The legendary Newgrounds side-scroller Alien Hominid is, as it turns out, about to make a triumphant return to the gaming forefront on Steam, sometime before the end of 2023. The violent yellow space invader is getting a fully-fledged re-release of its older HD console version re-release. Early 2000s gamers will recall just how prominent Newgrounds was back in the day, and Alien Hominid, in particular, was one of the platform’s crowning jewels.
Alien Hominid HD has been penned by the good people from The Behemoth: the studio responsible for wacky titles such as Castle Crashers, Battleblock Theater, and Pit People. In fact, Alien Hominid was the studio’s first major release, and it informed its creative output for times to come. Alien Hominid HD will support up to two-player co-op, and The Behemoth has confirmed that all of the original mini-games, like Super Soviet Missile Mastar and Pinata Fiesta, will be making a comeback as well.
The strange release trajectory of Alien Hominid
Alien Hominid‘s had a heck of a time up until this point, as some may remember. Originally released as an Adobe Flash original via Newgrounds in 2002 (meaning it was playable exclusively on PC), the game eventually made its way to PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004, which would fuel its 2005 launch on a wider array of platforms such as Java-enabled phones and the infamous Gizmondo handheld. The first proper “HD” iteration of the game wouldn’t come out until 2007, though, as it was built specifically for Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade – a veritable treasure trove of arcade gaming at the time.
Now, at long last, Alien Hominid HD is coming out on modern platforms as well. It is due to launch sometime in 2023 on Windows PCs, the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. All in good fun, of course, but there’s something even more notable going on with the Alien Hominid IP: a sequel. Indeed, the long-awaited Alien Hominid: Invasion sequel is coming out in 2023 as well, signaling a new tour de force for the little yellow alien.
