History YMMV / AlienSoldier

** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Xi-Tiger]]'s boss fight begins with a jarring transformation cutscene that features a sudden perspective shift to a close up of his face as he screams and shakes in an animation style rife with all the UncannyValley eeriness one would expect from attempting to render a realistic face with 16-bit graphics, right before lunging forward into a literal JumpScare followed by a dark silhouette of his new, werewolf-like monstrous form as ominous music plays in the background.

** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Xi-Tiger]]'s boss fight begins with a jarring transformation cutscene that featutres a sudden perspective shift to a close up of his face as he screams and shakes in an animation style rife with all the UncannyValley eeriness one would expect from attempting to render a realistic face with 16-bit graphics, right before lunging forward into a literal JumpScare followed by a dark silhouette of his new, werewolf-like monstrous form to the sound of ominous music.

* BreatherBoss: [[{{Cameo}} Melon Bread]], a.k.a. "Jampan", is just as easy as he was in ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'', and you can, as before, kill him before he can even attack. Right after him is [[SequentialBoss Seven]] [[MarathonBoss Force]].

* GoddamnedBats: Those bee-like enemies that you fight between boss battles. Better have Homing Force ready, as they come in swarms, shoot at you, then fly erratically and [[RammingAlwaysWorks kamikaze]] you. The bomb-dropping nutant birds also get really annoying.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: A blue teddy bear, menaced by kissing aliens, proceeds to operate a speedboat and is unceremoniously thrown overboard by a giant lobster.

* GoddamnedBats: Those bee-like enemies that you fight between boss battles. Better have Homing Force ready, as they come in swarms, shoot at you, then fly erratically and [[RammingAlwaysWorks kamikaze]] you. The bomb-dropping alien birds also get really annoying.

** Seven Force. You have to deal with five forms, each requiring its own strategy to beat. You are on a [[TimedMission time limit]. The last three forms all have their gimmicks, from blocking your shots, to wasting time and demanding a specific loadout or Phoenix Force use, to straight-up removing your non-energy weapons. The last phase offers a constantly-moving vortex of mines and bladed arms for you to dodge, if having to make potshots with your lasers wasn't hard enough.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Once you [[TennisBoss find out how to damage]] [[FinalBoss Z-Leo]], you'll find him much easier than many of the other bosses (such as [[SequentialBoss Seven Force]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot Epsilon-1]]), since his only move for most of the fight besides the reflectable fireballs is his telegraphed, predictable ArmCannon. His laser attack is tougher to dodge, but he only starts using it after hitting half health.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The whole soundtrack; of worthy note is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEi0YPpttf0&ab_channel=SNESMD16-OST Runner AD2025]]", the first stage theme.
* BestBossEver: Seven Force is just as cool, varied, and difficult as it was in ''Gunstar Heroes'', putting up a greater fight than even the final boss.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: A blue teddy bear, menaced by kissing aliens, operates a power boat and is unceremoniously thrown overboard by a giant lobster. Hell, half the bosses are like this; a cyborg wolf with an ArmCannon riding a horse, anyone?
* BreatherBoss: [[{{Cameo}} Melon Bread]], a.k.a. "Jampan", is just as easy as he was in ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'', and you can, as before, kill him before he can even attack. Right after him is [[SequentialBoss Seven]] [[ThatOneBoss Force]].
* GameBreaker: The Phoenix Force attack, which is only usable at full life and consumes a small portion of it afterwards, inflicts a hit of damage on enemies and bosses for every single frame of contact it makes. With the right set-up and some luck, it's possible to destroy many bosses in a single shot of it.

