WE ARE THE GALAXIANS!, so the f**k what, let me at em!

This was the response around arcades the world over. Whatever language you spoke the message was the same, the gauntlet had been thrown down loud and clear. Any budding SPACE INVADER wiz kid could not refuse this new challenge. Add to that the challenge came in glorious Technicolor and had incredible sound well the lure was just irresistible.

Midway licensed the game from a little known Japanese Merry-Go-Round manufacturing company known as Namco. Their story is for another time, but rest assured this was only their very first step on the yellow brick road to a gaming nirvana.

Galaxian screenshot

Until 1979 all games where in black and white apart from the pathetic use of colour overlays like those used on some versions of the already dated looking SPACE INVADERS. To look at Galaxian it could be mistaken for just another inferior SPACE INVADER clone. Aliens at the top of the screen, a ship at the bottom moving left and right firing up the screen. But there the similarities end.

True you do only play for High Score but that was the norm for the era. These babies dived from their formation and dive bombed you. This added a whole new perspective to the game play. They screeched as they flew down at you like W.W.II dive bombers. Ones, twos, threes, some even going all kamikaze on you. They had exotic names like Drones, Emissaries, Hornets and Flagships. The AI used was a major leap in terms of game play at the time. More points were awarded for hitting ships while they were dive bombing you than when stuck in formation at the top of the screen which added another twist to game play considering High Score was all important.

Some say a game can be judged as a Classic by looking at how many sequels it spawned, or how many clones were created from it. That being the case Galaxian is right up there in the top ten. 1983's Galaga or Galaxian 2 became a classic in its own right, Gaplus followed closely as well as some lesser titles like UniWars. A guest appearance in Gorf would also follow.

Galaga screenshot

To add to its long term appeal Galaxian was also hard as nails. For a few months in 1979-80 you were King of the Arcade if you were top man on Galaxian. Addicts would be seen almost descending into a hypnotic trance while playing, and appeared to be pulling off incredible stunts and dicing with death without even flinching.

20,000 was hard to achieve, even now when I play it on Mame or if I am lucky enough to find it in some dark corner of an arcade at some seaside resort it plays hardball. If someone says to you they are a hardcore gamer, especially the younger generation, push or shove them in the direction of Galaxian and get them to prove it, few will prove their claim.

Summary
I loved this game its hard as hell, it needs skill and reflexes, you get to shoot everything and it's relentless, look away from the screen even for a split second and death would surely follow. The game introduced many firsts and must go down as a true Classic.

Overall Classic Game Rating - 7.0