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.
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.
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.
Bro wishes he was Galaga.
Woah... color!
The game that put Namco on the map, but it's basically Galaga with less stuff that made Galaga good.
This cover art goes hard
2/4 SMTDR
Galaga without the nice jingle.
Never as hype as galaga but still decent, 5/10
This is a classic but its sequel, Galaga, outshines it in every aspect. It is fun to check out to but I would not really recommend it.
In comparison to galaga, this is garbage. Without the comparison, its subpar.
Not as good as Galaga but this is decently fun to play.
Good, but Galaga is indeed the better choice. Still fun on it's own right though, and the NES version evens it out a little.
good sound effects, much better than galaga
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
NAMCO looked at Space Invaders and thought "I think we can do that, but let's do it better".
And so they did. Welcome to Galaxian.
And so they did. Welcome to Galaxian.
Holy shit there's sound AND color???????????
After many years of loving Galaga, I never for a second thought that I'd like its predecessor nearly as much. But actually, I might even like this one more? I mean, it features the sights and sounds of Galaga I love so much, and the game is basically glorified Space Invaders, so maybe? Either way, I think it deserves more credit.
Good game but no sequel
Galaga if it was MID.
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.
~ Juegos que Hay que Jugar Antes de Morir ~
Parte 1 — Los 70: Los Orígenes
Juego 10: Galaxian (1979)
Space Invaders con esteroides, y mejor. Con Galaxian de verdad sientes que te estás enfrentando a una invasión alienígena. Muchas ganas de Galaga y Centipede.
Parte 1 — Los 70: Los Orígenes
Juego 10: Galaxian (1979)
Space Invaders con esteroides, y mejor. Con Galaxian de verdad sientes que te estás enfrentando a una invasión alienígena. Muchas ganas de Galaga y Centipede.
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
3.5 - Good: Good but not particularly memorable
Joguinho que eu jogava quando menor e gostava, mas ate hoje e divertido
Joguei pouco na infancia, nunca foi um estilo de jogo que me interessou.
Noooooooooooooo
Its fine but its far too basic and simple to keep things intresting. Theres a reason why the series properly kicked off with Galaga and not Galaxian.
I can't bring myself to give it lower than a 5/10, but there's really no reason to go back to it with Galaga out, which came out a mere 2 years later. Revolutionary for its time in hardware, Galaxian is fun enough to play but incredibly simplistic and clearly lacks the polish of Galaga.
Only being able to have one shot out at a time gives it less of a free flowing feel, no power-ups, less interesting patterns, it ends up with only half the shelf life of Galaga.
Only being able to have one shot out at a time gives it less of a free flowing feel, no power-ups, less interesting patterns, it ends up with only half the shelf life of Galaga.