Alien vs. Predator (1994 Arcade Review)

Continuing my run of arcade games that haven’t seen the light of day in decades, only this time it’s not 100% accurate. Because, technically, Alien vs. Predator has been re-released as part of the ugliest plug-and-play arcade device I’ve ever seen. One of the most “Huh?” and “Wha?” releases I’ve ever seen, and that’s before you even see what the plug and play looks like. Because, seriously, it looks like this..

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Yes, that’s real. BUT, it does have a hell of a lineup. Sixteen heavy-hitters are there, including some of my favorites. Puzzle Fighter? There. 1944: Loop Master? There. Even stuff I hate like Strider or Ghosts ‘n Goblins are there. Most importantly: this is the only OFFICIAL home release of Alien vs. Predator.. as in the actual 1994 Capcom arcade brawler, to ever happen. Yea, it’s true. Weird. Random. I believe it only came out in the UK, so check Amazon or a local retailer near you to see if they have it in stock (they likely don’t). I think it looks dumb, but I’ve heard it’s a very good build quality. Meanwhile, us yanks have been S.O.L. when it comes to re-releases of Alien vs. Predator. BUT, I’m very optimistic we’ll see a re-release soon. PROBABLY as an Arcade1Up, but, I’m guessing a solo release too. Either way, I’m getting ahead of the curve. Because Alien vs. Predator is probably the best brawler Capcom ever put out. It’s f’n Capcom, so that’s saying something.

Two of the playable characters are Predators and both are fun to use. One is a human male who is slow and clunky but packs a punch. Then there’s the chick, and she turned out to be pretty dang good. Honestly, I know people expect to play an Alien vs. Predator game for the Predators, but actually, the humans are fun to use as well.

Believe in the hype on this one. Probably the weakest aspect is that the seven levels couldn’t be more generic if they were actively trying. But, the combat, variety of enemies, and the difference between the four main characters couldn’t be more startling.. or awesome. This is especially helped by having some of the best OOMPH of any brawler, ever. OOMPH is my pet term for violence in video games having authentic weight and inertia to it. When you hit something in AvP, it just SEEMS like you’re causing to pain to whatever you just smacked. Capcom were the masters of this and had this down to a science by this point of their existence, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. What really impressed me was that even the bullets and weapons had this correct. That’s something that is often lacking from your Final Fights or Knights of the Round or even later with your Armored Warriors. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs came close, but AvP is the most Oomphful brawler I’ve played, and that makes it a joy to play.

FYI, this time around, I did play AvP co-op. Just not on the typical platform I use for this feature. When I tried, it refused to recognize two different controllers. We actually have a dedicated MAME cabinet, but it’s not hooked-up online and it’s not convenient to transfer screen-caps from platform to platform. Rest assured, my father and I had an absolute blast. Old man Oscar isn’t the biggest brawler fan, but the full experienced only took about 45 minutes to finish and it just never gets a chance to get old.

My father didn’t even mind the set pieces. Oh I did. Actually, let me rephrase that: there were NO set pieces. If you’re going to give us seven levels of AvP, come on, go nuts. Be wacky. Get weird. Mix in some different gameplay to break-up the fisticuffs. While this brawler has a lot more personality than most games in the genre, it also doesn’t experiment or do anything at all to change-up the core gameplay. There’s an elevator level, because of course there is. I’m convinced at this point that if you wanted to make a side-scrolling beat-em-up in the 90s, you had to include an elevator level, or else you had to pay a fine or something. Or maybe you had to eat turkey you found in a garbage can. That’d be a fitting punishment. “What’s for dinner?” “GARBAGE TURKEY!” “Do I have to?” “We warned you to include an elevator.” “You did, but.. everybody has an elevator.” “AND EVERYBODY GOT TO AVOID EATING GARBAGE TURKEY…….. until you.” Then came the tears and begging. This happened.

The Alien Queen also shows up twice and doubles as the last boss, though it attacks differently the second time around. Eh, okay, fine, the bosses are a let-down too.

My father asked me if anyone actually pays attention to the backgrounds during these games. Well.. yea, Daddio. That’s what makes them feel real. If it was the same background over and over again, I’d think we’d notice. Say what you will about The Simpsons arcade game, but I’ll never forget that Moe’s Tavern is basically the size of an airport runway. Turtles in Time’s Neon Night Riders is one of THE most memorable aspects of the game. It’s not just a Hanna-Barbera-like wallpaper that repeats the same three backgrounds. These games work best when there’s a memorable setting. It’s part of what allows our suspension of disbelief that we’re not just manipulating a series of 1s and 0s shaped vaguely like characters from movies and comic books. It does matter, and Capcom was really bad at creating memorable set-pieces. Sorry, fans, but it’s true. Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy they focused on gameplay, but I think if Alien vs. Predator isn’t considered one of the all-time greats of arcades, it’s because it’s really generic outside of the character designs.

