I admire its impurity: Alien Syndrome / Aztec Adventure | Segaiden

[@jeromeellsworth1320]

I'll be looking forward to "Guts Level Works," Jeremy's in-depth exploration of the history Giger imagery in video games.

[@Larry]

I had the SMS version of Alien Syndrome as a kid, the fact enemies would spawn where you're standing when you moved the screen drive me nuts. SIMS did try and fix a lot of the SMS versions issues with the Game Gear version though. Which is also a sequel, Alien Storm is canonically a sequel too.

[@orpheusx]

Another video with fantastic video capture quality. Oh, and some interesting commentary. :)

[@BigBangBlitz]

I appreciate the Upright Citizen's Brigade line at the end.

[@RoGoGradStudent]

Titular line!

[@GreatistheWorld]

My withered memory was correct: to an exceptional degree, Aliens really did have its own vibe on VHS

[@joezar33]

Aztec Adventure is my favorite 8bit Zelda like game on the Sega Master System

[@KorenLesthe]

My favorite Alien "hommages" are from the Turrican games, especially Turrican 2 on Amiga and 3 / Mega Turrican ^^.

[@David-ln8qh]

Never knew how similar Alien Syndrome was to Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I would've loved it as a kid.

[@slightlyevolved]

Ahhh. I always loved vacationing in Mexiru.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

It's definitely interesting that Tengen wound up publishing an unlicensed more accurate to the arcade version of Alien Syndrome.

[@skuzzbunny]

Aztec Adventure would make a fun rom-hack update project...!!o

[@Belgand]

From what I gather Alien was such a massive success in Japan that even the Roger Corman-produced knock-off, Galaxy of Terror, did quite well there and became a cult hit. To the point of showing up as a direct reference in other works with erotic tentacle monster content, such as Call Me Tonight.

[@johnnygrind77]

I dunno if anyone has said this to you ever, but thank you, Jeremy, for pronouncing H.R. Giger's name CORRECTLY! So many people say it like Geiger. Ironically, I was listening to The Dead Kennedys today, who also featured H.R. Giger artwork on their album, "Frankenchrist." I love Wednesdays. Thank you.

[@aBetterMove]

When speedrunning Alien Syndrome this year I've found that you can wangle a flamethrower upgrade for the final Boss, Mr Mimi. We are still digging into the code because there's a secondary condition but what we know for now is if you can collect 25 to 29 ? powerups without them triggering invincibiity you at least have a chance of the powerup.

[@tolindaniel]

I had the Atari ST port of Alien Syndrome as a kid and it actually terrified me - the really low, discordant echoing bass in the music was really unsettling, and the distorted voice samples felt like the stuff of nightmares.

[@aguilerajohn]

That range is giving me king colossus flashbacks

[@jmullner76]

Playing Aztec Adventure as a kid, it was fun but frustrating. Of course now it is obvious why. This actually would make for a good re-imagining like the Wonder Boy games that cam out recently.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Realizing one's kid self wasn't bad but inexperienced, and sometimes the games weren't only too hard, but also really bad, is quite the trip..!

[@billcook4768]

Can’t say I love these games. But I do love me some Billy Ocean. Get out of my dreams… and into my car.

[@Agrahim]

Having a crappy day, listening to some of his videos making it better. I have to admit I underrate this channel, every video is good.

[@FerretWarlord1]

The xenomorph influence is obvious, but when I see Alien Syndrome, with many of its monsters being human parts that were haphazardly blended into an amorphous lump of meat, I'm more reminded of John Carpenter's The Thing.

[@Sixfortyfive]

Aztec Adventure does seem to pull at least some of its fundamental gameplay from an arcade title. "Legend" is a 1986 side-scroller that has basically an identical bribery/mercenary mechanic (right down to the "OH!" pop-up on recruitment) and some other similarities in its inventory / sub-weapons. I've seen Legend attributed to both Sega and Coreland (who were frequent Sega collaborators in the System 1 era), but I've never come across a reputable source for that, and Legend runs on a Kyugo-manufactured board rather than any hardware that Sega put out themselves.

