How to play Alligator People online
- Move Jane through the maze: arrow keys
- Shoot antidote: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Infinite lives on or off: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch (position B gives infinite lives)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
You play Jane Marvin, shown on screen as a small syringe. Six of her friends are turning into alligators, and she has to cure them by shooting vials of antidote at them in a swamp maze. The longer a friend goes untreated, the further the change goes, and a badly affected friend can need up to six hits. Picking up serum makes your antidote stronger, so fewer hits are needed. Ordinary alligators roam the maze too: avoid them or shoot them. Once all six friends are cured, you move on to the next level.
The maze walls pulse in and out in set patterns, which blocks your path and can hide the vials. The game variations change this: some remove the walls entirely, some let Jane pass straight through them, and the rest give you the full challenge.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Antidote vial | 5 |
| Serum vial | 10 |
| Shooting an alligator | 10 |
| Curing a friend | 300 |
| Completing a level | 3,000 |
Tips
- Treat friends early. Every moment you wait makes the cure harder, so go for the friend nearest to you first.
- Grab serum on the way. Stronger antidote means fewer shots per friend, which saves time on the later ones.
- Learn the wall rhythm. The walls move in fixed patterns, so wait for a gap instead of forcing your way in.
Why it was never released
According to AtariProtos, the game did not get past play-testing: the children who tried it found it too slow and too easy, and there was little interest in taking it further. For years the game was also misidentified. A cartridge found in the mid-1990s was thought to be Alligator People until Ben Liashenko found a genuine copy in 2002, which showed that the earlier find was really Fox’s Planet of the Apes. The surviving cartridge is labelled “Gator” and appears to be a final or near-final version.
Similar games to play next
- Planet of the Apes – another unreleased Fox movie game, once mistaken for this one
- Crypts of Chaos – a Fox maze adventure full of monsters
- Fantastic Voyage – Fox’s shooter based on the film about a trip through the human body
- Alien – Fox’s maze game based on the 1979 film