Xenogunner wasn't just come up with out of thin air. The game was inspired by a rather large number of other games, some from the Sega Genesis era of games, others from much later than that. Probably the most prominent one was Alien Soldier. Tons of bosses, loads of fast-paced action. It's not a game for everyone because of the odd control scheme, but it's one of my favorite games on the system. So, when it came time to make a game for a Clickteam-hosted GameJam back in 2018, I decided I wanted to try to follow in Alien Soldier's footsteps, which has inspired the direction of the game ever since.

(Fun fact: The control test screen was inspired heavily by Alien Soldier's control test screen)

The game also has a few less obvious sources of inspiration. The uh, let's just call it the "second stage" of Xenogunner's second episode so as to avoid spoiling the experience is somewhat inspired by the design mind-set of Gunstar Heroes, which was pretty much "screw rules, we're doing whatever we want". The 4 stages after that are all rather more Mega Man-inspired, with smaller, more player-sized bosses with pattern-based attacks taking the stage for a little while. Oh, and the first boss of the game? It being a robot dragon? Castlevania: Rondo of Blood deserves a bit of thanks for that one, that game's first boss helped me realize that it's a good idea to start big.