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group=lower-alpha is a 1995 shoot 'em up video game developed by T&E Soft and published by Nintendo. Released as a Virtual Boy launch game, it requires the player to pilot a space fighter and defeat the army of a malevolent artificial intelligence called KAOS. The game takes inspiration from the 1993 title Star Fox, and it is one of the few third-party titles for the Virtual Boy. Unlike most of the console's games, Red Alarm features three-dimensional (3D) polygonal graphics. However, hardware constraints limited the visuals to bare , similar to those of the 1980 arcade game Battlezone. Reviewers characterized Red Alarms graphics as confusing, but certain publications praised it as one of the most enjoyable Virtual Boy titles.
Assuming control of a "Tech-Wing" space fighter, the player seeks to destroy KAOS's forces and finally its mainframe. The game is broken up into six levels, each of which culminates in a boss fight. The player uses the Tech-Wing's laser cannons to attack, and its guided missiles to destroy armored enemies. Shields on the craft offer limited protection from enemy fire; evasion is critical. The Tech-Wing may be maneuvered in any direction, and certain levels contain branching corridors and dead ends that force players to retrace their paths. Four camera angles—three third-person viewpoints and the first-person "cockpit view"—are available. When a level is completed, the player may watch a Instant replay of their performance from multiple perspectives.
Red Alarm debuted in North America at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, and it was confirmed as a launch game for the Virtual Boy at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Later that year, Red Alarm and several other titles were released alongside the console, which debuted on July 21 in Japan and August 14 in the United States.
In 2026, Red Alarm will be added to the Nintendo Classics service. The game requires the use of an additional accessory for play, which is used to recreate the stereoscopic 3D effect of the original system. The accessory will be available in two formats: a plastic mount based on the original system, and a cardboard sleeve.
The reviewer for Next Generation saw significant promise in Red Alarm, and believed that its elements should add up to "a fantastic game"; but the writer panned the final product as a wasted opportunity. Similarly, Danny Wallace of Total! wrote, "On the one hand, it's a pretty impressive 3D spacey shoot-em-up, with a real grip on the Virtual world and all those fancy techniques, and on the other it's an often visually confusing, headache-inducing attempt at being something it's quite obviously not." However, Dave Halverson of GameFan called Red Alarm "a great shooter" with excellent graphics. Co-reviewer Nicholas Barres hailed it as a "masterpiece", and he considered it to be "the one and only reason to buy a Virtual Boy".
A retrospective feature by Australian video game talk show Good Game highlighted Red Alarm as one of the Virtual Boy's most visually impressive games due to its polygonal graphics. The outlet praised it as one of the most entertaining titles on the console. Video game database AllGame said that the graphics made it difficult to play, making it too difficult to navigate your ship between the empty polygonal lines while avoiding enemies. The review concluded that the developers "have created a very detailed setting for which to fight in. Walls have faces stretching out of them like a scene from The Abyss, there are several interesting bosses to combat, and you'll even hear some speech. Deep down there is a fine shooter that is simply hard to enjoy due to the limitations of the hardware ... and that is truly a shame." In 2008, Kolan called it "a really competent shooter" with strong visuals and gameplay. The following year, Damien McFerran of Retro Gamer summarized Red Alarm as "pretty good fun to play", although inferior to Star Fox. Wireds Chris Kohler later opined that the game "kind of sucked".
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