[@Sixfortyfive]

Only vid I could find on a quick search, since "Legend" is a pretty unhelpful generic search term: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pavak5yXZdB8h9k

[@satoukazuma7952]

I had both of these games when I was very young, and I really wanted to like them because they at least LOOK appealing at first glance, but the gameplay just never lived up to expectations. When it comes to Giger-inspired Master System games, it's pretty hard to beat R-Type imo. Definitely looking forward to that one!

[@Kaylakaze]

I never realized James Cameron did Aliens. It seems he did the exact same thing to that series as he did to Terminator: took a horror movie and turned it into an adventure

[@ginormousaurus8394]

Aliens reminded me of the movie Them (1954), which was about giant ants that were mutated by radiation. Both films featured a little girl who was the sole survivor of an attack by the monsters, soldiers fighting the monsters, people entering the monsters' nest, and the monster eggs being destroyed by flamethrowers. The original Alien had similarities to the films It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and Planet of the Vampires (1965).

[@LKitesar]

you said the titular line!

[@JeremyParish]

I appreciate how many people are watching this all the way to the end

[@LKitesar]

@@JeremyParish I always tend to. I like to try and guess what game/s are coming next. you're scripts have been very sharp and punchy with the wit lately - btw!

[@supercrownjosie7732]

"less wretched than dragon power" should have been on the box

[@thankyou329]

"miserable butter knife" lmao 🤣

[@YesterdaysMoose]

Lest we forget the heavily Aliens inspired 1987 Atari / Midway classic Xenophobe.

[@chadwickjdillon]

My god, he Did have the titular line!

[@nzz6063]

The titular line in the film!

[@tolindaniel]

Above all the seven seas, I'd want to drown in the Billy Ocean.

[@woooordtest2874]

They should've added a continue feature in Aztec for sure, but there is at least a secret level select code that definitely helped me finish it.

[@jasonblalock4429]

6:00 And most recently it was one of the SMS games you can collect and play in the Like A Dragon (Yakuza) spinoff Lost Judgment.

[@enkidude]

The titular line!

[@Boonehams]

"The Millennium Falcon wasn't a bird! Have you even seen Star Wars?"

[@murphiverse]

Hi Jeremy! Love your videos. I appreciate how much effort and thought you put into the descriptions of these old, simple games. I'm curious, is there an episode where you address why you tape yourself with a 80's era video camera? I get the concept, I'm just curious if you ever address it. Thanks for covering old-school SEGA!

[@StefKnightCS]

amazing job

[@taidan19]

I think someone once said this in a very old, 1up-era episode of Retronauts, but it’s amazing how much of the Japanese game industry can be traced back to Aliens and Laputa

[@jamesmoss3424]

Alien Syndrome is an amazing Sega arcade game. 😀👍🎮

[@rubberwoody]

First xenophobe, Metroid, and contra now this. Ridley Scott and Cameron had a ton of influence over 80s video games It just have something to do with xenomorphs' silluoutes being easy to portray in 8 bit

[@jonothanthrace1530]

And Zelda.

[@rubberwoody]

@@jonothanthrace1530 Zelda?

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@rubberwoody It was inspired partially by the movie Legend.

[@travisjordan3853]

Don't forget George Lucas & Steven Spielberg's influence as well with Star Wars & Indiana Jones. Star Wars for example, was referenced in the Xenogear's art book, Perfect Works, which cited Darth Vader as the main inspiration for the character Grahf. Meanwhile, Elly's outfit was based on a combination of the armour worn by the Imperial Stormtroopers and a race queen's dress.

