Namco's answer to Space Invaders, Galaxian is pretty great. I love playing old shooters because the premise is so simple and there's a wide variety of methods that developers used to riff on the same ideas. Galaxian relies on different AI of enemy troops (Galaxians) that do the usual steps to the left and back to the right, but never down.
The reason they don't gradually move down is that Galaxians will suddenly dive bomb at you, take a few shots and then rejoin the formation. Meaning you're simultaneously gunning down Galaxians, evading dive bombers taking fire and shooting in response and taking stock of other aliens that could dive bomb at you at any second. Bonus points are accrued based on colour, whether the Galaxian is in formation or diving, with the flagship being worth most dependant on whether it is dive bombing with or without escorts.
I sort of love it, much more unpredictable than Space Invaders.
The reason they don't gradually move down is that Galaxians will suddenly dive bomb at you, take a few shots and then rejoin the formation. Meaning you're simultaneously gunning down Galaxians, evading dive bombers taking fire and shooting in response and taking stock of other aliens that could dive bomb at you at any second. Bonus points are accrued based on colour, whether the Galaxian is in formation or diving, with the flagship being worth most dependant on whether it is dive bombing with or without escorts.
I sort of love it, much more unpredictable than Space Invaders.
Played at the VS Arcade Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska. Interestingly, the game was set to give me infinite credits, so I took advantage of this and played through the first couple of stages multiple times
Worse galaga.
I love Mass effect 2 more
Space Invaders but better
It is a direct competitor of "Space Invaders". Compared to its rival, it has better and more colorful graphics, as well as better-made "characters". It has improved gameplay, with smarter enemies and different functions, but unfortunately still with the same gameplay pattern without much evolution.
Oh dear god! The Space Invaders have developed an actual battle strategy... They can move of their own free will! That's it man! Game over man! IT'S GAME OVER!
galaxian
Played this game on a Namco Plug N Play, brings many memories back
It's a "Space Invaders" rip-off. Period. Namco would go on to define their own classic arcade shooter a few years later in this game's sequel, "Galaga," which I actually think is far superior to "Space Invaders." However, this first outing in the series is frankly pretty shameless in its pale imitation of a far superior and more original arcade juggernaut. Nothing to see here.
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.
personally Minion Rush was the better game i feel
It is the original to Galaga, which I think is a much better game. Galaxian is much slower paced and is slower to earn points in. I have only played it a few times cause it is not as fun as other arcade games.
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.
Not as good as Galaga, Gaplus and Galaga '90. It's very primitive.
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
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
Galaxian 1979 || Atari 2600
emulador pc
1-interacción: 7
2-mundo/apartado artístico: 7
3-concepto: 7
4-puesta en escena: 6
5-narración: -
6-sonido/apartado sonoro: 7
7-jugabilidad: 6
8-historia: -
9-duración/ritmo: 7.6
10-impacto: 7
7.6
7
7
7
7
7
42.6/60pts
71 promedio
emulador pc
1-interacción: 7
2-mundo/apartado artístico: 7
3-concepto: 7
4-puesta en escena: 6
5-narración: -
6-sonido/apartado sonoro: 7
7-jugabilidad: 6
8-historia: -
9-duración/ritmo: 7.6
10-impacto: 7
7.6
7
7
7
7
7
42.6/60pts
71 promedio
Well, you can look at Galaxian as "Galaga but worse" or you can look at Galaxian as "Almost Galaga already." Guess which one is me?
Decent arcade game
A fantastic follow up to Space Invaders that is still genuinely engaging to play. The more aggressive aliens dive bombing you add another level of freneticism that later games would build into true bullet hells.
Galaxian is a simple game that does what it sets out to do decently well, but its hard to play after playing some games that were influenced by it. The limitation of only having one bullet is neat and does make your shots feel like they matter more. In the heat of gameplay when the bugs are raining down bullets and you are dodging the game actually feels incredibly fun. Having the flagships be worth more points when they are alone and charging is a nice touch that encourages precise, aimed shots instead of just spamming bullets. One of the downsides to this game is that the unit formations don't change a ton from round to round, so the rounds can feel a bit samey over time, which is one of the big improvements Galaga made over this. Presentationally Galaxian is nice, with good sound effects, great explosions, and iconic ship designs. Its a bit antiquated and definitely not as good as Galaga, but its worth checking out, especially because it is included in many of the Namco collections, so there is no reason not to play it
A big step up from Space Invaders the year prior. It has good colors, unique movement from enemies, a cool space background. Some of the sound in this one can get grating at times(probably the one thing Space Invaders did do better) but with improvements in nearly every category and fun game play this one is pretty cool.
8.1/10
8.1/10
Played the Atari version for some RetroAchievements. Was actually quite fun if you mute the game. Not the best thing in the world but I’m a sucker for old arcade games and an even bigger sucker for Galaga/Galaxian
So this is mostly just interesting to show the evolution of an idea. In this case, taking the Space Invaders concept and moving it forward but not quite getting it all the way to Galaga. It works and its fun but I usually would rather play either an earlier or later shooter instead of this one. It's just kind of awkward at this point.
Just Played At An Arcade It Was Like Space Invaders
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 2: Namco Vol 1
Its Galaxian. Meh. Its a rather basic space-invaders clone at this point and the one-shot at a time and the complete lack of abilities, power ups or variety of things going on just makes the whole thing feel flat quite quickly. Its still sort of fun in a very limited way but its very much the sort of thing you'll hop on for five minutes just to compare it to Galaga.
Its Galaxian. Meh. Its a rather basic space-invaders clone at this point and the one-shot at a time and the complete lack of abilities, power ups or variety of things going on just makes the whole thing feel flat quite quickly. Its still sort of fun in a very limited way but its very much the sort of thing you'll hop on for five minutes just to compare it to Galaga.
It's just Galaga but worse
The first truly great game. The risk / reward system of shooting the swooping space bugs mid-flight makes for a really satisfying mechanic, and it has the potential for minor overwhelm which is always cool. Top tier for its time
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.
So, I may be spoiled because I have more experience and fun with Galaga over this, but either way, I still had fun with it. It is your basic space shooter where you kill aliens, and there is really nothing more to it. I wish there was a little more here, and that you could fire more than one shot at a time, but for a game made in 1979, it holds up pretty well, even if I would prefer Galaga overall.
Game #68
Game #68