Xenophobe 1988 By: Sunsoft

Overview:

Kill monsters. Get stuff. Couldn't be simpler. Oh... and don't get killed yourself. Those Xenos are mean, and your Phobia is well-founded.

Directions:

Xenophobe is a port from an arcade game which originally allowed up to three players at the same time. The NES version uses a split screen, with Player 1 in the top and Player 2 in the bottom. The graphics are somewhat lacking, but Xenophobe is surprisingly fun to play, with its variety of characters, monsters, and items.
First you get to choose your character from three Xenophobe Exterminators. As far as I know this is merely an aesthetic choice, but none of your options are particularly pleasing to the eye. Next your ship delivers you to the base, where your job is to kill everything that moves. Some enemies will drop items which you can pick up, including ID cards, Fuel, Medicine, Skulls, Tools, and Knives. They are worth bonus points at the end of the mission, and some give you back some of your lost health. Occasionally you can also get weapons upgrades. These include the Laser Pistol, Lightning Gun, Smoke Gun, and Bombs. The Smoke Gun has the most powerful shot but a very short range.
A great variety of enemies await, some apparently fixed to certain locations, others appearing randomly wherever your explorations take you. There is no set number of enemies or items per level, so just destroy as many as you can in order to clear the mission. If you take too long, the base will self-destruct!