''Alien'' is a 1982 maze video game for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

published by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. Based on the 1979 film, ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' is a maze game written by

Doug Neubauer Doug Neubauer is an American integrated circuit designer, video game designer, and programmer best known for the logic design on Atari's POKEY chip and designing and programming the 1979 video game ''Star Raiders'' which became the killer app f ...

, but credited in the packaging as "Dallas North." Neubauer is best known for 1979's ''

Star Raiders ''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kille ...

''. ''Alien'' for the Atari 2600 is the first officially licensed game of the ''Alien'' film series.

Gameplay

The player controls a member of the human crew pursued by three aliens in the hallways of a ship. The goal is to destroy the alien eggs laid in the hallways (like the dots in ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

''). The player is armed with a

flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World ...

which can temporarily immobilize the aliens. Additionally, "pulsars" (like the power pills in ''Pac-Man'') occasionally appear which turn the tables, allowing the human to overpower the aliens. Alien 1982 atari 2600.gif, Level 1 Alien atari 2600 level 2.gif, Level 2

References

External links

''Alien''
at Atari Mania * 1980s horror video games 1982 video games Alien (franchise) games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Fox Video Games games Pac-Man clones Single-player video games Video games based on films Video games developed in the United States {{action-videogame-stub