Area 51 (light gun arcade game). Was it one of GOATs of the genre?

[entremet]

Do you remember this game? It was everywhere in the 90s. It didn't have the polish of a Time Crisis or House of the Dead, but I spent a lot of quarters on it.

It had digitized graphics instead of polygons, similar to Lethal Enforcers, another popular light gun game.

Just thinking 90s, I do think the previous games best it, but it was top 5 of that era for me.

I do miss these type of games.

 

[Ant_17]

I only remember the ps2/xbox game with Marilyn Manson.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

It was a quarter hog, but I always enjoyed playing it.

I'd say that one is my most played arcade shooter after Revolution X.

 

[Justified]

It was definitely a Top 5 arcade game of its time

 

[Rocketz]

Anytime I went to an Arcade it was find this or House of the Dead. I don't think I ever made it very far but always had fun.

 

[NukeRunner]

No.

 

[sir_crocodile]

I remember playing it when Sega World opened in London. Just seemed like a run of the mill lightgun game to me.

Only remember it because I was surprised not every game at Sega World was made by Sega and this was the one that made me realise that

 

[BassForever]

Was a classic in my mind, played it recently with Sinden light guns and had a great time.

 

[h0tp0ck3t]

I probably spent hundreds of dollars on Area 51 over my lifetime. I even made it to the end boss, which was timed, ran out if time, and got booted back to the first level. one of the most soul crushing moments of my life 🤣

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

I like Time Crisis because it's a lot more dynamic. None of Midway's light gun shooters are really that memorable to me. If you asked me to identify a screenshot as being from Area 51, Area 51: Site 4 or Maximum Force, I don't think I could say for sure since they all look like the same game to me.

 

[Grimm Fandango]

Meh is my stance. Put it against stuff like Time Crisis or The House of the Dead there is no way it compares.

 

[r_rose]

COME ON! STAY LOW!

 

[Cocolina]

It didn't have the polish of Point Blank or Virtua Cop either. It was a piece of shit.

 

[SDBurton]

Used to play this at my local pizza joint all the time back in the day. This, Virtua Fighter, KI, and Gauntlet Legends/Dark Legacy were the cabinets that always survived the shakeups when new games came out.

 

[Platy]

I would not qualify as one of the goats, but it absolutely was everywhere xD

It was one of the best in the digitalized graphics subgenre, but Time Crisis series, House of the Dead series and Ghost Squad (with virtua cop as a close 4th) were the top ones, with the Crisis Zone spin off of Time Crisis being my all time favorite

 

[KingFrost92]

Love this game. They had it at all my local pizza spots so I got pretty good at it growing up. This one and Die Hard Arcade were everywhere for some reason.

 

[MetalKhaos]

I might put it up there on a list, but Time Crisis series is my favorite, followed by House of the Dead. I have played a TON of Area 51 though, but it's a very cheap game.

 

[MYeager]

I played it so often I could muscle memory my way through most of it. Added my initials to the high score list wherever I found one. Still have it for the PS2

 

[Bigkrev]

It really suffers when it's put next to something like Virtua Cop, or House of the Dead, or Time Crisis- games in which shots/shot placement had a meaningful impact on the animations that you saw and provided feedback as a player to what was happening (IE, shooting someone in the leg twice and then the chest is going to result in 3 seperate animations), as opposed to Area 51, where if enemies take multiple shots to kill, they sort of just blink with no real feedback as you shoot them before they explode in a pile of gore.

It's better than the pre-Lethal Enforcers style of gun game (ie, Terminator 2 or Operation Wolf), but it's a pretty mediocre light gun game when compared to the other stuff that was out as it's contemporary (Area 51 came out a YEAR AFTER Virtua Cop!)

 

[DrFunk]

It was meh, imo. Time Crisis and Virtua Cop at its lunch

 

[Mango Pilot]

I spent a lot of money on it.

 

[Z-Beat]

Personally I miss Carnevil

 

[WardFail]

I'm partial to Ninja Assault. I sunk quite a few quarters playing that co-op with my cousin at the mall back in the day.

 

[No Depth]

It was silly but not as good as nostalgia may dictate. Still decent fun to laugh at the digitized actors doing silly animations while lots of big explosions occur.

 

[demi]

No, but FMV shooters of that era are great from a novelty standpoint. Carnevil, Revolution X, Corpse Killer, etc...

 

[GamerJM]

I feel like this game wasn't actually very good compared to the best of the genre for reasons already stated ITT, but it's easily the light gun game I have the most nostalgia for and the one I actually played the most because it was damn near everywhere. House of the Dead and Time Crisis were mostly only at actual dedicated arcades, and I don't know if I ever saw a Virtua Cop cab at all. Meanwhile, basically every pizza parlor I went to in the bay area in the early 2000s had an Area 51 cab. Those places really favored Midway games for whatever reason.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

It's better than the pre-Lethal Enforcers style of gun game (ie, Terminator 2 or Operation Wolf), but it's a pretty mediocre light gun game when compared to the other stuff that was out as it's contemporary (Area 51 came out a YEAR AFTER Virtua Cop!)

Click to shrink...

Operation Wolf, Terminator 2 and Revolution X are technically trackball games which is why they don't flash like other light gun games.

