Forget Pong, Breakout or anything that came before, this is 'The Daddy' of all Video Games as we know them.

SPACE INVADERS arrived on the scene in 1978. In Japan there was a Yen shortage as a result and many stores and shops converted into SPACE INVADER parlours overnight to cash in on the craze. It was not unheard of for some shop keepers to erect giant speaker systems outside their shops blasting the what was to become familiar thudding sound of the ever advancing Invaders.

The game was designed and programmed by a certain Mr Toshihiro Nishikado and I would certainly like to meet him and shake his hand. This game took the games industry out from the dark seedy shadows of arcades (not that there is anything wrong with that) and into shopping malls, takeaways and even newsagents.

The game was licensed from Taito by Midway. It spawned several sequels in what was to become a francise, SPACE INVADERS Part II, Deluxe and Super SPACE INVADERS 91 as well as a cocktail table version.

Many rip off versions where made about this time to cash in on the craze. Atari at this same time had just brought out the VCS Home Console System. It was not selling too well until Atari negotiated with Taito for exclusive home rights to SPACE INVADERS. Atari went on to produce a brilliant version in the February of 1980.

People then started to buy the console in their hundreds simply to play SPACE INVADERS. Half a million cartridges were sold in Britain alone in that year. The home version had an incredible 112 variations on the theme. Rick Mauer the programmer of the game received, it is rumoured, only $11,000 for his hard work. The game went on to gross more than $100 million, not surprisingly Rick left Atari suffering "programmers burnout" and an empty pocket.

SPACE INVADERS II

Tips & Tricks:
There is a hidden message in the game. Wait until you see the demo begin. Then press these keys repeatedly as fast as is possible left, right, fire, 1 player and 2 player. A message should appear after some seconds, can you guess what it says!

A well known tip here. Fire 22 shots then wait for the UFO at the top, with your next shot number 23, hit the UFO and you will get 300 points. Next count 14 shots hit the UFO again and get, you guessed it 300 points and so on. You can do this on every level as far as I know.

Summary
Personally I liked our little white invading friends and spent many a credit and wasted hour on them. I have the blisters to prove it and the scars to this very day. Although the concept was simple and some would say the game play was a tad repetitive the technological jump from playing Pong or Breakout to SPACE INVADERS was astonishing and kick started the whole damn Video Game craze, which we are celebrating on this site today some 24 or more years later.

While I cannot do full justice to the deep history and the endless tips for the game here, a site which can, and does, is www.spaceinvader.de where the author obviously has a passion for this particular game and all its variants. Please go there now, I promise you, you won't be left disappointed earthling.

Overall Classic Game Rating - 7.0