Galaxian

15.09.1979
Critic 90/100
Users 78/100
Genre: Shooter Arcade
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.

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Part of collection:
Galaxian (last 3 games)

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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.

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01.09.1981

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.

01.01.1988

Xenon is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter computer game, developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Melbourne House which was then owned by Mastertronic. Xenon was followed in 1989 by Xenon 2: Megablast. The player assumes the role of Darrian, a future space pilot called into action by a mayday report from his superior on a nebula space station. As of late, the colonies of mankind have been under attack by mysterious and violent aliens called the Xenites and it is finally time for Darrian to engage them. Unlike most scrolling shooters, the player can move in any direction instead of straight up. The player craft has two modes, a flying plane and a ground tank. The transition between crafts can be initiated at almost any time during play (except during the mid- and end-of-level boss sections, as well as certain levels where a certain mode is forced), and the mode chosen depends on the nature of the threat the player faces. Destroying some enemies released power-ups the player could catch to enhance their ship.

03.02.2014

We take the colony sim genre into the near future, onto a lush planet where humans are making their first foothold. Characters and alien wildlife are brought to life through a rigorous simulation and the game plays out as a tug-of-war between humans and nature on a planet full of opportunities and dangers. Understanding the alien environment is crucial - discovered resources and crafting options enable you to adapt when food gets scarce, equipment breaks and alien animals attack.

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.

30.01.2018

Pawarumi is a modern shoot’em up set in a retro futuristic sci-fi pre-Columbian universe. You’ll take control of the almighty ship Chukaru and its three unique weapons! Shoot wisely to either do double damage, heal yourself or charge your Super Attack!

31.12.1983

Juno First is a shoot 'em up originally developed and published by Konami Corporation for Arcades. The game was later published by Mylstar Electronics (US arcades), Datasoft Inc. (Atari 8-bit, PC Booter, and Commodore 64), and Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (MSX). Juno First is a top down, vertical scrolling shooter in which there is a limited amount of time to defeat the enemies in each wave. The players spaceship starts out with a laser that has a longer reach than the enemy weapons. The enemies start out firing a few bullets at the ship but the amount enemy fire rapidly increases as players progress through to the next waves. Certain enemies fire tracking missile-like projectiles that can shoot additional bullets.

01.10.1995

Area 51 is a light gun arcade game released by Atari Games. It takes its name from the Area 51 military facility.

22.04.2019

Fight to survive on a mysterious alien planet and do whatever it takes to find a way home. Blaze Rush is a mercenary desperate for a job. In search of an easy payday he follows a distress beacon to the surface of a dangerous planet and the remains of an ancient crash site. There he finds a mystery that will test his strength, his resolve, and every gun in his arsenal. Zombotron features an arsenal of weapons and armor, enemies that hate each other as much as they hate you, and really nice explosions for an experience that’s out of this world.

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?"

25.10.2019

The Outer Worlds is a new single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions all vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

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