Heiankyo Alien

Heiankyo Alien

Arcade - Japan - Flyer.

Developer Theoretical Science Group, Arearea, Live Planning Publisher Denki Onkyo Corporation, Sega/Gremlin, Meldac, Compac, Inc. Published 1980-01-?? Platforms Arcade, Game Boy, PC-6000, PC-8800, Sharp MZ, TRS-80 Color Computer Genres Maze Themes Action, Science Fiction Series Heiankyo Alien Distribution Commercial, Freeware, Open source

Heiankyo Alien is a maze video game developed by the University of Tokyo's Theoretical Science Group and published by Denki Onkyo for the arcade in January 1980. In the USA, it was published by Sega/Gremlin, rebranded as Digger, and given some slight advancements. The original was later ported to a number of 8-bit Japanese home computers and released as BASIC source code. The game was very popular in Japan and helped influence other maze games like Pac-Man and other trap-digging games like Space Panic and Lode Runner.

In the game, the player controls a police officer during Japan's Heian period (794 to 1185 CE) who is trying to protect the capital city Heiankyo from space aliens by digging holes, waiting for the aliens to stumble into them, and then refilling the holes to kill the aliens. Defeating all the aliens moves the player to the next randomly-generated street map with more aliens who keep moving faster.

Itaru Kawakami who designed the game was trying to come up with the next big hit after seeing how successful Space Invaders was. He originally thought up a game where players would lay traps for cockroaches, but switched to an alien theme after seeing the film Alien. The game was initially prototyped on an Apple II in 1979 before being converted to an arcade game.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No. Most versions don't have a win condition, although the new version of the Game Boy port does.

Because the game was never that popular in the West, I hadn't heard of Heiankyo Alien at all growing up. It wasn't until I saw a review made by Jeremy Parish that I learned about the game and the important role it played in video game history. I tried playing a couple versions of it and found it quite aggravating. However, I appreciate the impact it has made on the video game industry.

Review

3	3	2	1	4

Best Version: Super Famicom

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game deserves acclaim for not only being one of the first action maze games, but also pioneering the trap-digging mechanic that would be used by so many imitators.

Bad

• I don't find the game play very enjoyable. Since the aliens move in a semi-random manner, there is no sure-fire winning strategy, and, as their number and speed increases, the game becomes extremely difficult as they mob you. I'm sure, over time, a player could grok their movement algorithms, as seen from people playing to very high levels, but I don't like the game enough to bother.
• Most of the game is spent hunkering down behind a wall of holes or running for your life when aliens break through, and neither is very enjoyable.
• The controls always feel sluggish.

Ugly

• Due to being released so early, and on such weak hardware, the game is severely lacking in media. The graphics look awful and the sound is painful to the ears.

Media

Box Art

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  Arcade - USA - Marquee.

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  Game Boy - Japan.

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  Game Boy - USA.

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  Super Famicom - Japan.

Documentation

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  Manual - Arcade - USA.

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  Manual - Game Boy - USA.

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  Flyer - Arcade - Japan.

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  Flyer - Arcade - USA.

Screenshots

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  Arcade - Title.

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  Arcade - Instructions.

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  Arcade - Playing.

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  Arcade - Round 2.

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  Arcade - Dead.

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  Arcade - Game over.

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  PC-8001 - Title.

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  PC-8001 - Instructions.

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  PC-8001 - Start.

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  PC-8001 - Playing.

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  PC-8001 - Round clear.

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  PC-8001 - Game over.

Videos

Review - Game Boy Works.

Comparison - Battle of the Port.

Longplay - Game Boy.

Game play - Arcade - Japan.

Game play - Arcade - USA.

Game play - Game Box (original).

Game play - PC-8001.

Game play - Sharp MZ.

Game play - TRS-80 CoCo.

Play Online

Game Boy (Japan), Game Boy (USA), Super Famicom

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	The sole character is Japanese.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English (Arcade)	Digger
English (Game Boy)	Heiankyo Alien
Japanese	平安京エイリアン	Heiankyo Eirian	Heiankyo Alien

Links

         

• mobygames.com/game/145166/digger - MobyGames - Digger.
• shmuplations.com/heiankyoalien - Development interview.