Alien

Despite the name, this isn't a high-stakes horror game based on the movies; it’s a budget-grade horizontal shooter that "borrows" its identity from just about everywhere else.

1. One of the funniest things about Alien is its box art. The ship is a blatant trace of the R-9 from R-Type, and the backgrounds look like they were lifted from a sci-fi novel. It’s a classic example of "bait and switch" marketing from the era; once you boot the game up, those cinematic vibes disappear, replaced by tiny, flickering sprites that look more like floating germs than space invaders.

2. The gameplay is... relaxed, to put it nicely. Because the Supervision’s screen suffered from heavy motion blur, the developers had to slow the game down to a crawl. You pilot a lone ship through six stages of space stations and mountain ranges, but since everything moves at a snail’s pace, the biggest challenge isn't your reflexes; it’s your patience. It’s a shmup where you occasionally forget you're even in a dogfight.

3. The game features a "charge shot" mechanic, but in a weird technical twist, the big bullets don't actually seem to do more damage than the small ones. They just take longer to fire. It’s a bizarre design choice that makes the combat feel more like a light show than a battle. Coupled with the lack of background music, the only thing you'll hear is the repetitive "crunch" of exploding enemies over a very quiet soundscape.

4. Even though critics usually tear it apart for being a 1/10 experience, Alien has become a staple for Supervision collectors. It’s the perfect snapshot of what the console was: a gutsy, slightly confused attempt to give kids a "Game Boy experience" for half the price. It’s janky, it’s slow, and it’s arguably a bootleg in spirit, but that’s exactly what makes it a great conversation piece for a retro site.

Alien is far from a masterpiece, but it’s a legendary piece of the Supervision’s library. Whether you’re laughing at the "stolen" box art or trying to survive the slow-motion kamikaze enemies, it’s a game that perfectly captures the weird, budget-obsessed energy of 1992.