Atomic Runner

Chelnov (Atomic Runner outside Japan) is a video game from Data East, published in 1988. Originally released for video arcades, it would later be ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console.

In the video arcade version of this game, the player controls a radiation-poisoned miner who survived a nuclear power plant disaster and gained mystical powers with which he is called to fight against an evil syndicate.

It is believed that the game is named after the Chernobyl disaster (Japanese represent Chelnov「チェルノブ」/Chrnobyl「チェルノブイリ」 is almost same, the game displays the hammer and sickle symbol from the Soviet Union flag, and the story itself is somewhat reminiscent of the disaster), but the president of Data East claimed otherwise,[citation needed] stating that Chelnov is just Karnov's cousin. In the console version of the game, Chelnov is a young scientist, fighting against a grotesque alien horde (claiming to be the prehistoric original inhabitants of earth), progressing through the assimilated ruins of many of earth's ancient civilizations to modern cities.