If ever you log onto newgrounds.com, you may notice the visage of a naked yellow alien brandishing a green ray gun. That little alien is not just a random mascot for the site, but it is also the lead character in a flash game on the site called Alien Hominid. Alien Hominid was the brainchild of a two man team consisting of Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin. They initially created a one level flash game which had the Alien fighting waves of FBI agents and two boss characters. Over time, Hominid became a major hit, and after some talking, Fulp and Paladin agreed to begin work on a full fledged console version of the game. They also went into business together and formed The Behemoth. Alien Hominid was expanded from one level to 16, more power ups were made available, and a bonus mini games were added as well. Alien Hominid was praised by many in the video game industry for being something most big budget games aren't, nothing about Alien Hominid felt forced, the game never took itself too seriously, and it was defiantly old school in a business that seems to shun what is considered old for shiny new and 3d. Alien Hominid made me feel like I was playing a the spliced together spawn of Contra, Metal Slug, and Sonic the Hedgehog, and I have no problem with that considering how great those three games were incredible. Alien Hominid is probably one of the biggest independent games ever released, and it effectively made the video game industry realize that there are small developers who, given the right opportunity, can pretty much make the entire video game industry stand up and take notice.
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