Xenophobe (video game)
- For the phobic attitude, see Xenophobia.
| Xenophobe | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Bally Midway |
| Publisher(s) | Bally Midway |
| Designer(s) | Brian Colin & Howard Shere |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 800, XL/XE, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, Lynx, ZX Spectrum Nintendo Entertainment System Bundled with Midway Arcade Treasures 2: Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation Portable Bundled with Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition: PC Windows |
| Release | 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Up to 3 players simultaneously |
Xenophobe is a 1987 arcade game published by Bally Midway. A starbase is infested with aliens, and the player has to kill the aliens before it is completely overrun.
Description
The Arcade Game can be played by up to 3 players, and the goal of each level is to defeat all the aliens before time runs out. Every level may contain more than one floor, and players will have to use an elevator to move between floors to defeat all of the aliens. Players may also pick up more powerful weapons and other items to help in their eradication of the aliens.
The hostile aliens (known as "Xenos") came in different forms. There were eggs which had to be destroyed (similar to the eggs in Alien). If the egg hatched, it would create a hatchling which would attach itself to the player and drain energy, require the player to use a button to beat away the hatchling. If a hatchling was not killed, it would eventually mature into a "Snotterpillar" (a cross between a lizard, caterpillar, and armadillo). Snotterpillars were one of the tougher enemies, as they could ball themselves up and roll around while invincible. The player had to wait for a Snotterpillar to unball before it could be harmed. Snotterpillars would sometimes grow into the "adult" Xeno form, which moved and attacked by leaping and required multiple hits to kill from most weapons. Other Xenos included tentacles that would randomly appear from the deck or overhead, which would trap or strangle the player respectively, requiring the player to use a knife to break free from the tentacle. Another difficult enemy was a Xeno "mastermind" which would appear either at doors or behind certain backgrounds and throw bombs at the player. This form also required multiple hits to kill, and would visibly grimace in pain when hit. However, getting too close to the door alien would allow it to shoot hypnotic eye beams which would electrocute the player, draining his energy until he managed to break free by pushing a button.
This game was unusual in that it split the single monitor into three separate sections, one for each player. This allowed the players to operate cooperatively, but also allowed the separate players to wander around freely, a feature not found on most cooperative multiplayer games. With most games that allowed multiple players at once, all players were bound by the edges of the screen (that is, all the players had to be in the same general area on the screen, so it could contain them all). Because the game featured such high resolution for its time, the split screen didn't detract from the game's graphic appeal.
There are nine characters to choose from in Xenophobe, three for each joystick. The leftmost controller (red) allows Mr. M.Brace, Dr. Kwack and Col. Poupon. The middle controller (yellow) offers Mr. Fogg, Col F. Truth and Dr. Udderbay. The right controller (blue) offers Mr. Eeez, Dr. Zordiz and Col. Schickn. Humans and aliens alike make up the playable characters -- for instance, Dr. Kwack has a duck's head. Players were also color-coded. For instance, the left player's choices wore red shirts, middle player's yellow, and right player's blue.
Ports
Like many games of this era, Xenophobe was ported to many home systems. Beginning in 1988, it was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Lynx and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Atari ported Xenophobe over to its systems while Sunsoft ported it to the NES. The Commodore 64 port was done by Microplay. In 2004 it was including in Midway's Arcade Treasures 2 for the PS2 and Nintendo Gamecube.
External links
- Xenophobe at the Killer List of Videogames
- Xenophobe at MobyGames
- Xenophobe at SpectrumComputing.co.uk