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I suppose I do have to call out the bosses as well. They weren’t crappy, per se. But, yea, they also lacked personality. I mean, the Xenomorphs aren’t exactly generic movie monsters, are they? Yet, they’re sort of reduced to that in Alien vs. Predator. Perhaps too much of a good thing. You do fight a rogue Predator at one point, but it’s probably the most dull battle in the game. You also slay plenty of humans and also fight a giant mech twice, and both times my father wondered out-loud if it inspired the mech suit from Avatar (it IS really close!). I don’t know what could have broken up this. Maybe the Xenomorphs should have been used more sparingly. Maybe it was the opposite problem as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, which had not enough dinosaurs. Maybe this had too many Aliens, and it took the starch out of them when they were used as bosses. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that I don’t think this could have lasted even one more level before it started to wear out its welcome. Seven levels was the perfect length. Just spot-on perfect. I played this twice today. Once alone. Once with my father. I never got bored, but I think I was right on the cusp of it both times before the ending. Good call, Capcom. You absolutely nailed the length. You’re rarely perfect, but when you are, golly, you pick the right things to be perfect about.

Actually, THERE IS a section that breaks up the monotony: the convoy level. Do you know what the problem is? It happens too soon in the game. This should have happened around level five. Instead, it’s the third level, and it doesn’t have a memorable finale to it. It just.. ends. Oh, and your gun is always fully-charged and doesn’t “overheat” on this stage. I mean.. it’s nice but it ain’t all that.

If it seems like I’m being hard on Alien vs. Predator, it’s only because I really enjoyed it a lot. At the same time, it’s hardly perfect. There’s lessons to be learned in the flaws the truly great games make, and I’d say AvP crosses that threshold. It’s just under an hour of semi-mindless punchy perfection. The three-button gameplay is really nicely done. There’s punching, jumping, and there’s also a permanent projectile weapon. You can’t just spam the projectile. It overheats if you overdo it. My Dad couldn’t grasp this concept, whereas I spent most of my second game trying to pace it out. There’s also a massive variety of weapons that enemies drop, and in massive quantities too. I can’t remember a game that drops THIS many weapons. Credit where it’s due to designers Tetsuya Iijima, Toshihiko Uda, and Jun Matsumura: they figured out the “fun stuff” of previous brawlers and put a high premium on them. Picking up weapons the enemies drop and using them on other enemies? That’s fun. Well, hell.. let’s just go bonkers with that! WHY NOT? It doesn’t effect the difficulty at all. The game still presents a fair and frisky challenge for those seeking it. But, it also assures nobody can get bored. And you don’t. This is really spectacular.

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So, let it be said: sometimes a legend gets that status for a reason. Even when it was just me playing alone, Alien vs. Predator sealed its status as probably the best forty-five minutes of digital punching and kicking you can find. Well, if you can find it. Yea, you can emulate it, but a lot of people aren’t down with that. As much fun as I’ve had in 2023 finding these games that haven’t been re-released in forever, there’s something heartbreaking about it. An urgency that indie games don’t have. Because, there’s a strong chance that most licensed games couldn’t be re-released even if the studio wanted to.

We NEED to reform licensing in video games. Right now, it’s done the same way you’d license a toy to a toy manufacturer to do an action figure. You’re basically agreeing that, for a window of time, you have the right to make game, and when that window shuts, you don’t have that right anymore. Even though games take bigger teams and cost more money to develop than an action figure does, they’re more or less agreeing to the same basic terms and conditions. We need to change this. There should be a public outcry to change it. A game studio who makes a licensed game should ask for.. maybe even demand.. the right to re-release that specific game the license was written for.. FOREVER, without approval or renegotiating, with an agreement that the royalty will always be paid at the same rate. Companies don’t want to do this and will cite that a studio could re-release old games that eat into the profits of new games.

Imagine going to all the cost and effort of making a Three Stooges game and not being able to just re-release it without having to be at the mercy of the licensor. A licensor who has.. (checks notes) ah yes, ALL THE LEVERAGE! The basic language of a game license is almost unchanged since the days of Atari. Well, let’s reform that. The thing is, it only takes one studio to create a new standard. Just one. It’s not asking for the world. It’s not asking for an unlimited license FOREVER. It’s asking that, on specific projects, for the right to monetize and re-release THAT project on all future platforms. Does that sound totally unreasonable? Of course not. It sounds pretty similar to the types of deals a licensor would make for a motion picture. It only takes one studio to have the balls to step up and say “we’re spending millions making this game. Why are we taking all this massive risk on with only a small window.. maybe a couple years, maybe a full generation, but maybe not even that?” In fact, I dare say this will make licensed games more valuable and maybe even get the bidding up, especially if studios can re-release the project on all future generations. So, who’s going to step up? Because it’s time. YOU’RE NOT MAKING ACTION FIGURES! Stop making licensing deals like you are, because then we all suffer for it.

Well, we now have actual verifiable proof that’s bullcrap. In 2022, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got both a classic collection AND a brand new release, within just a few months of each-other. FROM TWO DIFFERENT STUDIOS, NONETHELESS! Think about how unlikely that specific sequence of events is in gaming. Well, I’ve seen no evidence the audience for one cannibalized the audience for the other. They both did really well, and why wouldn’t they? It’s illogical to think one hurts the other. Fan bases don’t work that way. If anything, people are more likely to re-buy old games on new platforms just for the convenience, and the hype for the re-release of an old game will complement and even combine, Voltron-style, with the hype for a new game. Someone has to be the first to do this. I know that my audience is made up mostly of game developers, including many AAA execs. So, to you, my suited friend reading this, let me ask you something: someone is going to be the first to do this. Why not have it be you? If I devoted this site to nothing but lost licensed games, I will NEVER run out of material. This has to end. Now.

Alien vs. Predator is Chick-Approved

Alien vs. Predator was developed by Capcom