[@ginormousaurus8394]

@@travisjordan3853 The armoured guards in Phantasy Star resembled a cross between the Imperial stormtroopers and Boba Fett from the Star Wars movies, like the clone troopers that would later appear in Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

[@guyfromnj]

I had the master system when I was a kid I had Alien syndrome, Alex kid, rocky, Alf, a racing game and maybe a couple others. Once I get the nes I didn’t buy master system games anymore. Well my parents didn’t I was a child.

[@SaturmornCarvilli]

I only played the arcade version of Alien Syndrome. Ultimately, I found it had too much search and rescue. Ironically, unlike SNK's SAR: Search and Rescue. Which I vastly prefer in the top down, scroll in different directions and fight aliens genre of video games.

[@marxisttheoryandlore]

Oh shit, I didn't know Master System had an Upright Citizens Brigade game

[@goranisacson2502]

Never heard of Aztec Adventure before, what animals are the companions? Am I just seeing things, or is it the classic Bird/ Dog / Monkey trio of the Momotaro fairy tale?

[@JeremyParish]

Sorry, I'm pretty sure the "monkey" is a cat.

[@allluckyseven]

On our next episode: 🎶Raaaaay Guuuuun! 🎶

[@itsmerickv]

Was that the titular line from Star Wars?

[@MrVyvyanbasterd]

I don't think it's accurate that the number of non-weapon pickups you get (I'm guessing you're talking about "?" and "W" panels) relates to the weapon you have at the boss. You get what you entered the boss fight with.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Sure....but no excuses sega. Look at the 3rd party nes version!!

[@FrothingManiac]

Aztec Adventure actaully looks a bit worse than Lagoon which is something.

[@joezar33]

It's actually a decent game

[@FrothingManiac]

In that case I don't know what to believe any more.

[@Mythicaldrip]

Get in the backseat, baby!

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

Agreed on Alien Syndrome, great coun op but a mostly bland SMS game. 😎👏👍

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Fun fact: The Japanese language only has five vowels, and they order them specifically as A I U E and O. Pretty much all sounds in Japanese can be made by appending one of eight consonants to the front of one of these vowels; there are no standalone consonants in Japanese (besides N). It's so orderly you can easily look up a chart and maybe a youtube video and learn how to pronounce 99% of Japanese words in less than an hour, and learn to read hiragana and katakana in a week or two. Why does that matter? The mercenaries in Aztec Adventure, as Jeremy mentioned, are Papi, Pupe, and Po. It's literally just the P line in the kana chart, broken up a little bit to sound like cute names. It's sorta like if, in English, they were named Alan, Bob, and Cedric but like 4x sillier.

[@EvanCWaters]

The Pa Pi Pu Pe Po?

[@ValkyrieTiara]

@@EvanCWaters If that's a Metal Gear reference, then yes the La-li-lu-le-lo is similar lol

[@robintst]

Master System Alien Syndrome being made flip screen isn't it's worst transgression, it's more that the player movement feels too stiff and that square D-pad with it's lack of tactile feel is one of the worst things ever created. Really a lot of experiences were made worse on the Master System by that terrible controller and not every game played nice with trying to swap in a Genesis pad.

[@ginormousaurus8394]

Yes, Alien Syndrome is one of the Master System games that are incompatible with the Genesis controller. Others include Bomber Raid, Great Volleyball, Montezuma's Revenge, Penguin Land, Tennis Ace, Shanghai, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Wonder Boy in Monster Land.

[@robintst]

@@ginormousaurus8394 Wonder Boy was the most disappointing for me in that respect, the platforming in it demands a better D-pad.

[@Chocfacebear]

I bet he’s gonna do Out of Africa

[@Makeshift_Mulder]

Can you believe "I'm so tired of all these 'Cats: The Movie'..." actually happened?..

[@rootbeer_666]

I can’t believe that guy at the video store had the title _and_ titular line in that movie

[@billyjesus5442]

dude it looks really misty in there

[@diyapia]

The time bomb is set!

[@Dr.W.Krueger]

That port looks atrocious