Heiankyo Alien

Heiankyo Alien
Publisher(s)	Denki Onkyō (original release) Meldac (Game Boy) Nihon Bussan (Super Famicom)
Designer(s)	TSG (University of Tokyo)
Platform(s)	Arcade Apple II PC-8001 Game Boy Super Famicom Microsoft Windows Mobile phone
Release date(s)	PC JP 1979 Arcade JP January, 1980 Game Boy JP January 14, 1990 NA 1990 Super Famicom JP December 15, 1995
Genre(s)	Action-Puzzle game
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players
CPU	Zilog Z80
Sound	Amplified Mono (one channel)
Display	Raster graphics

Heiankyo Alien (平安京エイリアン, Heian-kyō Eirian^?) is a video game created by the University of Tokyo's Theoretical Science Group (TSG) in 1979.^[1][2] The game was originally developed and released as a personal computer game in 1979, and was then published by Denki Onkyō Corporation as an arcade game in January 1980.^[1] The game has been ported to several other gaming systems since its original release.

Gameplay

The player controls a Heian period police officer (kebiishi) who must defend the capital city (Heian-kyō) from an alien invasion by digging holes in the ground and filling them back up after an alien falls inside. The player scores points for every alien trapped, and the quicker the hole is filled up after the alien falls in, the higher the amount of points are scored. The aliens increase in number as the levels progress, and they can escape from holes after a certain period of time elapses or if another alien passes above their hole. The player loses if they come in contact with an alien. There is a time limit for each level, and the number of aliens increases drastically when this limit is reached, essentially preventing the player from completing the level.

The player can enter their name on the arcade machine if a high-score is reached. In the original version of the game, a unique cursor is employed where the player selects a letter by having their character walk through the street that displays the desired letter. The game also contains a two-player mode, where the players can either alternate turns or play on the same screen simultaneously.

The arcade version uses a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, and the arcade system board used is a copied version of the one used by Sega's Head On. Since the original system board itself was a copy, Heian-kyō Alien's system board was easily duplicated, and many of the units distributed to arcade centers were "copies of a copy" created by other companies. Few of the original units manufactured by Denki Onkyō remain in place today.^[3]

Related games

Arcade versions

Many copied arcade versions of the game exist with differences in background color and sound effects. Taito Corporation produced a version with a light-blue background that recycled many sound effects from Head On. The unit's cabinet and instruction card were created specifically for the version by Taito, but it is not known whether the version was a licensed manufacture or a copy. Hōei Sangyō (now Banpresto) produced an arranged version called Time Alien where alien movements are much quicker (however, the game lags whenever the player tries to dig or fill up a hole). In 1980, a North American version titled Digger (unrelated to the Canadian computer game Digger) was created by Sega and Gremlin Industries, with minor changes in appearance.^[4]

Ports

Meldac released a Game Boy version of the game in Japan and North America in 1990.^[5] This port includes a remake version where a new type of alien appears to chase after the player's character. The game was also ported to the Super Famicom by Nihon Bussan in 1995 as Nichibutsu Arcade Classics 2: Heiankyo Alien.^[6] The company had previously released a licensed remake titled Kid no Hore Hore Daisakusen. The game was also made available for the Microsoft Windows operating system in 1999 by Hyperware, and various mobile phone versions are available on i-mode, Vodafone live!, and EZweb.

Similar games

Heiankyo Alien is an example of the "trap-em-up" genre . Further "trap-em-up" platform games bear similarities to Heiankyo Alien in that the player must dig holes to lure and trap enemies. Space Panic (1980) also features trappable aliens while Lode Runner's (1983) enemies are human guards. Doraemon Meikyū Daisakusen (1989) and Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World (1989) are later examples. The Commodore VIC-20 cartridge game Alien appears to be a direct clone of Heiankyo Alien.

Notes

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the Japanese Wikipedia.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "東大の頭脳に挑戦！「平安京エイリアン」" (in Japanese). IT Media +D Games. 2008-04-20. http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/games/articles/0704/20/news011.html. Retrieved 2008-07-31.  (Translation)
2. ^ "G-mode Press Release". G-Mode. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070703075512/http://www.g-mode.co.jp/en/news/press/main03.html. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 
3. ^ Tane, Kiyoshi; Shinichi Yamoto, Hiroki Abe (2002). 超アーケード. Ohta Books. pp. 10–23. ISBN 4872336704. 
4. ^ "Digger Videogame by Sega/Gremlin (1980)". International Arcade Museum. http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=D&game_id=7583. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 
5. ^ "Heiankyo Alien on GameFAQs". GameSpot. http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gameboy/home/585742.html. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 
6. ^ "Nichibutsu Arcade Classics 2:Heiankyo Alien". GameSpot. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/home/571398.html. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• University of Tokyo Theoretical Science Group website (Japanese)
• Heiankyo Alien DX on G-mode (Japanese)
• Heiankyo Alien at the Killer List of Videogames
• Heiankyo Alien at GameFAQs