Heiankyo Alien

Heiankyo Alien started out as an arcade game in 1980. It was published and developed by Denki Onkyō, and designed TSG (University of Tokyo). Acording to the Wiki, Heiankyo was one of the first games to use digging as a means of attack. There has been a sequal, Heiankyo Alien 2, and also brought back on computers and mobile phones.

History

This game is from Japan. Other than the concept of digging, it hasn't brought in anything else new to gaming at the time. Other games that copied its idea were considered "a copy of a copy".

Game Design Elements

The design of the game is like many others. Out hero, an ancient Japanese policeman, is a small, black pixel figure. The player must guide him around the black walls to avoid the apple-shaped aliens or they will bite him in half. To defeat the aliens the policeman has to dig a hole and bury the aliens.

Gameplay

Your only weapons are a shovel, wit, and luck. The policeman mustn't touch the aliens or they will eat him like they did his friends. To avoid this, the player must guide him through a pacman-like maze to stay out of reach, then did holes and wait for the aliens to fall inside them. To earn a higher score, the player must bury the aliens as soon as possible. The game starts with three aliens trapped in the maze with you. After burying all of the aliens in each number, one more is added on the next and they're faster.

Holes are used to bury aliens. It takes awhile to make it big enough to trap them, however. Small holes won't trap aliens, but it will make them pause for a moment. If an alien bumps into an alien stuck in a hole, the trapped alien will be freed.

There is a time limit, but it is unseen. If you do not beat this time limit you will be bombarded five to six aliens that pop out of the ground and run faster than lightening. It's impossible to beat them at this point.

Controls

The arrow pad moves the policeman. A gentle tap will change the direction he faces without moving. Holding down A will dig up a hole to trap aliens in. Holding down B will fill that hole up either if you want to bury an alien, or if it's just in your way and you need to get somewhere. Selecting start will pause the game.

Plot

Aliens have landed in Jap an and they're eating your friends! It looks like you're the only one left alive in town, but that's okay, you have a shovel! Bury them before they eat you and take over Japan. These aliens aren't smart, but in each level they become hungrier and more determined to catch you.

Characters

Out brave here with a shovel is an ancient Japanese policeman.

There is only one type of alien in the first game. A round alien that looks like an apple with legs and a face.

Art

Visual

Heiankyo is a very bland little place. The "city" is a 2D maze of black walls. The characters are made up of sprites with only two frames of animation. The holes are only outlines circles.

Heiankyo Alien lacks decorative aspects, but in its sequel this has changed drastically. There's background with foliage!

Sound

Except in the main menu, there is no music. When the little pixel man moves his footsteps make "grr" sounds, and your shovel makes a happy "bleep" noise. When the aliens fall into the traps they make screams of fury, and burying the, will cause a score to pop out of the ground alone with a triumphant jingle.

Even with the shovel's cute squeaks, our hero's footsteps make the game a little eerie.

References

Wikipedia