Alien Syndrome (Mega-Tech)

The Mega-Tech System is an arcade cabinet released by Sega in 1989, and Western counterpart to the Mega 6. It was based on the Sega Mega Drive home console, and was designed similarly to Nintendo’s PlayChoice-10: players chose games from a menu of eight titles, with credits buying more play time (usually 1 minute per credit) rather than extra lives or continues; reaching a game over screen does not end the play session, and players can start over or choose a different game as long as there was some play time remaining. The Mega-Tech was not released in North America, though did see use in Asia and the PAL regions.

Travel to several alien-infested space stations to rescue children. Defeat the end boss before returning to your ship. Pick up a variety of weapons to help you eliminate your foes.

Two players control two soldiers named Ricky and Mary, who must fight their way through large eight-way scrolling levels rescuing their comrades who are being held by aliens. After they have rescued a certain number of hostages the exit opens and they can pass through it in order to fight the end-of-level guardian. If this monstrosity is defeated, they move onto the next stage. As well as two player simultaneous gameplay, Alien Syndrome features pick-ups which assist the player including better weapons and maps of the current level.