Alien Soldier

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Alien Soldier.

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation! Notes: Some tidbits can probably be gleaned from the Japanese articles and concept art, if someone is willing to translate them.

Sega Magazine (UK) April 1994#

The Alien Soldier shown here is much different-looking compared to its final incarnation, which shouldn't be too surprising considering it was printed here almost a year before the game was released.

• The player character is completely different from the final version, resembling a human rather than an animal-human hybrid.
• Weapons were equipped by switching through different masks, and the player apparently had all six weapons at once, compared to the final game's arsenal of four weapons of the player's choosing.
• The HUD has multiple changes compared to the final version, including:
  • The top of the screen has a symmetrical arrangement, which was likely changed for the final game due to being pretty cluttered, as the weapon meter is limited to a short bar in the top-right.
  • The timer is displayed only in seconds, in contrast to the more untraditional approach of having the minutes and seconds side-by-side in the final game.
  • Notably, the HUD actually shows the player's score, the amount of continues the player had left, and the amount of lives remaining – oh yeah, this build actually had lives, a concept that was removed in later pre-release builds.
• The bosses shown off here were both reused for the final game.
  • The red alien boss is an early version of Sniper Honeyviper, the Stage 5 boss. Notably, one of the screenshots featuring this boss shows a blue laser raining from the sky onto the player character. A scrapped attack, perhaps?
  • The walker boss was given a blue palette and reused as ST-210-Terobuster.

Beep! MegaDrive September 1994#

• The main character is now Epsilon, though his in-game sprites show him with a mask-like face that his art lacks. However, both the art and the in-game sprites have smaller wings that would be made larger (and more rectangular) for the final game.
• The HUD has been revamped, with a fighting game-esque style that puts the player and boss's stats on separate sides of the screen. The timer has been moved to an abstract number at the bottom of the screen, and the remaining continues were removed altogether.
  • Notably, the boss has a Force meter in this build, something that was removed from the final game. This was likely used to signal to the player the stamina of certain bosses that get tired after a while, most notably Antroid and Madame Barbar.
• The weapon selection wheel displays the weapons' names, rather than showing icons for them. Weapons called the Vulcun (misspelling of "Vulcan") and Laser are present, likely early names for the Buster Force and Lancer Force, respectively.
• The projectiles fired by the static bomb-spitting enemy use the proximity mine graphics and have a trail, whereas in the final game they use the spiky mine graphics.

Beep! MegaDrive October 1994#

• Main hero looks nearly identical to the final design, but with a slightly more blue palette.
• The HUD graphics were cleaned up somewhat, and the Force and Life meters have switched places.

Beep! MegaDrive November 1994#

A preview on pages 108-109.

• The title screen uses an earlier logo and has entirely different text, which is still present unused in the final game:

    AD2010.THE SKULLANDCROSSGUNS,
  HAVE COME FROM SPACE TO INVATION.
AND,WE CRIED FOR HELP TO OTHER STARS.

          [ALIEN SOLDIER]

- WORLD OF THE SF-COMBAT-SHOOTING -
    HE WILL COME WE ARE THE EARTH.

SKULLANDCROSSGUNS is derived from an older title for the game, Blade Slasher VS Skull and Cross Guns (ブレードスラッシャーVSスカルアンドクロスガンズ).¹

• The font used throughout the game is different.
• In the weapon selection screen, unselected text is yellow, while selected text is orange. In the final game, text is simply a blue outline until being selected, when it becomes white with a darker outline.
• Homing Force is named "Homer Force", and Flame Force and Status Window are misspelled "Frame Force" and "Status Wintow" respectively.
• The arena for Gusthead's fight contains a water container attached to the ceiling, which was thankfully removed to make the fight slightly less of a nightmare to navigate.

Beep! MegaDrive December 1994#

Pages 50-51 have a sneak preview of an early build, which just so happens to feature a multitude of scrapped features.

• A picture of Kaede that goes unused in the final game can be seen in the background of the first page.
• Love Penguin, an unused boss, is shown where Bugmax is encountered in the final game (Stage 13).
• The scrapped cutscene in Stage 17 is shown in a few of the screenshots. Evidently it has yet to be removed.

Beep! MegaDrive January 1995#

Pages 46-47 contain a late preview, mere weeks away from the game's release.

• The title screen has a spelling error in "CUSTUM", a blue Sega graphic, and (rather oddly) a 1996 copyright date.
• "CONTROL TEST" is white instead of yellow.
• The Jampan boss is encountered in the unused X-Ages Room. Given the placement of it between the mountain area and the 7th Force fight, the room was probably entered at the point where Jampan shows up in the final game.

Saturn Fan January 1995#

Pages 78-79 contain additional images from what appears to be the same build showcased on the Beep! MegaDrive January 1995 issue.

• The unused boss Love Penguin is shown where Jampan is encountered in the final game (Stage 19).
• The background in the area where Seven Force Kaede is found has a blue hue instead of the white/brown one shown in the final game, it also looks like there's no ground to stand on.
• Valkyrie Force is missing its boomerang-like weapon.

References#