Alien vs. Predator
Introduction
Alien vs. Predator was developed and published by Capcom on its CPS-2 arcade hardware, licensed from Twentieth Century Fox and built by a team including designers Tetsuya Iijima, Toshihiko Uda, and Jun Matsumura with a score by Hideki Okugawa, releasing in Japanese arcades in May 1994 before reaching other regions shortly after. Capcom leaned on the same side-scrolling beat ’em up formula it had already refined through Final Fight and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, swapping street gangs for waves of Xenomorph aliens and adding gun-based combat to fit the license, with cabinets supporting up to three simultaneous players in the default configuration. Players choose from a small roster of human colonial marines and, notably, a playable Predator character, fighting through a besieged colony infested with Aliens while managing ammo, melee attacks, and each character’s unique special moves across a mix of horizontal stages and boss encounters against Alien Queens and other franchise monsters. Its faithful blend of two licensed horror franchises with Capcom’s polished beat ’em up combat made it an immediate hit with fans of both series and the genre generally, and it remains one of the most fondly remembered licensed brawlers of the CPS-2 era.
