Modern indie run and gun on AES with proudly old school feel. Polished animation, snappy gameplay. A beautiful homebrew tribute to the best of the arcade.
Your verdict
Category
Action2 players12+
Co-op
Description
Two soldiers invade an alien-infested space station in this independent run and gun tribute to the Neo Geo era. Published by Bitmap Bureau, released worldwide. Top-down run and gun with collectable weapons, titanic zone bosses, two-player co-operation. Unofficial world edition.
Xeno Crisis review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Designed long after the format's commercial life ended, this title deliberately applies the constraints of the era while drawing on accumulated craft: crisp sprites, abundant animation, lighting effects obtained by layering rather than by computation. The station corridors, strewn with organic remains, adopt a reduced palette of greens and reds that keeps every threat visible.
The score is written for the original sound chip rather than for an audio player, the opposite of what the format allows, giving the game a frankly retrospective identity. The pieces, fast and dark, work the available voices to saturation, with bass lines doubling the melody to make up for the lack of depth.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Engaging"
Difficulty
"Punishing"
A modern twin-stick arena shooter with a retro soul, it locks the player into swarming rooms where managing ammo and dodging matters every second. Relentless waves, stubborn bosses and a run to restart on failure keep the tension raw. Frantic and demanding without being unfair, it rewards composure and precision, true to the purest arcade spirit.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
Worldwide unlicensed Bitmap Bureau edition of Xeno Crisis on Neo Geo CD, distributed from 2019 as part of the studio's crowdfunding. This recent homebrew CD cartridge is physically produced on writable CDs and offers an arena run-and-gun inspired by Smash TV with entirely original assets. Desirability rests on the status of professional commercial homebrew on Neo Geo CD at a time when the format had been officially abandoned for twenty years, a rare editorial fact.
Is Xeno Crisis still worth playing in 2026?
Xeno Crisis is a modern indie run and gun built for AES and Neo Geo CD, with fully owned old-school sensations. Top-down view, alien waves and a complete arsenal build a homebrew tribute to the best of 90s arcade design. The animation is careful, the pacing perfect for short sessions and the cooperative mode turns the experience into a real outlet. On Neo Geo CD, the CD soundtrack lifts it further. An excellent recent acquisition for retro run and gun and Neo Geo homebrew fans, especially in co-op.
