With Alien prequel Prometheus nearing its release, Retro Gamer looks back at some of its favourite videogame aliens, both friendly and hostile.

The regimented and orderly Space Invaders are the most recognisable aliens in gaming, having appeared on everything from footwear to shower curtains.

As well helping grow the games industry with its success and popularity, Taito’s seminal shooter holds the honour of being the first ‘killer-app’ when the game was licensed by Atari for release on its 2600 and sales of the console soared. Yet despite being famous around the world, little is known about the humble Space Invader, but here’s what we’ve managed to glean…

Clearly a hostile race, that they move in fomration means they probably have a collective consciousness, and becoming more aggressive as their numbers are gradually whittled down says to us that they’re an intelligent race too. They’re also determined, never backing down from a fight even when one solitary alien is all that remains of their assault. Actually, we guess that last point could just mean they’re really, really stupid. In which case that goes completely against our earlier point about them being intelligent. Now we’re confused. Erm… have we mentioned they move in unison?

With Alien prequel Prometheus nearing its release, Retro Gamer looks back at some of its favourite videogame aliens, both friendly and hostile.  

Howard Scott Warshaw programmed two 2600 games starring alien heroes. One was the infamous E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial (which, given the amount of landfill it created, could be the only videogame in history visible from outer space), and the second was Yar’s Revenge, a superb shooter for the Atari 2600 that became the best-selling original Atari game for the machine.

As explained in the Quotile Ultimatum - a comic book packaged with the game, Yars evolved from common houseflies. When a manned space excursion goes wrong, a shuttle crashes into a strange planet and the high radiation levels caused by the explosion cause the flies on board to mutate into humanoid creatures.

A peaceful race, they soon begin populating several planets in the solar system. However, their existence soon comes under threat from a nefarious alien called the Quotile, which starts decimating their planets one by one. With just one remaining, it falls to a single Yar to breach the Quotile’s shield and destroy it using a powerful weapon known as the Zorlon Cannon.

As well as a deep back story (for a 2600 game), what made Yar so cool was that he flew in the face of the limited visual capabilitiess of the 2600. Gnawing away the shield of its enemy target, furiously flapping his wings and basically just behaving like a housefly, Warshaw packed a lot of character into the little guy.

With Alien prequel Prometheus nearing its release, Retro Gamer looks back at some of its favourite videogame aliens, both friendly and hostile.  

A run and gunner like few others, Alien Soldier is typical Treasure. With a large number of short and easy levels working at odds with many super-tough bosses, it’s a boss rush that has little time for casual gamers, and seems proud of the fact.

Epsilon Eagle is part of a parasitic race of genetically created beings that are able to link themselves to animals and machinery, and this explains why his appearance is comprises an odd mix of bird feathers and metal. Originally the leader of a criminal outfit called ‘Scarlett’ (Treasure often likes to link elements of its games to light and colour), the game explains that Epsilon turned on his team after bonding with a boy with paranormal powers, setting the scene for this unique and challenging Mega Drive title.

Alien Solider never recieved a physical release in North America and was instead only made available through Sega’s short-lived Sega Channel, a cable games service for Genesis. The same thing also happened to the Genesis games Golden Axe III, Pulseman and Mega Man: The Wily Wars in the region.