 

[entremet]

I like Time Crisis because it's a lot more dynamic. None of Midway's light gun shooters are really that memorable to me. If you asked me to identify a screenshot as being from Area 51, Area 51: Site 4 or Maximum Force, I don't think I could say for sure since they all look like the same game to me.

Click to shrink...

Area 51 was technically Atari.

It may have saved Atari too.

 

[NinjaScooter]

by the time Virtua Cop came out (and later Time Crisis) these FMV style shooters without real time hit detection felt pretty archaic in comparison. Thats what I think I always remember about Area 51 in the arcades.

 

[RowdyReverb]

How did shop proprietors decide what arcade cabinets to buy? Because I definitely remember this one being particularly prevalent outside of arcades. Were some cabinets just cheaper or offered better ROI?

 

[Geeko]

I really enjoyed Area 51 back in the day. Lot of little secrets and Easter eggs if I remember.

My first job was working at a movie theater when I was 16. They had a few arcade machines, one of them was Area 51. During slow times after we caught up on our work, we would open up the coin box and give ourselves free credits. The we'd compete to see who could make it the farthest on a single credit. Good times.

 

[Transistor]

I'd kill for a cabinet of this

 

[entremet]

It was meh, imo. Time Crisis and Virtua Cop at its lunch

Click to shrink...

I never found a Virtua Cop cab in the wild.

Area 51 was everywhere.

 

[PassiveObserver]

Classic but not a GOAT. The best entry in the FMV shooting gallery type.

 

[Bigg]

It's iconic, and it's not terrible (certainly better than a lot of older "shooting gallery" style light gun games of that era), but I certainly wouldn't say it's in the running for the best of its genre.

Virtua Cop 2, Time Crisis 2, and House of the Dead 2 all run circles around it, imo.

 

[Laserbeam]

I don't think so but it sure was fun enough.

 

[jmsebastian]

Yes, Area 51 is an all time classic light gun game. My local ice cream parlor had it and I went there all the time to play it. I wouldn't be surprised if that arcade cabinet made them more money than selling ice cream, especially in the hours following the end of school. Never managed to beat it despite several years of attempts. The sound the aliens make when you kill them will stick with me forever, I think.

 

[sn00zer]

Area 51? No.

Area 51:Site 4 though is absolutely awesome.

 

[TheKid]

Wow a blast from the past. I loved this game. I miss shooting games in general, I did just play the until dawn vr game and it kind of scratched that itch. Are light gun shooters pretty much only available in VR nowadays? (Without having to mod anything)

 

[Bigkrev]

I never found a Virtua Cop cab in the wild.

Area 51 was everywhere.

Click to shrink...

Virtua Cop (and other Sega Model 2 games) were really expensive because of the tech they had in them relative to the time. Fucking Lockheed Martin technology was used to make the system! Area 51 was probably 1/3rd or 1/4th the price, and sold a ton of machines

 

[Reflecting Sky]

It was OK I thought. Not great, not bad (like so many others). In short; it wouldn't be in my personal Top 5 of light-gun games.

 

[entremet]

Area 51? No.

Area 51:Site 4 though is absolutely awesome.

Click to shrink...

Guyver vibes.

 

[nihilence]

It was goat when I was a kid.

RELOAD.
RELOAD. RELOAD.
RELOAD. RELOAD. RELOAD. RELOAD.

Looking for Easter eggs was fun.

 

[nicoga3000]

I played this on Freeplay at a convention once. The later levels are nuts and I never would have seen or beat them otherwise.

I love and miss lightgun games.

 

[Bigg]

Area 51? No.

Area 51:Site 4 though is absolutely awesome.

Click to shrink...

I think I've only played Site B once or twice because cabinets are really rare, it never got a console port, and MAME can't emulate it right. Hopefully someday it becomes playable in a way that's a lot more accessible.

I also remember this game having kind of a weird gimmick where there's a minigame mode and a story mode and IIRC completing the minigame mode increases the time limit in story mode and the final boss is such a tank that you can basically only beat it with the extra time. Kind of a weird gimmick, but interesting.

 

[Proteus]

I played through this a couple of days ago here in Toronto. Freeplay.

I made it to what I thought was the end but I got a screen saying I was unsuccessful in stopping an alien invasion. I guess I didn't destroy the UFO at the end in time?

It was fun.

I tried to play through that Aerosmith arcade game, Revolution X. It wasn't fun. Bosses took forever to kill. I put it down after a while. Also, the gun reticle felt like it kept getting stuck as I moved the gun across the screen. Not sure if that was the intention. My friend was playing player 2 and had the same issue.

 

[Soj]

It's no Crisis Zone.

 

[entremet]

Virtua Cop (and other Sega Model 2 games) were really expensive because of the tech they had in them relative to the time. Fucking Lockheed Martin technology was used to make the system! Area 51 was probably 1/3rd or 1/4th the price, and sold a ton of machines

Click to shrink...

Oh I forgot about this.

I remember when I saw VF2 it was 75c and up. This explains it lol

 

[kodax_shc]

Played it a bunch at Laser Quest, have fond memories of it for sure.

 

[astro]

My friend had this in their house.

It was okay with free plays, but otherwise it was pretty bad as a regular cabnet in an arcade imo.