It's too insanely easy to toss aside Galaxian as the step stool that it is for Namco to build upon the groundwork of Taito's Space Invaders into the beloved Tekken loading screen classic that is Galaga.

So instead I will be proposing a reason for you to give this actually good arcade game a worthwhile try, because it's a shame for something like this with historical value to be crumpled up and shot into the wastebasket just because something better was made two years later that would vacuum up all the pop culture awareness like a tractor beam from a Boss Galaga.

Galaga would give you a more lenient shots-on-screen quantity of two, Galaxian instead only allows one at a time. Thus the aim here is for accuracy rather than willy nilly vanilly repeated tappings of the button or cheating with holding rapid fire. You must make your shots count, and with that Galaxian becomes a true marksman's game. If you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn prior to playing this, then you'll be able to hit all four sides of it as well as the roof and somehow the bottom after you have mastered Galaxian and it's demanding sniper precision. Thus, Galaxian is in fact the best shooting practice game ever made, and you owe it to yourself to 1cc it all the way up to whenever the kill screen appears for maximum skill obtainment.

Coincidentally, "Galboss" is my new title as of this review. Good for me.

Namco basically saw space invaders and thought to themselves "what if we did that". This game is basically space invaders except with a few changes. Rather than the enemies slowly advancing downwards at an increasing speed, the enemies here stay at the top and instead individually try to divebomb at your ship, and there are no barriers to take cover under. Between this game and Space Invaders, I pretty much have roughly the same amount of fun playing either. Though this game is also a bit overshadowed by its much flashier and engaging follow-up, Galaga. So while this is definitely a fun historical curiosity and plays solidly for its time, you should still probably play Galaga instead.

Having a better understanding of the Invaders boom in Japan, and after actually giving it a fair shake rather than just disregard it as "slow Galaga", I've come to appreciate this game more than the first time I encountered it. It's basically Space Invaders with a little more excitement, and it's fun. It has the same fun of finding the best shot timing and positioning possible, just with some layers liking dodging incoming enemies and the "escort" bonus when it comes to the enemies at the top of the swarm. Just a nice time, that's all.

Isn't much but for its time this was pretty big

Galaxian is a classic arcade shooter where you play as a space ship killing Alien space ships. Its a top down view and you can only move left and right on the screen while space ships shoot and fly down at you. It's a simple concept and a simple game with not much more to say about the gameplay other than that. It was one of the first video games with color and you might have this game confused with Galaga which is the sequel. This one was limiting because you could only shoot one bullet at a time. Just like most games at the time this game is infinite and you only get 3 lives. I personally never made it crazy far on this version and only have done better on Galaga but this one is fun too. Sometimes its the simple games that are the best games.

9/10

A huge step up from Space Invaders in almost every way, and a great midpoint that would eventually lead to Galaga. The pressure isn't quite as constant as in the former, but it's made up for by the charm and diversity of its enemies and their far more diverse movement. Each color acts in different ways, and takes a more active role in your demise, swooping down erratically and throwing you into a frenzied panic. I have a lot of nostalgia for this, as I grew up playing it a TON, but it's still undeniably a super fun game and a great landmark for the genre.

Everyone compares this to Galaga which is indeed basically infinitely better, but a more flattering comparison is Space Invaders. This game greatly evolved the Invaders formula by having the ships fly down at you in various patterns, and adding performance based score boosts (shoot all ships in the convoy formation when it flies down for a point bonus -- flying ships are also worth more than ones still in formation). It's still fun but even despite that, it's not an all-time stand out. A good solid game, but not deserving of being on any greatest ever lists or anything.

3.5 - Good: Good but not particularly memorable

É basicamente Space Invaders, mas com uma jogabilidade mais agressiva e cores. Enquanto Space Invaders incentivava uma mistura de defesa e ataque, Galaxian tira completamente sua proteção e te dá apenas a possibilidade de desviar das balas por conta própria. Além disso, para também incentivar a ofensiva, em vez dos inimigos progressivamente descerem a tela em conjunto, eles permanecem em uma certa área, andando apenas para os lados, e aos poucos, alguns inimigos vão se separando do grupo e tentam te atacar diretamente, fazendo com que você tenha que matá-los antes para que não tenha que depender apenas de desviar, já que é um risco a se tomar. No geral, por mais que não seja tão revolucionário quanto, é interessante como o jogo aproveita ideias de Space Invaders e trazem elas para um estilo de jogabilidade diferente, consigo entender de onde vêm o sucesso.