Square's unreleased Aliens game for Famicom Disk System uncovered

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 15th 2011 5:30PM

Man, what is it about the Aliens franchise that makes its video game adaptations so easily cancelable? Long, long before Obsidian's Aliens RPG ended up on the cutting room floor, Square had its own unreleased entry into the franchise: A 1987 side-scrolling action game for the Famicom Disk System (the disk-loading NES attachment which never quite made it stateside).

A ROM for the canned title recently appeared online; you can check out some footage from an emulated version of the game over at 1UP. It actually doesn't look too terrible -- though back in 1987, we really only had room in our hearts for one unstoppable, alien-obliterating heroine, and that room was totally already spoken for.

Source: 1UP

Tags: aliens, canceled, famicom, famicom-disk-system, nes, square, Square-Enix

Reader Comments (24)

XENOMORPH!!!!

@arucious

Another bug hunt

@Stevetrop Man of Mystery

I only need to know one thing man. Where they are.

It is horrible horrible game.
Be sure to read HILARIOUS review here:
http://dreamandfriends.com/2011/01/06/aliens-squareactivision-unreleased/

http://dreamandfriends.com/2011/01/08/aliens-walkthrough-part-2/

http://dreamandfriends.com/2011/01/14/aliens-walkthrough-the-shocking-finale/

ROFLOL

@anonim1979
I wonder why Activision's name is on it. Activision actually released a version of Aliens for the Commodore 64 that looked nothing like the side scroller in the links and was a pretty great game (for it's time).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wWRSMCYAyI

thats crazy, its like playing a new game for an old system. I wonder how many PS2 games will be uncoverd in the year 2030

Despite the movie, I remember Alien 3 on the SNES being a petty good side-scrolling action game from Probe.

@MrTyzik Acclaim put out a few games similar to that one. Judge Dredd was basically Alien 3 re-skinned, and it was pretty darn good. Better than the movie of course.

@MrTyzik Probe Entertainment. I remember those guys. They were da shit back in the day. Really great developer, who remained independent for quite a long time. Probably the worst thing that happened to them, was getting bought by Acclaim who had a justly earned reputation for producing tons of shitty games. When Acclaim's house of cards finally collapsed, they pretty much took out Probe, Iguana and any other reputable dev who had the misfortune of being purchased by Acclaim, with them.

What I would have asked my parents to buy this DAY ONE, I love ALIENS!

@The angry pro consumer gaming ga

Its okay to love Aliens, just don't, you know, *love* Aliens... >_>

I had Alien 3 for NES it was actually a pretty kick ass game, and it was brand new when I also had a Genesis.

After looking at the gameplay I'm a little upset they didn't release it... I can see a younger version of myself playing the hell out of it!

I want this on Virtual Console. I mean, Ufouria and Bio Miracle Bokutta Upa both are VC releases, so why not this?

GAME OVER MAN!

if you watch the video I think that big blue alien was coming on to him.

Konami made an Aliens arcade game where you couldn't jump, you could be either Ripley or Hicks, it wasn't bad. It's not Capcom's AvP, but then again, NOTHING is.

@TheRedComet

I loved that game too. Especially the shooting segments where you were on top of the transport tank vehicle.

Nothing will ever beat Capcom's AvP though.