A noun referring to someone who fears foreigners or strangers.

Atari 2600 Game
Produced by: Atari
Model Number: CX26172
Atari Rarity Guide: 7 Very Rare
Year of Release: 1987

This Atari 2600 game is a translation of the arcade game of the same name. It was one of the games that Atari made when they rereleased the Atari 2600 in 1987. The below information (except for the value), can be considered valid for all of the ports also.

Xenophobe is much like a cartoonish version of the movie Aliens. You pick your character, then you go into a space station to fight as many aliens as you can. Just like in the movie they start out as eggs, then hatch into small aliens, eventually transforming into big monster aliens.

This game is a split screen (arcade version is 3 player, other versions are 2 player), side scrolling action game. You have to clear out the whole base of aliens to advance to the next level. All players play in the same base at the same time, so it is possible to team up to help each other out. But more than likely you will end up bickering over powerups. Unlike other split screen games, Xenophobe does not expand to full screen when a single person plays, the lower half of the screen is blanked out (or shows an attract mode, depending on the version played).

I simply cannot say enough good things about this game, if you want to try it I would suggest playing either the arcade version (via MAME), or the Atari 7800 version. (The other ports really are not as good.)

From the instruction manual:
ALIEN ATTACK!

Hostile aliens--Xenophobes--are infesting space stations vital to your planet's security. These aliens threaten to overrun the stations, rendering the space stations useless.

You are part of an elite team which is ready to speed to these endangered space stations. Your mission is clear: destroy the aliens regain control of the space stations, and pick up any valuable hardware you might discover as you sweep the stations for aliens.

The aliens are a swarming band of uglies straight out of your worst nightmare. You'll need to use your talent just to stay alive as you rid each space station of these pests. You don't want to let them catch you. It's them or you.

The message has come. It's up to you and your teammates to cleanse each space station of aliens. Your Mother Ship brings you to the vicinity of each overrun space station. You then enter the space station via a transfer disk, which beams you aboard.

Another member of your elite squad can work stations too, and you may compete for high score, or work on your own to clear the aliens from an infested space station. Just be careful as you enter a space station. The aliens are everywhere!

This game is valued at around $30 USD. Games with boxes and manuals are worth more.


This game was also released for the Atari 7800, in the arcades, and for the Nintendo Entertainment System (SunSoft did the NES version).

The game was also released for the Atari Lynx handheld, which allowed up to 4 players, one of which at at a time could be a Snotterpillar.

Beating the game took something around 3 hours if you had friends, and didn't mind nearly losing your thumbs in the process. And of course, due to the backlit screen, you'd usually spend that entire time in the dark to get the full effect, so you might go half blind as well.

While the Lynx version did not allow for the same general Arcade experience, through allowing for one more player (the arcade only allowed for 3 players) and not involving quarters, one could have a nearly similarly joyful experience.

There were 3 teams of 4 individuals (1 to 3 players got 4 lives, 4 players got only about 3, depending on how fast they went through characters).

Each level was a space station that needed to be cleared. Each station might have any number of floors, from 1 to four. Pass keys needed to be acquired to enter specific rooms. There were also elevators and teleport pads to travel inside the station with.

There was a variety of guns, each with it's own peculiar benefits. There was a starting pellet gun, which wasn't extremely effective, a lazer gun, which would bounce off of third stage aliens, a rifle which would kill things rather quickly, and a smoke gun which was very powerful, but slow. There was also a fire extinguisher (for one of the 3 or 4 levels that was on fire), who's actual usefulness was debateable.

There was also a jetpack, for areas where the elevators had been destroyed.

Food could be acquired in various places to replace health.

The aliens came in five stages: Egg stage, larvae stage (which would crawl across the floor, and attach itself to a player, at which point they would be forced to jump around as much as possible to attempt to shake it loose, while their health dropped rapidly), 3rd stage, which crawled on the floor, or would turn into an armored ball which could not be shot (though it could be rolled in the opposite direction with shots occasionally), the snotterpillar, which was a huge, jumping alien which would really ruin your day, and the fifth stage aliens, which would hang in the doorways, and paralyze you if you looked in their eyes. There were also tentacles hanging from the ceiling which would grab you by the throat if you didn't kill them first.

Avoiding all of these things at once was as much trouble as killing any of them. Basically a cross between a jumping game and a mass shooting game.

The final boss was a huge green organic wall that was apparently the queen mother, surrounded by a ton of aliens in various stages, and throwing out eggs at random moments. The best strategy to beat her was to jump until one got behind her (where things tended not to be as much) and fire like crazy till she died, while your friends dealt with the chaos out in front.

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