* GoddamnedBoss: Artemis Force. It only attacks by jumping forward and firing explosive shots, which can be dashed past easily, but it's invincible everywhere except the back, and unless you're attacking the difficult-to-hit tailtip, you will only deal five percent damage to it. Trying to kill this form normally just wastes a lot of weapon energy. There's an alternate strategy in parrying the explosive shots to gain health and using the Phoenix Force, but parrying the shots is difficult to do and Artemis Force likes to spend long stretches of time without using the attack. It's like Artemis Force was intentionally designed to rob you of valuable time and/or ammo to kill Sirene Force.
* ItsHardSoItSucks: The first miniboss alone (fought around a minute into the game) is hard enough to drive people away from the game.
* NightmareFuel: More than a few of the enemies encountered are grotesque.
** [[WordSaladTitle Sniper Honeyviper]] especially [[http://www.bogleech.com/aliensoldier/as-uggy.gif comes to mind]].
** The moth/fly boss (Viblack) that eventually gets eaten by Back Stringer. Watching it futilely flap its wings as the spider approaches and while the spider ''eats it alive'' may gives you chills.

** Seven Force is a five-phase battle, which is pretty daunting in a game that otherwise has one boss per stage with an occasional mini-boss. Each form has something to trip you up: Valkyrie Force's weakpoint is constantly blocked by its arms, Medusa Force heavily resists all weapons and takes a while to wear down unless you knock bombs into it, Silpheed Force is fought in freefall and covers up its weakpoint to stall the battle, and Artemis Force is a Goddamned Boss. The final form, Sirene Force, is the worst. [[UnderwaterBossBattle You fight it underwater]], depriving you of your fire-based weapons, in a constantly moving vortex full of mines, [[TimedMission with a timer that's about to run out]]. You'll need a lot of Lancer Force ammo and precise aim to take it out before it wears you down.
** Epsilon-1, your character's SuperpoweredEvilSide which manifests itself in an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil giant robotic eagle]] [[KillAllHumans bent on destroying humanity.]] Its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak spot]], [[BoomHeadshot the head]], is obscured by its two talons that absorb all shots they touch. Oh, and all of its attacks do ''200'' damage, enough to kill you in a few hits. Finally, the only weapon that does decent damage against it is the ammo-scarce Lancer Force (provided it doesn't get blocked by the talons), which may still need to recharge after three boss battles in a row against Sunset Sting, Viblack, and [[GiantSpider Back Stringer]] (making the longest stretch of gameplay with no level segment to regain health or ammo from). Fortunately, it's one of the few bosses that ''doesn't'' do CollisionDamage to you.

* EvenBetterSequel: Even Better SpiritualSuccessor in this case. While ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'' is a classic Treasure masterpiece even to this day, this game refines the combat, is faster and even more intense, provides greater challenge and reward in equal measure, has even better music, and gets rid of some of the more awkward gameplay changes and the occasional bits that didn't work.

* ItsHardSoItSucks / SlowPacedBeginning: The first miniboss alone (fought around a minute into the game) is hard enough to drive people away from the game.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The whole soundtrack; of worthy note is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvW2pulO6E Runner AD2025]], the first stage theme.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The whole soundtrack; of worthy note is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvW2pulO6E Runner AD2025]], the first stage theme.

* SugarWiki/BestBossEver: Seven Force is just as cool, varied, and difficult as it was in ''Gunstar Heroes'', putting up a greater fight than even the final boss.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Once you [[TennisBoss find out how to damage]] [[FinalBoss Z-Leo]], you'll find him WAY EASIER than many of the other bosses (such as [[SequentialBoss Seven Force]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot Epsilon-1]]).
* BestBossEver: Combined with ThatOneBoss at the same time!

* [[EvenBetterSequel Even Better Spinoff]]: While ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'' is a classic Treasure masterpiece even to this day, this game refines the combat, is faster and even more intense, provides greater challenge and reward in equal measure, has even better music, and gets rid of some of the more awkward gameplay changes and the occasional bits that didn't work.
* GoddamnedBats: Those bee-like enemies that you fight between boss battles. Better have the homing ready, as they come in swarms, shoot at you, then fly erratically and [[RammingAlwaysWorks kamikaze]] you. The bomb-dropping alien birds also do get really annoying too.
* GoddamnedBoss: Artemis Force. It's invincible everywhere except the back, and unless you're attacking the difficult-to-hit tailtip, you will only deal ''five percent'' damage to it. Trying to kill this form normally just wastes a lot of weapon energy. There's an alternate strategy in parrying the explosive shots to gain health and use the Phoenix Force only, but parrying the shots is difficult to do and Artemis Force likes to spend long stretches of time without using the damned attack. It's like Artemis Force was intentionally designed to rob you of valuable time [=and/or=] ammo to kill Sirene Force.

