Alien Swarm

Search
Votes / Statistics
Rating 
6.8/10
Hits: 9,759
Downloads: 2,188
Votes: 25
My Atarimania
Comments (10)
the big m - 03/08/2023
An amazing game!

At first, I was a little confused about the settings.
Press option if you want beginner.
Press select if you want two player.

Protect your power pods from the enemies. Press up to use a pod in order to shoot. If the counter reaches zero at the end of a round, you're toast!

Every shot counts makes for an unique challenge!
The difficulty ramps up as you progress slowly.
Highly recommended!!
rave.N - 16/12/2015
Difference among all versions the way I found them, is the use of the Spacebar to Pause game. More evidence suggesting the snake with no eyes is beta, is its pause button is but half implemented and jumps you to the title page.

The "06" (no dot) program is very much like if the "06." program were recompiled with the initial copy protection checking routine commented out at the source code level, but there are other changes too amounting to around 12 more bytes shorter in program length. The "dot" itself is one of those bytes, it wasn't made blank, instead string length changed at the source. The "no dot" program I found had come with a broken start pointer which caused the Pause button to not get initialized, upon fixing the start pointer ($1006 not $1033) its Spacebar for pause then functions.
rave.N - 16/12/2015
I looked into 3 versions, one without the "06" its snake has no eyes and drops "darts" when the red line is shot, this might be beta. Ones that say "06" are a different game in which the snake has eyes and there are no darts at least not right away. "06" vs "06." were compiled seperately, very different code, but I don't know what plays differently between them.

Here's my take. "06" probably isn't a version number, no 1 - 5 not found. This game once had copy protection bad sectors on the disk #360 and/or #361, and maybe there was or is a code worm too. The "06" you see on screen is formed using the bytes $00 $06 not typical ASCII ($30 $36) and the bad sectors for copy protection are read into address $0600 (page 6) so the "06" shown on screen is physically a vector into the copy protection data. Therefore 06 isn't a version number, maybe an effort at worming the code, instead.

The "06." download disk image here now is not great. It says "Cracked by A. 2004" in sector 720, it has some characters in sector 360, and it actually reads sector 360 at the start, it will fail if you convert this disk to a file. A better crack version no longer accesses the disk for 360. This is the 3rd or 4th "cracked by A" game I haven't liked. Why is someone cracking a lot of old games in 2004 when so many other cracks already exist and plus they aren't doing a good job imo.
sparkle - 10/11/2015
good arcade game, many versions, two are available to download here now, one with version "06." on screen and another with no number on screen, i also grabbed a 3rd from some other place which reads version "06" no Dot. thought i'd point out the gameplay is heavily influenced by the Star Castle genre and such titles as Yars' Revenge and Alpha Shield and Star Island. as well as Rip Off and Bacterion, so great game combination: Galaxian Defend Supplies Yar Castle.

knock on their private residence? "Inhome" Software sure was aptly named. challenge them to a duel.
Maury Markowitz - 09/11/2015
There were a *large* number of versions of this game in the wild. I had one of the earlier ones, and it lacked the galaxians, the blocks at the bottom, and other features. Instead of galaxians, the snake would periodically drop bombs, and later grew a spinning tail that you could shoot, and at higher points, would break off and fly around the screen like a boomerang. I believe there was an even earlier version where the snake lacked the eyes and tail.

The address on Inhome is a row house on Avenue Road, I've always considered going and knocking on the door.
Jimm - 17/08/2011
Great variation on the Galaxians/ Space Invaders theme. Very addictive, I seem to recall as a 12 yr old!
The spinny thing on the end of the "eye" would eventually fly off and try to hit you, I recall- it would get extremely frenetic by this point!
Vaughan - 10/07/2011
This is a seriously good game, with a genius scoring system. The aim isn't to protect your ship, but to protect you energy reserves. Graphics are great - time of writing, my high score is 46,000.
Muffy St. Bernard - 14/07/2007
More tips: you can carry five ammo units at a time, but only carry two (so if you die, you don't lose the ones you're carrying). And to shoot the annoying "darts," the best way is to wait until they're very close, shoot, then immediately move away; they have less time to dodge at close range. Finally, you get one ammo point for every 100 points you score. Eventually the eye-line grows a spinning thing on its tail, but I always die before I see what it does.
Muffy St. Bernard - 14/07/2007
In case you're wondering: push the joystick up to pick up more ammo; you get more points for shooting two aliens together, or for shooting the "eyes." If you die, the remaining ammo is counted up (not including any you are currently holding), then five ammo points are taken away; if you reach zero, game over. When you destroy aliens you get more ammo points; ideally you'll shoot as many as possible, use up all your ammo, and not die. In later levels, annoying "darts" spawn if you shoot the red line of the "eyes." You can kill them best by firing rapidly when they're close to you, but this is dangerous...just try not to shoot the line.
Muffy St. Bernard - 01/05/2007
This game is incredibly fun, and the nifty graphics don't hurt either! Shoot the aliens while trying to protect your ammo storage. Simple, but effective.

Screenshots

Alien Swarm atari screenshot
Alien Swarm atari screenshot
Alien Swarm atari screenshot
Alien Swarm atari screenshot

Information

GenreShoot'em Up! - MiscellaneousYear1982
LanguageMachine LanguagePublisherInhome Software
ControlsJoystickDeveloper[n/a]
Players1, 2 (alt.)CountryCanada
Programmer(s)

Thompson, Bruce

LicenseCommercial
Graphic Artist(s)

[n/a]

MediumTape Disk
Sound

[n/a]

Rarity
Cover Artist(s)[unknown]Serial-
Dumpdownload atari Alien Swarm Download

Additional Comments

Other version with the same title:


Inhome Software.

Version 06 on the title screen.

Missing original tape and disk images!

Disk

Alien Swarm Atari disk scan Alien Swarm Atari disk scan

Instructions

Alien Swarm Atari instructions Alien Swarm Atari instructions Alien Swarm Atari instructions Alien Swarm Atari instructions

Ads

Alien Swarm Atari ad
About Us - Contact - Credits - Powered with Webdev - © Atarimania 2003-2024