Classic 2002 Game Somehow Has Been Re-Released 9 Times and Is Now on Xbox Series X|S and PS5

In an era of remakes and remasters, one indie title has been released on 9 different platforms in just over twenty years. Debuting in 2002 as a free-to-play Flash game available on any capable internet browser, Alien Hominid stood out from other freeware games of the time, becoming a signifier of the growing influence of indie creators in the mainstream gaming space.

Making the leap from the browser to the console market, Alien Hominid‘s rapid success helped create a game developer and played an important part in Newgrounds’ growth into a marketplace of ideas for game developers and artists. The game’s continued success on successive consoles speaks to the level of craft deployed in the gameplay development, leading to a rock-solid and straightforward shooter that has rarely been matched. More than that, this indie darling turned console fixture was a precursor to the evolution of the modern digital gaming space.

The Little Yellow Alien Who Couldn’t Stop

Alien Hominid was one of the signature releases in the early days of modern online gaming and has gone on to be an enduring title across several generations of consoles. Alien Hominid was the dream of Newgrounds made reality, one of the website’s signature titles that broke out in a huge way. Launched in 1995, Newgrounds was home to countless Flash games and animations, serving as a haven for indepedent creators in the early days of what eventually became our collective internet culture.

It was home to early memes like “Numa Numa” and “All Your Base Belong To Us,” as well as early examples of webtoons like Neurotically Yours or Charlie the Unicorn. It also proved to be a great launching pad for indie game developers. One of the most successful of these titles was Alien Hominid, a two-player run-and-gun game centering on a little yellow alien doing his best not to be overwhelmed by an army of FBI agents.

Alien Hominid was the brainchild of Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp and animator Dan Paladin. Designed as a throwback to the NeoGeo and side-scrolling shooters like Contra or Metal Slug, Alien Hominid’s cartoony graphics hid a layer of surprisingly brutal difficulty that made any and all progress an achievement. It was hard, but never neccesarily frustrating.

The trick was that the game found the right alchemy in development, finding the right balance between steep difficulty, memorable visuals, and simple controls. It remains a great action game that’s hard to beat and harder to put down. Designed in Adobe Flash, Alien Hominid was accessible on a level most gamers in the sixth generation of consoles could barely dream of. Streamlined instead of simple, the tight remix of an older gameplay style made Alien Hominid an instant favorite for a generation of young gamers and growing developers.

A Success Out Of This World

Newgrounds had already been a successful space for indie creators before Alien Hominid, but the sheer success of the title was a game-changer for the online space. For Fulp and Paladin, the success was enough to propel them into the mainstream gaming industry as developers. Alongside John Baez, Brandon LaCava, and Nick Dryburgh, Fulp and Paladin founded video game development company The Behemoth.

Working with publisher O3 Entertainment, The Behemoth brought an expanded version of Alien Hominid to the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004. This was then followed by an Xbox port for the European market in 2005. The initial release was met with a strong critical reception from the mainstream gaming media, with the title’s GameCube and PS2 ports sitting comfortably on Metacritic with a respectable 78/100.

This early success was followed by subsequent ports to other consoles, including the Game Boy Advance in 2006, the Xbox 360 in 2007, a remaster for Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023, and a port over to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2025. Each port has refined the graphics with modern tech without losing the chaotic charm of the original visuals, something that other remasters can struggle with.

The success of Alien Hominid led to other successful titles from The Behemoth, like Castle Crashers. It even got a direct follow-up with Alien Hominid Invasion. More than just the success of Alien Hominid and the games that directly followed it, this served as a good portent for the future of the gaming industry and what it would become in the modern era.

Why Alien Hominid Matters

Following the success of Alien Hominid, the gaming space Games like Alien Hominid proved that there could be a thriving space for independent creators in the gaming world, and that the gaming culture evolving online could generate enough success to launch entire studios. Influential titles like Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, and Dys4ia continued to thrive on the Newgrounds space in the wake of Alien Hominid, with several creatives branching out into other fields and bringing the Newgrounds aesthetic to growing spaces like YouTube.

Alien Hominid‘s successful release on mainstream consoles proved that there could be a pipeline in the indie space directly to the broader game audience. That’s something that’s been born out in recent years, when smaller titles like Balatro and Undertale have been able to take the gaming culture by storm. Alien Hominid‘s success helped usher in a golden era of throwback sidescrollers that later included great games like Cuphead.

The fact that Alien Hominid continues to be a success over two decades since it was first accessible as a Flash game speaks to the legacy it has cemented in gaming culture. It’s also a testament to the strength of the original game’s design and aesthetic that Alien Hominid remains entertaining and engrossing years later. Sometimes, all you need to do to leave your stamp on gaming history is make a really fun game.

Alien Hominid is now available on Windows, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch.