I used to work as a arcade technician. Site 4 was my time killer. It “broke” a lot and needed to be “tested” frequently.

I loved that game, so many memories at pizza arcade rooms and alien screams.

Area 51 is such a Cool game, one of my favourite games I have for the original xbox

I love that game so much. Played so much as kid I had constant nightmares with the aliens. Now 23 years old and I'm still scared as hell of those alien freaks. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Edit: Still remember playing it for the first time as demo on MK Deception.

One of the weirdest parts about the Blacksite game is how open it was about it being a clear criticism of the Iraq war at the time. They even have the characters talk about Abu Ghraib at one point. It'd be pretty cool and interesting if the rest of the game was any good.

Matt you got me teary eyed during this. One of the fondest memories I have is playing Area 51 with my dad in a cici's pizza. My dad worked a lot when I was really little, so I dont have many early memories of me and him when I was that young. Thanks man.

FUN FACT: An 'Area 51' branded Arcade cabinet can be seen in the background of an episode of the TV show 'Narcos'.....even though that episode was set in the late 1980s- way before the first Area 51 game came out. Also, that Arcade cabinet was a standard cabinet that didnt have a lightgun attatched. * Simpsons nerd voice * "Boy I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder"....

I like to imagine Matt's relationship with Midway akin to that of a slasher villain and its victim

Actually Atari Games was a distinct entity compared to the Atari that released the Jaguar. In fact the home division and the coin op division were split in 1984.

Dawg you keep pumpin out the obscure bangers from my childhood, appreciate this good ass content

I remember playing the og arcade cabinet at a roller rink when I was a kid. Great memories playing this aswell as Umk3, hydro thunder, and AVP. Loved putting in 2 quarters so you could dual wield the pistols.

I really enjoyed Area 51 FPS PC, a close friend of mine recommended it I give it a go and it turned out to be a lot of fun, I was streaming it to her as I played it and we got a bit further in after discovering the beast form. I think it had some unique ideas as I really enjoyed it, I should get back to finishing it.

You better put some respect on Ian Ambercrombie's name, that 2008's the first Clone Wars Palpatine! (Until Tim Curry took over after Ian died), also he was Alfred in the Birds of Prey show... I almost forgot about that lol

I remember the arcade cabinet, my parents were okay with me playing it because it was a big bad alien on the side and not a person.

I was working in a movie theater as cleanup crew after hours for about a year when Area 51 Arcade came out. We’d all get together once work was done (or not) and take turns playing it. Good times. I played the PC FPS version later and I enjoyed it. Didn’t know they were related.

Matt , do 3DO's (Army men) series. It would be good for a retrospective or a Wha Happun video.

"C'mon! Stay low!" "Reload" "Reload"

I’m glad you introduced me to Raw Thrills with this video, they seem to be one of the few successful modern day Arcade companies, and a lot of their games look really good, H2Overdrive for example. It seems like they’re basically the continuation of Midway, and they started predominantly with former Midway people. I’m glad the arcade industry lives on with a presence reminiscent of Midway.

When you reload, instead of aiming away from the screen just cover the tip of the light gun with your finger every third shot or so.

Oh look, my favorite type of games to play at the arcades. Time crisis 2 and carnevil being two of my favorites. And my personal reason why I think motion/gyro aiming is the best. I know it's not the same and uses different things, but physically your body is doing roughly the same thing. Moving your hands and arms to aim.

I used to play the hell out of Area 51 and Site 4! I remember a day when I played all the way through Site 4 with a single dollar (25 cents per game). Surprisingly managed to kill the queen without taking any damage. That's how often I would play the game. 🤣 I still look for this cabinet whenever I'm inside an arcade.

This game scarred the bejesus out of me when I was a kid

I remember seeing the Alien 51 cabinet at a pizza place an hour away from my family's vacation home. So only once a year I would see the cabinet, and I never got to play until I was a teenager

I dunno why I always loved how those orange aliens in the original arcade cabinet looked, they're hodge podge of different alien designs thrown together but I still like the end result, really wish they would've kept it for the gritty FPS games they made later. I played the Area 51 games on the xbox when I was a kid and I had no clue there was any relation to the arcade games.

Oh man, I remember this! Some of my relatives had an Area 51 arcade cabinet, so whenever we’d go there for Christmas there’d be continual alien roars and shooting noises in the background in the front room, which freaked me out when I was really little... good times. :’D

I'd like to see a CarnEvil/House of the Dead video.

I was at a cinema arcade in about 2003. This game was there and for some reason there was like 20 credits on it so I played it through with my buddy, twice.

Wait, the zombie soldiers were stop-motion?! I know the Kronomorphs (that's the name of the aliens according to the PS1 manual) definitely were but I thought the zombies were also green-screened actors like the STAARS soldiers. But yeah I remember the first time I saw this game in the arcade of a laser tag place when I was like in 2nd grade. At the time I was OBSESSED with House of the Dead but Area 51 also left an impression on me. I just loved the look of the game and the way the enemies exploded with their bones seen flying out every time they were shot. Plus it was the first time I heard of "Area 51" as a kid so it's thanks to this game I learned about that place!

I remember watching this guy at the arcade beat the game alone with both light guns. It blew my mind.

Site 4 was super cool. I loved the side game modes that elaborate on the break out. The FPS was good too. Had a lot of fun in the multiplayer infection mode, though everyone always agreed not to use the OP Alien ranged attack.

I love Area 51; I would always seek it out for a playthrough whenever I entered an arcade. The super secret extra life room was tough to get and would tease a giant alien, making you freak out but wanted to see and fight it!

Thank you, Matt! I finally now know the game I watched my dad play at my local pizza shop was Area 51: Site 4. I was so young back then and I remember those alien/zombie mini-games freaking me the fuck out.

Area 51 is quite possibly my favorite light gun game ever, like the only game that commands as much headspace when I'm thinking of light gun games is House of the Dead.

I remember seeing the first game in the arcades. At the time, it was the most realistic game I've ever seen (lol). I was terrified with the game over screen where your character turn into an alien.

Still have fond memories jamming out on this game at my local bowling alley. Probably spent more time on the arcade then I did bowling, honestly.

I remember this game! I still have it somewhere for PS2! Loved Edgar. He was ballin'.

A Turok Retrospective wouldn't hurt, y'know.

Most light guns worked by having a light sensor in the guns barrel. Each time you pulled the trigger, it would either white out or black out the screen, then for one frame it would change the area where the target was to the other color, and if the gun detected the change, then it registered as a hit.

David Duchovny sounded like he had been up for 3 days on a cocaine bender in that game. Like he just straight up did not want to be there.

I absolutely loved this game! I would save my quarters all year so when on vacation i could play this game during the summer. It's not until reading the comments today did i even know it was on consoles! How did i miss that?!!!!!

Area 51 for the PS2/Xbox was underrated. It's a pretty fun shooter and it has some genuinely disturbing moments. I was 8 when I saw that scientist mutate and it gave me nightmares.

Crazy timing man! I was just playing Area 51 and Maximum Force last night! But yeah, these games are great when you have an extra 20 minutes to kill.

A local restaurant in my town used to have a Site 4 cabinet and I've been scouring the entire metroplex for the last few years trying to find another one.

omfg your soundtrack choices always gives me lovely conniptions

when my family and i went to disneyland I was holed up in their arcade playing Area 51 the whole time. It's a small small world and it's full of xenos

I remember the Area 51 arcade machine. Always wondered what happened to that franchise so this satisfies my curiosity.

Man, this game brings back so many childhood memories

I remember there was one of these cabinets in the local Chuck E. Cheese clone. "Squirty Worm" Edit: we also had a carnevil cabinet in the local bowling alley. Side point, the mascot was a large green worm with yellow spots and RED AND BLACK EYES. Like red scalera with large black pupils. It was terrifying.

Area 51 was 1 of my first games I've ever played, probably my favourite alien game

Okay, so that Terminator Salvation cabinet being in everything with a passing resemblance to an arcade isn't just a Maine thing. Interesting and depressing to know.

I remember getting a VHS tape in the master 90s that had upcoming Midway games including Maximum Force, Rampage World Tour, and randomly Pandemonium 2. And behind the scenes of MK Mythologies Sub Zero

That Battle Arena: Toshinden music hit me hard. Good God that was a blast from the past.

Dude I love your series.

House of the dead is still fucking amazing. Someday I'll have a House of the dead cabinet in my house.

I remember playing the demo for this on my old original Xbox

great retrospective. played the first arcade game always wondered what the other games were about

Remember seeing Area 51 quite often at, of all places, a local Tex-Mex restaurant that had a couple of arcade machines for some reason. Going back as an adult, the food was crap especially compared to the authentic Mexican places that have cropped up over time here but that Area 51 cabinet was still there chugging away.

Loved this game so much one of the best games ever so good I remember the main protagonists still Ethan cole played by David Duchovny

Damn loved playing that game in the arcade. I remember they had ads for it a lot in GamePro, GameFan, etc back in the day too.

I just did an Area 51 manual readthrough the other day so I was excited to see you do this. I enjoyed all the Area 51 games but sadly have never played Site 4. I'd kill for the chance to play it.

Loved these games. Still have fond memories of the PS2 game.

The sequel to Area 51 was actually a pretty fun arcade cabinet! Used to play it all the time when I was younger; even played the ps2 area 51 game in split screen vs lol.

Man, I remember playing Area 51 at a godfathers pizza buffet, and the Site 4 at a skating rink growing up.

