Alien (Atari 2600) - Longplay
1This Pac-Man clone of the movie Alien is so much better on the Atari 2600 than that sorry excuse of an arcade port. Not sure how those are xenomorphs though. Ripley looks just like she does in the movie and story is legit. She has to traverse the mazes destroying all the alien eggs while evading whatever those creatures are. She has a flamethrower, but I noticed in later levels it doesn't seem to work. There's a bonus stage after each level where Ripley can pick up special items for points. Definitely not a shovelware game on the Atari.
The Atari 2600 game *Alien*, released in 1982 by 20th Century Fox, is a maze-based action game inspired by the popular 1979 sci-fi horror film *Alien*. While the game draws on the movie's theme, it plays similarly to *Pac-Man*. Players control a character tasked with navigating through a series of mazes aboard a spaceship, where they must avoid hostile aliens (resembling Xenomorphs) and collect eggs scattered throughout the maze.
The game is divided into different levels, each featuring a unique maze layout. The player can defend themselves using a flamethrower to temporarily fend off the aliens, but the weapon has limited use, so it must be used strategically. The goal is to clear the maze of all eggs while avoiding being caught by the aliens. Once the player clears a maze, they move on to a more challenging level. As the levels progress, the number of aliens increases, and their speed and aggression ramp up, making the game more difficult.
Alien for the Atari 2600 is a fast-paced, tension-filled experience that capitalizes on the eerie atmosphere of its film inspiration, though within the technical limits of the early 1980s gaming hardware. The game's simple graphics and sound effects are typical of the Atari 2600, but it still manages to capture the essence of suspense and danger, making it a memorable title for fans of the era.
Alien
Atari 2600
Full Game
Longplay
Playthrough
*any muted scenes are likely due to YouTube's automatic copyright system