"Alien Attack" by Tomy, vintage LSI VFD computer video game.

[CooIGamer]

240p we meet again..

[gmill3482]

Man I use to have this game I loved it. I wish I could find another one it brings back so many memories

[RomanticLinguaphilia]

Wow... very impressive for the time... and beautiful too... all that luscious red and advertising labeling not essential to gameplay...

Anyway, I'm surprised both these people and Coleco could release similar toys under same name...

[douro20]

It was LSI which made stuff like this possible...before LSI it would had been twice as large!

[Martinofredwall100]

I would love to find this in a second hand store!

[catfishkempster]

Very cool. I have one of these that I found at a Value Village thrift store. PLays well and looks great... well, for what it is. It is a Scramble like game.

[neoband]

I had this!! Loved it. My favourite was BMX Championship Racer.

[Snuffomatica]

Now that was a bit weird, and a little dopey of me ... I got about 20% of the way into this video, then I see my reflection in the screen of this game which seemed totally normal :D. When I finally came to my senses (and through having to move my head to confirm it) I suddenly realized there's no way it could be me and that it must be you. I think I need some sleep :) Thanks for posting. I had (still do somewhere) the Caveman game. Same housing and some very similar sound FX.

[Velktron]

Lol, very trippy dude :-p Remember to get your sleep, kids ;-)

[muslimini]

i got one for sale!!! remember to refuel . 

[gmill3482]

@muslimini I just got finished watching a video about the "Alien Attck" game and saw that you said you had one for sale. I know its a long shot but was wondering if you still had it to sell?

[quaxk]

wow, never saw that one, it's actually pretty damn good for a VFD game

[Thetruthishere11]

VFD is almost like plasma tv.

too bad tv's didn't use VFD tech.

[rosario508]

This is not the Alien Attack hand held game I remember.

[ClassicTVMan81]

@rosario508: Yours was the one by Coleco if I recall correctly?

[chrisgranton]

Brings back memories, had one of these myself as a child and could sit and play with it for hours. I'm sure my unit had a fault though as every few months my dad would have to open it up and repair it as a wire inside would always start burning and smoking! I remember opening the battery compartment and seeing smoke coming out and when my dad opened it up to replace one of the wires the wire which had been smoking was always melted!

[lanko777]

I had this game, only it was called "Scramble"

[WanderLink]

Is it just me or does the stuff your shooting look like Metroid power ups?

[VegitarianLinguini]

Wow! I had this game at my grandpa's! This brings back memories, especially that little tune at the beginning of each level. That game saw a lot of C batteries. Now I'm gonna have to call up old gramps and see if he still has it lying around...

[TaxiLuvver]

I remember that thing ate up batteries like no ones business. I had to get a AC adapter for it.

[Velktron]

Yup....alkalines of that day were quite unlike modern ones, zinc-carbon were shite, and rechargeables were too expensive to even consider using with a toy. On this video it's running on LIDL NiMHs though ;-)

[TaxiLuvver]

Wish I had mine still. My much older brother was a real manipulator. He organised an AC adapter for me and months later asked if he could borrow the game for his 5-year old kid. Never saw it again.

Listen kids: if you are the youngest, you always get screwed,

[Lachlant1984]

The fact that they managed to produce those kinds of graphics with a VFD screen is amazing. Death to LCD Screens. This is why I liked Speak and Spell even though I never owned one, because it too used a VFD screen. I played this game for the first time at Game On last year, and I quite liked it. When were these games made.

[Velktron]

Mostly early to late 80s, with early ones being somewhat crude, and titles such as Alien Attack approaching perfection for their class :-)

[gjc82071]

I love games like these. LED & LCD hand held games. I remember getting TOMY Pacman for Xmas. The yellow one, kinda looked like a Pacman. I think it's awesome that people have made emulators of a bunch of the late 70's - 80's hand held LCD,LED games. Has anybody ever seen or played the emulator versions? They are really cool. Not as good as the real thing, but as close as you can get. There is Donkey Kong, Crazy Climber, Defender, Frogger, etc, and about 100 more.

[themaritimeman]

This is neither LED or LCD - it's VFD! Awesome display's, aren't they?

You should go to handheldmuseum(DOT)com - they have info on TONS of LCD, LED, and VFD games! Including the Pac Man you're talking about!

[stef546]

I like the colour of VFDs more than of LCDs, they look colorwise seen more "juicy".

[obtyropil]

I had one of those and loved it. Weirdly it looks a lot like the space impact game they used to have on some nokia phones...

[AMOKIAN]

WOW I had this, I guess i am going to go into another

youtube oblivion looking for old electronic games I had as

a kid....YIKES

[Tanru2000]

OMG! I remember this!! My brother had one! I have fond memories for playing this for hours with the green lights lighting up the darkened room!

[chrisfball12]

Wow that sound must really get annoying. I'm pretty sure this game gets really hard around the end

[Tanru2000]

I don't think there WAS an end.

[Velktron]

There's a sort of "progress indicator" after you clear a level (a green bar lights up) and the game becomes faster and harder, however there are only 8 bars to light up, and after level 5-6 there's really no difference, so I guess it just wraps around. What makes it hard is that you only get one extra life in the whole game, so it's really about endurance.

[Tanru2000]

Hey yeah. It was a long time ago that I played that game. The last time was probably at least 18 years ago! (ooh that's scary when I can talk in such a large number of years! :) )

It was and annoying yet at times oddly satisfying game! :D

Anyone remember game'n'watches? I remember the Donkey Kong one just got faster and faster and faster and faster! :D

[RelaxoII]

I feel a bit sorry for the people who had to play things like that. you get such games at the McDonalds after eating a burger for free and got to throw them away anyways because you can play better games online for free >.>

[Velktron]

I don't see what's there to feel sorry about, and I'm sure McDonalds wouldn't give away state-of-the-art VFD games back in the 80s for free! And let's not even touch the gameplay vs bling bling factor...

[chevkoch]

That looks fantastic. I remember a class mate of mine owning a similar one featuring a dragon and/or caveman or something like that. The colors alone, awesome game. I do own a LED title, basketball.

[Velktron]

Lol yeah, I remember there was one with a caveman that had to steal a dino's eggs, called "Dino egg". In fact I had to decide between getting "Dino Egg" or "Alien Attack" for Christmas...I never regretted my choice :-) Ah the memories...

[chevkoch]

Hm, rewatching your playthrough, I think I agree that this one offers more in gameplay variety and overall playability than the Caveman one. Although that erupting volcano (I believe it was called the "Volcanic bomb"!) was indeed cool. Aww, I feel the urge to browse Ebay.

[retrogaming]

I have it too, or had, I'm not sure if it's still there in a box in the attic or not. It was a cool video game, the few sounds, the buzz, those are things that definitely stay with you. And the infamous final boss with the moving blocks... sometimes it was easy, sometimes a real pain.

[SouthShadow]

I remember Having this untill my nephew puked on it. I used t love playing it! Now i'm trying to hunt for this model.

[Velktron]

I had seen one for sale in London, at Camden's flea markets...but perhaps that's a bit too far away from NZ :-)

[SouthShadow]

I think I might have heard of one for sale in London but not too sure where!!

[bcostin]

Nice. I have a couple VFD games. Scramble's always beena favorite of mine so I've always wanted this one.