With the sheer oddness of certain Japanese games, it's little wonder (though a shame nonetheless) that so many of them never make it to western markets. But when an awesome side-scrolling shooter from Japan like Alien Soldier gets an English-language release in Europe, you do wonder why it never made it Stateside. Alien Shooter puts you in control of Epsilon-Eagle, an armoured, heavily armed anthropomorphic bird man who looks like he went to the auditions for the role of Falco Lombardi in Starfox, but just didn't quite cut it. The gameplay is fast-paced and heavily boss-oriented, forcing you to rely on Eagle's diverse weapons arsenal and abilities to traverse 25 levels filled with a whopping 31 bosses. The Mega Drive cartridge of Alien Soldier can be found for $80, though of course you'll also need a PAL Mega Drive to run it. Despite never getting a physical US release, Alien Soldier has garnered something of a cult following, and is now available on the Wii Virtual Console and Steam.