Space Invaders

Game review

Space Invaders is an arcade video game created by Tomohiro Nishikado in 1978. To complete it, he had to design his own hardware and development tools. It was completed in its final form by the Taito studio, but was distributed in the US by the company Midway, which bought the license.

The objective of the game is to achieve a high score. The player has control of a canon at the bottom of the screen and must successive destroy waves of advancing alien ships. There are three lives in this game, so if a canon is destroyed there are two replacements available. Additional canons are awarded every 10,000 points. If an alien lands or if a canon is destroyed the player must restart the current level again. As each successive screen is cleared the next screen starts with the alien ships positioned lower down the screen. The game is over when all canon have been destroyed. The game is played via the keyboard. It does not record the scores the player(s) achieved.

This is one of the first classic shooters, and your only goal is to defeat numerous waves of enemies with a laser cannon and score as many points as possible. Hordes of alien ships move from side to side as you do, closing in on you over time. Space Invaders became an inspiration for other video games. It was re-released on many platforms and immediately led to several sequels, remakes or sequels. And while it was hugely successful on its first release, the 1980 version for the Atari 2600, which quadrupled its sales, became the first iconic console game.