** The moth/fly boss that eventually gets eaten by Back Stringer. Watching it futilely flap its wings as the spider approaches and while the spider EATS IT ALIVE may gives you chills.

* [[ThatOneBoss Those Several Bosses]]: Listing these would take up half the article. The queen bitch of them all, however, must be Siren Force. [[UnderwaterBossBattle You fight her underwater,]] depriving you of your fire-based weapons, in a constantly moving vortex full of mines, [[TimedMission with a timer that's about to run out]]. Oh, and after you've fought Valkyrie, Medusa, Silpheed and Artemis Force, none of which are exactly a walk in the park.
** Epsilon-1, your character's SuperpoweredEvilSide which manifests itself in an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil giant robotic eagle]] [[KillAllHumans bent on destroying humanity.]] Its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak spot]], [[BoomHeadshot the head]], is obscured by its two talons that absorb ALL shots they touch. Oh, and EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of his attacks do '''200''' damage, enough to kill you in a few hits or so. Finally, the only weapon that does decent damage against it is the ammo-scarce Lancer Force (provided it doesn't get blocked by the talons). Which you might probably have run out of after [[BossRush three boss battles in a row]] against Sunset Sting, Viblack, and [[GiantSpider Back Stringer]].
*** The only reason that this bird is not as [[ThatOneBoss hair-tearingly]] [[NintendoHard difficult]] as Seven Force? It's one of the few bosses that ''doesn't'' do CollisionDamage to you.
*** Several FAQs and walkthroughs automatically assume you're playing this on an emulator and naturally assume you're going to save state anyway. But how to dodge Epsilon-1's bombing wave? [[spoiler: If the initial strike is next to you, walk instead of teleport. If you teleport at the wrong time, you WILL eat the subsequent attack when you come to.]]

* AwesomeMoments: Regardless of the difficulty you choose, You deserve a medal if you can beat the game in one sitting without using passwords nor the slowdown (SPD) feature even once!

* GoddamnedBoss: Some of the bosses may not be tough, but they are certainly annoying.

* [[ThatOneBoss Those Several Bosses]]: Listing these would take up half the article. The queen bitch of them all, however, must be Siren Force. [[UnderwaterBossBattle You fight her underwater,]] depriving you of your fire-based weapons, in a constantly moving vortex full of mines, [[TimedMission with a timer that's about to run out.]] Oh, and after you've fought Valkyrie, Medusa, Silpheed and Artemis Force, none of which are exactly a walk in the park.

* BreatherBoss: [[{{Cameo}} Melon Bread]], a.k.a. "Jampan", is just as easy as he was in ''GunstarHeroes'', and you can, as before, kill him before he can even attack. Right after him is [[SequentialBoss Seven]] [[ThatOneBoss Force]].

* AwesomeMoments: Regardless of the difficulty you choose, You deserve a medal if you can beat the game without using passwords nor the slowdown (SPD) feature even once!

* EvenBetterSequel: As good as ''VideoGame/GunStarHeroes'' was, this game refines the combat, is faster and even more intense, provides greater challenge and reward in equal measure, has even better music, and gets rid of some of the more awkward gameplay changes and the occasional bits that didn't work.

* NightmareFuel: More than a few of the enemies encountered are grotesque. [[WordSaladTitle Sniper Honeyviper]] especially [[http://www.bogleech.com/aliensoldier/as-uggy.gif comes to mind]].

*** Several FAQs and walkthroughs automatically assume you're playing this on an emulator and naturally assume you're going to save state anyway. But how to dodge Epsilon-1's bombing wave? [[spoiler: If the initial strike is next to you, walk instead of teleport. If you teleport at the wrong time, you WILL eat the subsequent attack when you come to.]]

* BreatherBoss: [[{{Cameo}} Melon Bread]] is just as easy as he was in ''GunstarHeroes'', and you can, as before, kill him before he can even attack. Right after him is [[SequentialBoss Seven]] [[ThatOneBoss Force]].