Galaga

One of the best “almost scrollers” created in 1981. With Ideas begun from Galaxian, they made Galaga into everything it wanted to be and more. It was definitely more than just a Space Invaders clone, Galaga was an instant arcade hit. Game consists of Alien attackers, which they also featured a new creative “craft abduction feature” (You can shoot the abducting ship and get a double cannon). Galaga is still one of the most playable and instantly addictive games ever made.

Genre: Shooter

Publisher: Bally Midway

Developer: Namco

Online Play:

Local Play:

History

The game Galaga is built off the idea of the game Space Invaders, a simpler, slower classic shooter. Galaga was released in the golden years of the arcade, Galaga has had tough competition. It has easy and addictive gameplay, with beautiful 8bit artwork lol, and it has a great score system, it made Galaga standout. Galaga quickly became one of the most popular of arcade games. And still you can find it in the corner of most larger arcades. Being one of the first games with a bonus stage. Unfortunately Galaga also is one of the most bootlegged games of all time.

Game Design Elements

A summary of the game design elements of this game. Galaga introduces several new concepts to the vertical shooting genre that made it really popular in the arcades

One of the most notable features of Galaga is the chance to increase your fire power by intentionally allowing one of the Boss Galagas to capture your ship, and rescue it with your next ship, returning the original star ship to your side. Upon rescuing your ship, you are granted side-by-side double fire power, albeit with an increase in size, and therefore, vulnerability. Another popular feature of Galaga was its presentation of Bonus Rounds (dubbed "Challenging Stages") between the action which offered large point awards for perfection.

Gameplay

The game starts out completely blank. Initially 3 different kinds of enemy ships swoop in from the side using different formations and they attack you. You can shoot the enemies while they're flying in, but if you don't dodge their shots you'll get destroyed. After more and more ships fly in. Then ships that survive the initial attack take their place in a formation at the top of the screen and start sending down ships to get you. You get more points for shooting ships when they're flying down rather than they're sitting in formation, and also like Galaxian there's flagships which are worth more points depending on how you shoot them. A cool addition is the ability of the flagships to capture your ship by a blue beam. You can get your ship back (if it wasn't your last ship) by defeating the flagship that stole your ship. Then your old ship joins up with your ship and you get a double cannon. That makes you a bigger target, but you have double the firepower.

Every 3 levels there's a "challenging stage." In a "Challenging Stage," you try to shoot as many ships as possible, the enemy doesn't shoot back, with points being rewarded depending on how well you do. Another cool thing about Galaga is the fact that it tracks your accuracy and displays it at the end of the game.

Sound and graphics are about the same quality as Galaxian, meaning they're pretty good for the early 80's.

Controls

Very simple.

Joystick- can move left and right. Button- Fire

Plot

One site says, “There is no official story to Galaga. You are simply the only pilot capable of staving off the invasion of the Galaga army, a collection of giant sized insect looking aliens.

Next site says, “You're under attack! The Galagans are reclaiming planets they lost during a centuries-old interstellar war -- and now they want yours! And you're ready to fight to the bitter end to protect it!

So you join the Intergalactic Warrior Fleet. Without training, you're assigned to your first combat mission -- and on-the-job is the only way to learn. Shaking in your boots, you accept the assignment and board your Intergalactic Command Ship.” hah...

References

A bulleted list of references

Links http://www.racketboy.com/retro/together-retro/2009/02/together-retro-game-club-galaga.html

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