The mid-eighties saw the inception of a genre known as run-and-guns, which were popularized by the likes of Capcom's Commando and SNK's Ikari Warriors. At their base, these games were akin to shoot-em-ups, except they didn't take place in airplanes or starcrafts as was the norm of the time. Most of them did not scroll automatically and allowed the player a bit more breathing room hence, but they still pressured players with lots of bullets and aggressive enemies. Most big companies offered at least one top-down on-foot shooter, Sega naturally included. Their best-known contribution to that front in the eighties was Alien Syndrome, their tribute to the Alien series which involves two soldiers destroying frightening xenomorphs on derelict vessels. It was different from other Commando-likes in that you could move in any direction around the map and didn't just keep going up like most other such games.

The mid-eighties saw the inception of a genre known as run-and-guns, which were popularized by the likes of Capcom's Commando and SNK's Ikari Warriors. At their base, these games were akin to shoot-em-ups, except they didn't take place in airplanes or starcrafts as was the norm of the time. Most of them did not scroll automatically and allowed the player a bit more breathing room hence, but they still pressured players with lots of bullets and aggressive enemies. Most big companies offered at least one top-down on-foot shooter, Sega naturally included. Their best-known contribution to that front in the eighties was Alien Syndrome, their tribute to the Alien series which involves two soldiers destroying frightening xenomorphs on derelict vessels. It was different from other Commando-likes in that you could move in any direction around the map and didn't just keep going up like most other such games.