Galaga (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)

Hall of Fame Inductee
Galaga 
Original Release: 1981 (Arcade)
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Midway/Namco

1981 wasn’t exactly a year where video game companies were coming up with innovating games to unleash upon the masses. Most games were essentially copycats of previously released games with better graphics and sound to harness the newer and better technology available. Some games bucked the trend, such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong but most "new" games in the arcade were just upgrades of previous available cabinet games. Galaga falls into the latter category but that does not discount its significance to the video game history. While it borrows a heavy amount with the formula created from Space Invaders, it helped maintain that genre of games well throughout the 80s.

Some might look at Galaga and cry foul; that it is a copy of the game Space Invaders. Actually, Galaga is a sequel to the game Galaxian, which is a clone of Space Invaders. There are some fundamental differences in the game. Enemies appear on screen in small groups and fly around until they settle in a standard formation. This keeps going until all the enemies for that level have appeared. Once all the enemies settle into the larger formation, they attack the player’s ship either directly by flying at the player or indirectly by shooting at the player. Once all the enemies have been vanquished, the player moves on to the next level which presents the same scenario, just more difficult.

In fact, Galaga was an evolution in the shooter formula and made Space Invaders obsolete. Space Invaders had introduced an interesting game concept to a hungry audience but with technological advances, the gameplay became stale. Galaga was a vast improvement on the entire design. The graphics were far better (cutting edge for the time). The game design was also a step up because the computer positioning and attack methods were not as predictable. In fact, Galaga forced Taito to remake Space Invaders so that it wouldn’t fall behind. Even though Space Invaders was one of the most popular arcade units at the beginning of the 80s, Galaga showed that the gaming public want the best in graphics and gameplay. While it would be hard to argue that Space Invaders was broken, Galaga made it so that Space Invaders needed to be fixed.

And, to Namco’s credit, they also continued to expand on the Galaxian/Galaga formula with two sequels during the 80s, though, with the release of Galaga ’88, the franchise essentially was obsolete. Home consoles were the beginning of the end for the arcades and gamers were looking for more elaborate experiences than a coin-operated shoot-’em-up. Galaga 3 and Galaga ’88, while decent games in their own right, did not capture the hearts and minds of the gaming audience that Galaga did in 1981.

However, Galaga has remained somewhat in the consciousness of various generations of gamers through the years by packaging the game in various compilations on many console platforms. To be honest, though, most people buying the compilations are more likely to be buying it because of Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man) than Galaga. That may have been a plan by Namco all along to use Pac-Man as a Trojan Horse to get people interested in their forgotten franchises. Galaga has seen a renaissance in recent years because of this, considering that across the multiple machines that the Namco Museum Collection was released, over ten million units have been sold. Galaga on its own has been doing well sales wise through digital distribution on the current generation systems as well as a mobile game for cell phones.

It may be a clone. More appropriately, it may be the sequel of a clone. However, Galaga is fun and was incredibly popular during its time in the arcades. It has left a lasting legacy enabling it to be recognizable in gaming circles for thirty years. Even though there have been many games to copy its copycat design (and do it better), it is still a welcome site for those who walk into a corner pizza store and see its panel art adorn a waiting arcade cabinet.