Galaga

01.09.1981
Critic 70/100
Users 72/100
Genre: Shooter Arcade
The objective of Galaga is to score as many points as possible by destroying insect-like enemies. The player controls a starfighter that can move left and right along the bottom of the playfield. Enemies swarm in groups in a formation near the top of the screen, and then begin flying down toward the player, firing bombs at the fighter. The game ends when the player's last fighter is lost, either by colliding with an enemy or one of its bullets, or by being captured. Galaga introduces a number of new features over its predecessor, Galaxian. Among these is the ability to fire more than one bullet at a time, a count of the player's "hit/miss ratio" at the end of the game, and a bonus "Challenging Stage" that occurs every few levels, in which a series of enemies fly onto and out of the screen in set patterns without firing at the player's ship or trying to crash into it. These stages award a large point bonus if the player manages to destroy every enemy. Another gameplay feature new to Galaga is the ability for enemies to capture the player's fighter. While the player is in control of just one fighter, a "boss Galaga" (which takes two shots to kill) periodically attempts to capture the fighter using a tractor beam. If successful, the fighter joins the enemy formation. If the player has more lives remaining, play resumes with a new fighter. The captured fighter flies down with the enemy that captured it, firing upon the player just like normal enemies, and can be shot and destroyed. The player can free the fighter by destroying the boss Galaga while in flight, causing the captured fighter to link up with the player's current fighter, doubling his or her firepower but also making a target twice as large. Galaga has an exploitable bug that can cause the attackers to stop firing bullets at the player, due to a coding error. In addition, similar to the famous "Split-Screen bug" in Pac-Man, a bug exists in Galaga in which the game "rolls over" from Level 255 to Level 0. Depending on the difficulty setting of the machine, this can cause the game to stall, requiring that the machine be reset or power-cycled in order to start a new game.

Buy

Expanded games

23.10.2007

A modified version of Galaga, released first in the Namco Museum Remix compilation. Pac-Man rolls through a track while the Wii Remote is used to shoot Galaga enemy ships.

Part of collection:
Galaga (last 3 games)

12.11.2021

This is a special edition of Galaga Wars exclusively for Apple Arcade. It has no ads, and the microtransactions have been removed.

placeholder
31.10.2016

The galaxy is calling for you, it needs to be saved from waves of aliens. Jump in your ship and head to space. The survival of the universe is once more at stake. They have an alien mothership of immense proportions, endless waves of ships bristling with high-tech weaponry and of course the sheer power of the boss Galaga... You are the hero that will make it through those waves as if they were mere bricks. You are the breaker of this cycle and the savior of the galaxy Galaga Wars is a classic retro shooter that has been seen times and times in your favorite arcades. From pixel ships to more refined ones, have the feel of a casual runner mixed with the adrenaline of destroying enemies in the vast ocean of stars ATTACK through endless waves of original enemies, including the Bee, Butterfly, Scorpion and many more deadly ones. ENHANCE your weapons by upgrading and leveling up your craft. BLAST alien waves with 4 unique abilities per ship including laser, explosive shot, space mines, ghost shield...

Part of collection:
Galaxian (last 3 games)

31.12.2020

A port of Gaplus developed by M2 for the NES capabilities, released in Namco Museum Archives (Namcot Collection).

31.12.2000

"Miniature" remake of Galaxian. Gameplay involves shooting down small formations of diving enemies.

31.12.1997

A port for handheld devices.

Part of franchise:
Galaxian (last 3 games)

24.11.2022

"Galaxian" is a shooting game released by Namco in 1979. You control a Galaxip and shoot aliens that approach you in eerie curves. Aliens during the assault double your score, and the flagship (Galboss) can be shot at in turn, starting with the escort (red alien), for a higher score. Deftly dodge enemy aliens and destroy the large formation.

21.04.2022

Strike back with powerful Blaster Head weapons!

31.12.2021

Pac-Man 12-in-1 Legacy Series is an arcade machine bundle by Arcade1Up that features various arcade games from Namco.

Could be interesting

22.05.1980

Pac-Man is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. It is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. Players control Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called Power Pellets causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points.

01.02.1987

Contra (also known as Gryzor in Oceania and Europe), is a 1987 run and gun action game developed and published by Konami originally released as a coin-operated arcade game on February 20, 1987. The game had multiple ports, including for various computer formats. Several Contra sequels were produced following the original game.

