The Classic Arcade and Console Era (1972-1989) - Xenophobe
Grab two friends and play this innovative Aliens-inspired action arcade shooter with triple split screen play.
RELEASE DATE: 1987
DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Bally Midway
BEST VERSIONS: Arcade, Atari Lynx
PLAYABILITY TODAY: Fairly playable
As we’ve covered with Alien Syndrome and several other games by this point, the 1986 film Aliens had a pretty profound inspiration on action gaming that continues to this day, thanks in part to the creepy look and feel of the Alien Xenomorphs (originally designed by H.R. Giger for the 1979 film Alien, but further developed by Stan Winston for the sequel) and also to the kill ‘em all action scenes and Bill Paxton’s immortal improvised line, “Game over, man!”. A few of the many games which owe an obvious debt to Aliens include Metroid, Space Hulk, Contra, R-Type, Alien Breed and Dead Space – and there are far more beyond that than I’d ever care to list.
But one that often gets overlooked is Bally Midway’s very weird (and not at all subtle) take on the film, the 1987 arcade game Xenophobe, which is novel not only because it has the same sort of amusing, distinctively American high-resolution graphics seen in games like Tapper, Timber and Domino Man, but also because it splits the game’s playfield into horizontal stripes so that three players can participate at once. (Some versions, it should be noted, only allow for two players.) The original arcade cabinet eschewed joysticks for flight sticks with two buttons each, and part of the novelty of the game is that each player has a different pool of odd-looking heroes to choose from (including, quite famously, a humanoid duck), each of whom is color-coded to the cabinet area around the controller.
Unlike most arcade action games, Xenophobe is room-based and takes place in levels which can have multiple floors. In single-player mode, you simply move around and clear out the rooms one by one, but in multiplayer mode, you can work cooperatively with your teammates and either cover one another or split up and take different sections on your own. Since you start off with relatively weak phaser weapons, it’s a good idea to hunt around for upgrades like the laser pistol, smoke gun (a.k.a. the “poofer” gun), lightning rifle and the powerful (but potentially team-killing) grenades. There are also items that you can pick up to take to other rooms to do things like fix the grenade dispenser, turn on the teleporter or toggle a self-destruct sequence.
The enemies are blatant Aliens rip-offs called Xenos that start off as egg-like “Pods,” then emerge as “Critters” that attempt to latch onto you, then evolve into crawling armored “Rollerbabies” that can fold themselves into balls, and finally turn into brutal warrior “Snotterpillars” that spit acid and jump around, sometimes disarming you. There are also tentacles that can cause you a lot of grief by emerging from the floor or coming down out of the ceiling. And then there’s the Xenos Queen, who’ll peak out of dark spots in rooms where you spend too much time and generally annoy you by tossing eggs and hitting you with hypnotic blasts. She’s very difficult to kill because you can only shoot her when she’s looking the other way; fortunately, she’s easily taken down with a grenade if you can hit her with it.
Most other enemies take a few shots to kill, but Snotterpillars are really tough and require a lot of firepower to take down, and their acid-spitting range may exceed that of your own weapon. One good way to deal with heavily aggressive enemies is to back out of the room and then return, hoping they’re facing the other way so you can get a few shots in before they charge at you. Using the elevator’s doors to shut enemies out can also be an effective tool for survival. Moving in a crouching position also allows you to dodge the ceiling tentacles, and there are ways to do cool things like manufacture grenades or ricochet your laser blasts off the rolling Xenos to hit other enemies.
Since Xenophobe is a game where your quarter buys you a certain amount of health, you will take damage, and all you can really do is try to minimize it and pick up health items as often as possible. You win each level by either destroying all the Xenos or surviving until they overrun the station, at which point you return to your mothership and proceed to the next level as the self-destruct kicks in. In the latter event, you at least leave knowing the Xenos are all killed in the process, though you miss out on the health bonus from killing them all.
The arcade version of Xenophobe is probably the best-looking and most suited to co-op play for modern gamers, but it’s not necessarily the best-playing edition. That honor goes to the Atari Lynx handheld port, which not only allows for 1-4 players via the Lynx Up cable, but also adds in many more levels. I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the best games on that highly underrated platform, standing shoulder to shoulder with many other excellent arcade conversions.
Most other ports allow for 2-player co-op play on the same screen. The NES port is heavily scaled down and generally only offers 1-2 enemies per room. The PC ports vary in quality, but the Commodore 64 version in particular stands out for its smooth graphics and music while the Amiga and Atari ST versions hew closer to the arcade game, though not perfectly. Atari Corporation’s 2600 and 7800 ports are also surprisingly good for what they are (the 2600 version came out in 1990, if you can believe it!) and are worth a try if you have either console.
While you can certainly play Xenophobe through arcade emulation with a game ROM, it can be played legally through the PlayStation 2, Gamecube and Xbox compilation Midway Arcade Treasures Volume 2 and the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 compilation Midway Arcade Origins. (Even the PSP got a compilation with Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play, though I wouldn’t recommend that particularly compromised release over the superior consoles editions.) Since Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment owns the Midway and Williams backcatalog along with many Atari arcade games, I’m hopeful we’ll see another compilation down the road.
As Our Series Continues…
It’s time to move on to console and arcade gaming in the 1970s and 80s, and we’re going to cover it all with an exploration into hundreds more games you’ve probably never played but definitely ought to check out. Come for amazingly great early 1980s games like Warlords, Super Locomotive, Shark! Shark!, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Mysterious Stones: Dr. John’s Adventure and Intrepid and stick around for mid-to-late 1980s greats like Peter Pack-Rat, Penguin-kun Wars, Momoko 120%, UFO Robot Dangar, Wonder Momo, Raimais, Last Alert, The Legend of Valkyrie and the arcade version of Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe’s Brother, complete with a rockin’ soundtrack with wonderfully inscrutable lyrics.
If you’ve never heard of any of those games, you’re in for a treat as we explore them one by one. And If those games are all old hat to you, don’t worry; they’re just the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll be discussing!
If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.
Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 2. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!