vega 4 the player Predator travels to the Orion Nebula for the final stage and battles the Alien queen.

Development and release

Alien vs Predator was developed by Jorudan, who had previously worked on games such as Xardion and Musya , with Activision producer Tom Sloper overseeing its creation. [1] [2] Both Mitoshi Asakawa and Y. Furusawa serving as designers while Fumihiro Sugiura, Yoshiaki Tejima and Mitoshi Asakawa worked as programmers. [1] Hisaya Yabusaki, Yasuhiko Kikuchi, Kozo Igarashi, Nobuki Kimishima, Katsunori Nakabayashi, Mitsuru Ishida, Takanori Wada and Y. Arai were responsible for the pixel art. [1] The soundtrack was composed by Tenpei Sato. [1] Other members also collaborated in its making. [1] Both Rebellion Developments co-founder Jason Kingsley and former Atari Corporation producer James "Purple" Hampton have stated in recent interviews that a port was planned for the Atari Jaguar, but Hampton felt it did not represent the franchise's universe and characters properly, resubmitting the project to both 20th Century Fox and Activision into a first-person shooter instead. [3] [4] [5] [6] According to Tom Sloper, conversions for the Sega Mega Drive and PC were also under development by Realtime Associates but both versions were ultimately scrapped by Activision, who were unhappy with their production. [7]

Alien vs Predator for the Super Nintendo was first released in Japan by Information Global Service on January 8, 1993. [8] The game was then released by Activision in North America in September 1993 and later in Europe on November of the same year. [9] [ citation needed ] The Japanese version, titled Aliens vs. Predator, has several gameplay differences compared to the international version such as the Predator moving slower, though players can make him run by tapping the direction button twice and sporting an orange color, whereas the Predator in the international version moves faster but is unable to run and sports a brown color, as well as the charging meter for the player's energy weapon being shorter. The Japanese version includes a two-player versus mode in which one player controls a Predator and the other controls an Alien; this mode is absent from the international release.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Alien vs Predator on the SNES garnered generally unfavorable reviews from critics. [8] [22] [25]

Notes

  1. Also known as Aliens vs. Predator (Japanese: エイリアンvs.プレデター, Hepburn: Eirian vs. Puredetā) in Japan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jorudan (8 January 1993). エイリアンvs.プレデター (Aliens vs. Predator ) (Super Famicom) (in Japanese). Information Global Service. Level/area: Alien vs. Predator Game Staff.
  2. CRV (July 13, 2007). "Jorudan". Game Developer Research Institute. Archived from the original on 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  3. "The Making Of... Alien Vs Predator". Edge . No. 133. Future plc. February 2004. pp. 114–117. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. "The Making Of: Alien Vs Predator". Retro Gamer . No. 57. Imagine Publishing. December 2008. pp. 28–31.
  5. Wallett, Adrian (March 12, 2018). "James Hampton (LucasArts/Atari) – Interview". arcadeattack.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  6. Hans Reutter (October 30, 2019). PRGE 2019 - Making Alien Vs. Predator for the Atari Jaguar - Portland Retro Gaming Expo 4K. YouTube . Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  7. Ross-Shaw, Alex (June 6, 2011). "Two Games That Werent (and sadly never will be)". Games That Weren't. Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  8. 1 2 3 "New Games Cross Review: エイリアンVSプレデター (ステパーファミコヨシカードリッジ)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 212–213. ASCII Corporation. January 8–15, 1993. p. 39. (Transcription by Famitsu.com. Archived 2018-11-06 at the Wayback Machine ).
  9. "Super NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  10. "Review Shorts". GamesMaster . No. 4. Future Publishing. April 1993. pp. 80–81.
  11. Clarke, Stuart (February 1994). "Byte Size: Alien vs Predator (SNES)". Hyper . No. 3. nextmedia. p. 70.
  12. "Super NES Round-Up". Nintendo Magazine System . No. 6. EMAP. March 1993. pp. 92–95.
  13. Brookes, Jason (April 1993). "Import Review: Alien vs Predator". Super Play . No. 6. Future Publishing. p. 57.
  14. Anton, Michael (October 1993). "SNES Test: Aliens vs. Predator". Total! (in German). No. 5. Germany: MVL Verlag. p. 48.
  15. Walker, Brent (August 1993). "Video-Game Reviews: Aliens vs. Predator - For the Super NES". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment . No. 55. Larry Flynt Publications. p. 53.
  16. West, Allie; Boardman, Julian (May 1993). "Review Control: Aliens vs Predator". Control. No. 9. Maverick Magazines. pp. 44–45.
  17. Grossman, Howard (May 1993). "Video Game Gallery: Aliens vs. the Predator (SNES)". Electronic Games . Vol. 1, no. 8. Decker Publications. p. 62.
  18. Millichamp, Rob (April 1993). "Force Rated: Aliens vs Predator (SNES)". N-Force . No. 10. Impact Magazines. p. 44.
  19. Griffiths, Nick (July 1993). "Review: Aliens Vs Predator (Super NES)". Nintendo Game Zone. No. 9. Dennis Publishing. pp. 54–55.
  20. "Guide Directory Enquiries". SNES Force . No. 1. Impact Magazines. July 1993. pp. 92–97.
  21. Kirrane, Simon; Atherton, Steve (March 1993). "Super Review: Alien Vs Predator". Super Action. No. 6. Europress. pp. 66–68.
  22. 1 2 "ザ テストプレイ 年末スペシャル: エイリアンVSプレデター". The Super Famicom  [ ja ] (in Japanese). Vol. 4, no. 1. SoftBank Creative. January 8–22, 1993. p. 22.
  23. "A-Z of Games - Nintendo Games Index: Super NES". Super Gamer. No. 1. Paragon Publishing. April 1994. pp. 122–124.
  24. Butt, Ryan (March 1993). "Import Review: Aliens vs Predator". Super Pro. No. 4. Paragon Publishing. pp. 32–33.
  25. "Now Playing: Aliens vs. Predator (Super NES)". Nintendo Power . Vol. 51. Nintendo of America. August 1993. pp. 100–101, 105.