Area 51 is a 1995 light gun shooter video game developed by Mesa Logic and published by Time Warner Interactive under its Atari Games label for arcades. The game involves the player taking part in a Strategic Tactical Advanced Alien Response (STAAR) military incursion to prevent aliens known as the Kronn, as well as alien-created zombies, from taking over the Area 51 military facility.

The Story Behind Area 51

After playing Bounty Hunter and finding it underwhelming, Weatherby asked for a few months to come up with and develop a pitch for his own gun game concept, to which Atari agreed. Grisafi recalled: The game uses digitized video stored on the on-board hard disk, and gibs into which every enemy blows apart when shot, in exactly the same way. While the STAAR members were rendered with motion capture, the assorted enemies were created with stop motion animation by Sneaky Pete Kleinow.

As such, they directed Ed Logg to create a light gun shooter, which was one of the most popular game genres in arcades at the time. Atari Games was purchased by WMS Industries the following year; as a result, ports for PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Windows were released in 1996 by WMS's Midway Home Entertainment subsidiary. Originally the data from the game was to be streamed from a CD player using Cinepak for compression, but since this could only produce a letterboxed display, lead programmer Charlie Grisafi opted to instead run the game on a COJAG (a modified Atari Jaguar used in arcade games) interfaced with a hard disk drive and using Grisafi's own custom compression software.

How Area 51 Plays

There are five types of weaponry available. Both the machine gun and automatic shotgun allow the player to keep the trigger pressed down to unleash rounds. In addition, yellow boxes and barrels marked with "flammable" warning symbols can be shot to cause fires or explosions that can harm enemies.

The shotgun weaponry allows a greater field of error for targeting an enemy. If the player character is hit by the enemy at any time, the weapon is downgraded back to the pistol. By shooting certain objects in the correct sequence, players can unlock shooting exercises, weapon stashes, and bonus items that are not available in the main game plot.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Executive producer Mark Pierce recalled that the home versions had above average sales by the standards of console light gun games (which typically did not sell as well as other arcade ports, since players could not get the full experience without purchasing a light gun for the console). Despite this, the reviewer concluded that the game "stands up better against shooters of the past like Virtua Cop 1 and Mad Dog McCree, and not the current crop." The game took the number one slot in the December 1995 "Player's Choice" chart of RePlay Magazine. He did, however, praise the music and sound effects.

AllGame praised the Saturn version's music and sound, and recommended that players use a light gun instead of a joypad. Next Generations review of the arcade version stated that "Area 51 provides shooters with what they want", noting in particular the dark and varied levels, realistic and graduated scenery, intriguing story themes, and fun power-ups. Area 51 was a major hit in arcades, selling over 20,000 cabinets.

Area 51 — Frequently Asked Questions