I wanted to make an appreciation/retrospective post about one of the coolest dang videoed game's ever: Alien Soldier! Check it out under the jump. Minor content warning for flashing lights in the gifs below!
What The Heck IS Even This Game???

Alien Soldier is a tough-as-nails Sega Genesis run'n'gun platformer released in 1995. Personally, I think of it as the true first entry in the character action game genre! Y'know, the genre that people usually associate with Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. Stylish combat, maximalist in their design, with a heavy focus on player expression through mastery of system mechanics. Why would I consider it a character action game? Well, there's a wealth of (sometimes hidden) mechanics present in the game, an absolute ton of personal choice in your weapon loadout and how you prefer to handle given encounters. Additionally, there's quite a few hidden mechanics and tricks that players will learn over the course of playing the game over and over, which I feel is a pretty common occurrence in later character action games.
![]()
"But Arcadia, Devil May Cry was the first character action game! Author auteur Hideki Kamiya said so!" Yeah I guess but like, here's the thing: he's full of shit and there's a ton of wonderful action games that came out and shaped the genre before he was doing anything with it! Games like Alien Soldier, or Shinobi 3, hell, I'd even consider Ninja Gaiden on the NES a sort of "founding" member of the eventual character action genre. There's also games that came out a little later, like Treasure's N64-era Sin & Punishment, or over on the PS1, Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman, and Dragon Valor! I feel that people ignore the games that set the framework for what eventually became a really incredible (if niche) genre.
So let's talk a little bit about what makes this game really special!
The Arsenal of Epsilon Eagle
In this game, you play as an alien supersoldier called Epsilon Eagle. (Side note: the lore in this game is extremely bonkers, please look it up if you want to have a hell of a time reading some truly unhinged storytelling, hahah.) You can select three of the six available weapons in the game to start with. Every weapon has a reserve of ammunition that can later be upgraded with skillful acquisition of a powerup that gives you weapons! If you pick up the powerup while it is displaying an icon matching the weapon you currently have equipped, it will increase the maximum amount of ammo that weapon can carry until you die or pick up another weapon in that slot! Ammo is constantly recharging when you're not using the weapon, so tailor your loadout with that in mind!
Additionally, every weapon in the game is categorized as one of three types, and those types are all effective against different types of enemies! The first two weapons on the list are good against everything relatively evenly. The second row is home to the fire-type weapons. Those are good against "organic" enemies! The third row is significantly more effective against robotic and mechanical enemies.
That said, though... This game was made by a pretty small team a long-ass time ago. Because of that, not all of the weapons are created equal. Over time, you'll likely find yourself relying heavily on the Flame Force (a flamethrower), and the extremely powerful Lancer Force, which fires a thin beam of energy that utterly eviscerates enemies. Those two weapons are the obvious standouts in the game, and often outshine the other options pretty handily. Be that as it may, I still gravitate toward the Buster Force, most of the time. I've always had a soft spot for reliable-but-not-overpowered options in games like this.
Next up: the way to achieve Smokin' Sexy Style in this game!
Do some sick tricks!
In this game, there's a few different ways that you can handle enemies. Obviously, shooting stuff is all well and good, but... Why would you do that when you could instead use THE PHOENIX FORCE
This flaming dash is the single best way to lay on a staggering amount of damage quickly! You can do it at any time by pressing Down + Jump when you're at full health. If you press Down + Jump when you're not at full health, you'll do a long-range invincible dash.

The other move that you have is a parry: Counter Force! By double-tapping the fire button, Eagle will punch forward and send out a short-range energy burst that will change any non-beam enemy bullet into some delicious health pickups. Perceptive readers might already know where I'm going with this!
Phoenix Force, then use Counter Force to parry some bullets, fill up your health that Phoenix Force costs when you use it, and repeat to keep throwing it out as much as you can! Though, Counter Force doesn't negate EVERY bullet or attack launched at you - I'd still suggest trying it out on everything and seeing what works!
Character Action Before Character Action
These mechanics working together feel very similar, in my mind, to what makes character action games a really interesting genre. The player experimentation and growth, the spectacle combat, the player expression, the challenge, the eventual mechanical mastery, and the sheer depth of the game despite being relatively straightforward on the surface. Lots of these qualities are what I personally look for when I think of what makes a game a character action game. This is also, primarily, a boss-rush game focused around super stylish setpieces and intense boss attack patterns, which really reminds me of a certain other series...

Thanks!
Anyway, y'all, thanks for reading if you made it this far! I really love this game and I feel like it's an underrated classic, even if it's extraordinarily difficult. Hope you enjoyed me doing a little impromptu piece on this game, I didn't really have an outline or plans, just wanted to ramble about this game!
Go play it! It's available on the Nintendo Switch Sega Genesis service thing, and it's 99 cents on Steam. There's a few other ways to play it, including some compilations, a PS2 rerelease, and π΄ββ οΈILLEGAL MEANSβ οΈ but, y'know. It's up to y'all to figure that out!
Thanks! I might do a few more of these on some other games or genres that I like!