The original Area 51 was awesome when I was a kid. The local pizza place had it and Cruis'n USA and I'd always beg my parents for quarters so I could play them. The people who owned that pizza place also had a location on the other side of town and I remember we went to that one once while we were out and about and they had a Mortal Kombat 4 cabinet. Uo to that point I had thought MK4 was just a console game (we had it on the N64) and had no idea it was an arcade game too.

I really, really miss light gun games. Time Crisis, Virtua Cop, Duck Hunt, Hogan’s Alley, Area 51, House of the Dead. Man. We had it good back in the day as far as this genre goes.

No cap this was my shit at godfather pizza back in the day

YESS!! ME and my best friend used to play this on my saturn every day after school when we were kids! I still have it too, no CRT to play it on though...

This brings back so many memories from going to the movies as a kid :D

Oh my god that Area 51 cabinet brings back so many memories.

Such an underrated game Copped both AREA 51 & DESTROY ALL HUMANS in 1 go back in 2005

How the light gun worked: Notice how every time you pull the trigger in the older light gun games that the screen flashes for a fraction of a split second? If you take footage of a game and slow it down enough you'll notice that there are a few barely distinguishable blocks where enemies are on screen. When you pull the trigger the sensor on the gun looks to see if it's pointed at these squares. If the sensor catches it, the game registers a hit and the monster/alien/criminal/terrorist/whatever goes down.

Both area 51 games on the ps1 and ps2 were amazing to me as a kid. The online multiplayer was intense as hell. I miss those games.

Man I remember this! The arcade cabinet was so damn fun. But it was hard doing it solo.. and the coolest thing was when you got a game over your character turned into one of the aliens! The FPS games was pretty fun to play also even though the reviews wasn't so good.

I used to play the arcade game with my dad when I was a kid everytime we went to an arcade. I'd kill to do it again.

thanks man, this cabinet was part of my childhood

I miss this game. Played it so many times when I was younger.

"Atari was barely hanging on" that describes every day since ET came out.

Area 51 was one of the first 2 games I ever had on the Playstation one (the other being Wipeout). Me and my bro would always play it together so Area 51 is kinda special to me. Although we were both bad shots with the gun so we just used the standard controllers. What I never knew until now was the sexy secrets.

Area 51 is my all-time favorite arcade game.

I had the chance to buy a site 4 cabinet, likely the one I had grown up playing at a local pizza place for like 200 dollars back in like 2012. I had the money, I had a truck. This video is bringing back all the memories, like almost beating the game on like 3 dollars of quarters with some random kid. I was a fool for not buying it, I scream

Raw Thrills. When you need a lazy licensed Dave and Busters cash grab, you call Raw!

Oh Blacksite... All I can remember out of it was the fact that the game felt like a shovelware title and the guns had this weird thing where if you can pull the left trigger in consoles without putting too much weight into it, the aiming would feel like ArmA II where you got aim down sights mode and AIM SO DAMN CLOSE THAT THE RED SIGHTS TOOK UP THE SCREEN mode.

The terminator style shooters that don't require you to point your gun down and instead have you press a button on the side or bottom are my favorites

Duuuude, I remember playing the 2005 game and enjoying it quite a bit. Had no idea it was part of a bigger franchise. That's pretty interesting.

I played this so much at the Arcade, and on the PC.

I love the old arcade one. Especially its death animation. Pretty fuckin dope imo

Well done Matt.

The first console Area 51 game was very much a X-Files, Deus Ex, Fox/Discovery/History Channel Paranormal programing of the 90s and 00s kind of game. The second console Area 51 game was very much a game of the Bush Era post 9/11 gritty dark nonsense.

Yay new matt video!!!

Seeing someone finally do a proper retrospective on this game is really bizarre (in a good way) lol this game was truly a blast to play when i was a kid...i still have the ps1 version to this day (without the guns, sadly)

The game over screen of the Arcade Area 51 game used to shit me up as a child seeing my guy turning into an alien monster was nightmare fuel for little me.

I’m pretty sure I played this at a great wolf lodge in the early 2000’s, was a kid but really fond of it still.

Aww, a local movie theater where I live still has the first game in its lobby.

Matt McMuscles just saw this Video *TBH Loved this game for PS2 and they do need a reboot thank you for this insightful video*

AWW YEAH AREA 51

I had no clue Site 4 was hard to find. Every movie theater and arcade I went to growing up in PA had one. Man, I miss this series. It wasn't the best, but man was it fun.

I thought this was gonna be a video about the ps2 area 51 game, I am not disappointed though, any Matt video is a good watch

I really enjoy this video, has soo much content. Matt could you do a video telling the story behind altered beast from ps2

One of the first games I ever played. Been tempted to pick up a copy and an OG Xbox to play it again.

Matt war of the monsters from one kaiju fan to another