15.09.1979

Galaxian is a shooter arcade game developed by Namco in 1979. It was released by Namco in Japan and a few months later by Midway Games in North America. The game was developed to compete with Taito Corporation's Space Invaders, released a year earlier, and featured a similar space theme. The player controls a space ship in the bottom part of the screen and shoots at enemies descending from the top of the screen. The game was received very well by the public and has continued to be a game with a competitive community to this day. It was followed by a successful sequel called Galaga in 1981 and two less known sequels called Gaplus in 1984 and Galaga '88 in 1987. Galaxian was one of the most popular games in the golden age of arcade video games.

23.06.2017

"Take a deep breath..." Try to remember: a girl, a chair, a bomb. Just keep... calm. Follow the voice into the depths of your memory. Relax... and search for the darkest memories in the deepest recesses of your mind. Can you find her? The clock is ticking... And this is just a part of the treatment.

31.12.1987

The player controls a small, circular spaceship which must travel around the screen collecting crystals. This task is made more difficult by the aliens which constantly swarm out from the portals on both sides of the screen. These can be shot down by the ship's gun (which has unlimited ammo) or eliminated by activating one of the player's limited supply of "smart bombs", which will clear the screen of all current enemies.

21.02.2008

Space Invaders Extreme combines the captivating essence of the original game with a stunning alliance of futuristic graphic design and cutting-edge audio. The gameplay experience has been developed to maximise on the consoles' abilities, offering players a whole new range of amazing features including a vast array of new power-ups.

01.03.1983

Gyruss is a shoot 'em up video arcade game developed by Konami, and released in 1983. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who had earlier created Time Pilot for Konami. Gyruss was licensed to Centuri in the United States, and was ported to numerous games consoles and home computers. It follows in the tradition of space war games such as Space Invaders and Galaga. Gyruss was the second and last game Yoshiki Okamoto designed for Konami, after Time Pilot. Due to pay disputes, he was fired after the release of this game, and soon joined Capcom, where he would write 1942 and the first Street Fighter game. The game's background music is an electronic, fast-paced arrangement of J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565; this particular arrangement is similar in sound to "Toccata", a rock arrangement by the UK-based instrumentalist group Sky. Gyruss is notable for using stereo sound, which according to the bonus material for Konami Arcade Classics, was achieved by utilizing discrete audio circuits. The game used three microprocessors: two Z80 microprocessors and one 6809, as well as an 8039 microcontroller. For the sound, five AY-3-8910 PSG sound chips and a DAC. Gyruss was released in both upright and cocktail cabinets. R.Hirst "KOO", M.Jones, "BOX" and the Elliott Brother's are arguably considered some of the best Gyruss players of the 1990's.

20.08.2008

Galaga Legions is an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive video game created by Namco Bandai Games. The title was developed by the same team who created Pac-Man Championship Edition. This game is also included in the Namco Museum Virtual Arcade collection, and in Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions for Nintendo 3DS. A DX version of the game was released on Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Namco Generations series on June 29, 2011, with the PlayStation Network version released in August 2, 2011.

01.04.1984

Gaplus is a fixed shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1984. It was the only other game to run on Namco Phozon hardware, and in the US, a modification kit was later released to change the name to Galaga 3, possibly to increase recognition among fans of the games even though there was no "Galaga 2". Since Gaplus is a sequel to Galaga, it has similar gameplay. The player controls a spaceship, that can now move vertically (limited to halfway up the screen, much like Atari's Centipede) as well as horizontally, and shoots at swarms of incoming insect-like aliens which fly in formation above it and swoop down to attack it in akamikaze-like dive. In this sequel, the level starts over if the player gets killed before all the enemies have come in. When all enemies are killed, the player moves on to the next level. By obtaining certain powerups, it is possible to shoot sixty bullets per screen, the most any Galaxian-related game has.

28.05.2019

"Inspired by BioShock and System Shock 2, Void Bastards is a revolutionary new strategy-shooter that will test your wits as well as exercise your aim. Can you lead the misfit prisoners of the Void Ark through the derelict spaceships and myriad dangers of the Sargasso Nebula?"