The game I chose for day three of my little personal tribute is a game
that many of you may have missed. The reason for that is because it was
an Atari Jaguar exclusive.

Aliens
vs. Predator was easily my favorite game on the Jaguar. In fact, I
would reckon it was the best game the short-lived console had to offer.
Doom was good, but by that point Doom had already been on PC’s. AvP was
where it was at.

Back then the graphics were amazing. You got to play as the Alien, the
Predator, or a lowly Marine, and each had their own strategies,
strengths and weaknesses.

Most of my memories of this game involve playing as the Marines. My
best friend and I would always play by switching off the controller
between us, as we advanced through the levels.

Now, in this sort of company, a human is nothing more than a meaty
plaything. A few attacks and you’re toast. We must have woken the
neighbors on more than one occasion with screams of “Into the vents!
Into the vents!!” as we tried to escape a barrage of aliens. Because
Marines could duck into air vents, but the aliens weren’t smart enough
to swallow.

Or when we’d wander over to the airlock that lead inside the predator’s
ship, a dark and creepy, almost organic, environment. And all would be
quiet, the lights out, when suddenly we’d hear the predator’s signature
mandibular clacking. Or even worse, he would taunt us. “Come get some”.
We most certainly did not go “get some” In fact what we got was the
fuck out of there.

Playing as the aliens was a fun adventure. You could infest marines,
and then when you died you’d respawn at the last “egg” you created. It
was great going around impaling people on your barbed tail.

The Predator was a whole different experience though. Unlike the Marine
and the Alien, the Predator was armed to the teeth. You had a shoulder
cannon, wrist blades, the disc, and your “combi stick”.

Now,
the Predator had a cloaking device, which you could activate to sneak
around undetected. You could slaughter your enemies while cloaked, but
kills in this manner didn’t generate any honor points.

In order to generate your honor points, which were the meat and
potatoes of a Predator’s lifestyle, you had to kill your prey
uncloaked, and if I recall correctly, using a melee weapon. This made
for some pretty challenging gameplay.

We had the most fun with the Predator’s shoulder cannon though. For
instance, on one occasion we were on a section of the ship that was
essentially one very, very long hallway, separated by a series of doors.

So we went through and opened every single door from one end to the
other. We stood at one end, and at the far end was an unsuspecting
Marine. And we would face the down the hallway, the far end obscured by
darkness, and just fire one shot from our cannon.

And then wait.

And we would time how long it took from the moment we fired this
massive plasma fireball, until it had traveled the full length of the
hallway when we finally heard the Marine scream. I think it was a good
ten or fifteen seconds. It was a long fucking hallway.

I can’t say I have many fond memories of owning a Jaguar. In fact, I
mostly recall anticipating games that never came out. But I can
honestly say I am happier for having owned this little gem of a game.