Why didn't someone tell me Square worked to port its Aliens MSX game to the Famicom Disk System and that the ROM had found its way on line?

Anyone new to this blog may not yet know this bit of oh-so-interesting news, but I am an absolute Alien nut.

Both Ridley Scott's 1979 film and James Cameron's 1986 sequel (called Aliens, naturally) are among my all-time favorite pieces of cinema.

Combine that with my love of video games, and you've got a situation where a person (that would be me) scours the globe in search of quality games that were inspired by the above-mentioned films.

Sadly, that lifelong search has turned up only a few worthwhile possibilities, such as Konami's side-scrolling action game from 1990, 1994's Aliens vs Predator title for the ill-fated Atari Jaguar, WayForward's Aliens Infestation for the DS and last year's Alien: Isolation for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Is the awkwardly named Aliens: Alien 2, made by Square for the MSX computer platform all the way back in 1987, another example? I've never played it, so I have no idea, but videos such as this one certainly make it look like a contender.



I share all of this because I just--well, a couple of days ago--became aware of the fact that the fine folks at Square worked on a Famicom Disk System port of Aliens: Alien 2 at some point in time.

For whatever reason, though, the company's higher-ups weren't happy with the effort and scrapped it before it could be released.

Amazingly, some wonderful person got his or her hands on the game's not-quite-finished prototype and leaked its ROM onto the Internet in 2011--another piece of news that only recently reached my ears.

If you, too, are an Alien buff and this is the first you're hearing of the Famicom Disk System port of Square's Aliens: Alien 2, you may get a kick out of the footage included in the video above.

Personally, I prefer the more minimalist aesthetic of the MSX original, although the FDS version is far from unappealing. What do all of you think?

'Circus Charlie'

I've never been all that interested in playing Konami's Circus Charlie, but the (cropped) image on the right (see the full thing here), created by artist Jim Pluk, is making me re-think that position.

Digital prints of Pluk's piece, which was produced for the Press Start! art show, can be purchased here for $60.

If I had the dough, I'd snap one up in a heartbeat--along with Stéphane Barrette's 8-Bit Chaos, Christine Daigle's Game Over and Meka's Ghost and Goblins.

See also: 'Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?'

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'

On this week's episode of 'Why I Want a Japanese Wii' ...

Japanese Wii owners will be treated to two Virtual Console releases this week: The MSX version of Parodius and the MSX version of Salamander.

(No worries if you've never heard of the MSX. Basically, it was a standardized computer platform that was developed by Microsoft in the early 1980s. Although it became quite popular in Japan, it was all but ignored in Europe and the U.S.)

I'd buy the MSX version of Parodius in a heartbeat if I owned a Japanese Wii. It's hardly the best iteration of Parodius, a series I've loved since the release of Parodius Da! in the early 1990s, but it is the most unique (in my opinion, of course). It's also the hardest--and "cheapest."

Here's a video that shows off the game's (fan-translated) first stage. (Which, I hate to admit, I have yet to clear. Yeah, I'm weaksauce.)



If you're lucky enough to own a Japanese Wii--and you decide to plop down 800 Nintendo points for this title--but you can't tell your hiragana from your katakana, go here to download an English version of the manual.