Alien Soldier is a single-player run and gun that Treasure developed and Sega released on the Mega Drive in Japan on 24 February 1995. Hideyuki Suganami produced it and led the programming, Norio Hanzawa wrote the music, and the team deliberately aimed it at hardcore Mega Drive players, sticking with the 16-bit console even though 32-bit machines were already on sale.
The game is built around bosses. The team first planned 100 of them; with a deadline of 3 January 1995, only about half of the original ideas made it in, and the finished game has 25 stages and 26 bosses, including Seven Force from Gunstar Heroes. There are six weapon types, four of which can be equipped at once.
Europe received the cartridge in May 1995, but in North America the game existed only as a Sega Channel title. It later came back on Wii Virtual Console in 2007, on Steam in January 2011 and on Nintendo Switch Online in March 2022.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Alien SoldierNo cartridge in North America; offered only through the Sega Channel service | Genesis | 1995 | Sega | 2 |
| JP | エイリアンソルジャー | Genesis | Feb 24, 1995 | Sega | 1 |
| EU | Alien SoldierPAL cartridge; also sold in Australia | Genesis | May 1995 | Sega | 2 |
| JP | SEGA AGES 2500 シリーズ Vol.25 ガンスターヒーローズ ～トレジャーボックス～Compilation Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box; later on PS2 Archives (19 September 2012) | PlayStation 2 | 2006 | Sega | 1 |
| WW | Alien SoldierVirtual Console, autumn 2007 | Wii | 2007 | Sega | 2 |
| WW | Alien SoldierSteam | Windows | Jan 6, 2011 | Sega | 2 |
| WW | Alien SoldierNintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (Sega Mega Drive library); English Wikipedia gives 16 March 2022, a Japanese source cited on Japanese Wikipedia gives 17 March 2022 | Switch | March 2022 | — | 2 |
Also known as: エイリアンソルジャー JP1
Box art by region
EU Alien Soldier 
JP エイリアンソルジャー
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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ContentGenesis (NA)
North America never got a cartridge: American players could only get the game through the Sega Channel, while Japan and PAL territories had retail releases.2
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ContentPS2 Treasure Box (JP)
The 2006 PlayStation 2 compilation includes both the Japanese and the PAL version, adds video filters and comes with a recorded expert playthrough.2
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Difficultyall versions
There are two difficulty settings: the default SUPERHARD, with no passwords or unlimited continues, and SUPEREASY, which allows both.1
Where to play legally today
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Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
Reception
Famitsu's cross-review gave the Mega Drive game 24 out of 40, with all four reviewers pointing to its difficulty, and GameRankings averaged 82%. Because few copies shipped late in the Mega Drive's life, used cartridges were selling for over 20,000 yen (about US$200) by 2006.2
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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