Curiosity of the day: Square's Aliens game

I don't know about you, but I didn't know--until a few hours ago, at least--that more than two decades ago the folks at what was then known as Square made a game (for the MSX) based on the 1986 film Aliens.

I found out about it after watching said film (for, oh, the 20th or so time) last night--which prompted me to search the Interwebs for games based on James Cameron's blockbuster and its Ridley Scott-directed predecessor. That search led me to this destructoid.com article and this Wikipedia page--both of which mention Square's Contra-esque shoot 'em up.

Here's what it looks like in action:



Honestly, I don't think the game looks bad at all. It certainly puts to shame the Pac-Man-esque Alien title that appeared (five years earlier, admittedly) on the Atari 2600.

See also: 'Curiosity of the day: Sega's Mega Jet'

Curiosity of the day: Sega's Mega Jet

I remember reading about this sweet, semi-portable system in the pages of DieHard GameFan magazine back in the day.

Although initially produced for the folks at Japan Airlines, who rented the systems to game-starved passengers, the Mega Jet eventually (in early 1994) made its way into the public sphere, too--with a rather attractive price tag of about $123.

I'd actually buy one if I could find it at that price. (I'm a total sucker for small, 16-bit systems, after all--as evidenced by my many PC Engine posts.) Unfortunately, the cheapest the system is going for on eBay right now is $335. (Here's the auction, in case any of you are interested.)

Oh, well, maybe I'll buy a CDX instead...