GALAXIAN

'''Galaxian''' is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade game by Namco and released by Midway Mfg. in the US.

Contents

Description

Ports

Legacy

Standard arcade games

Arcade Laserdisk

Special versions

Games Featuring Elements of Galaxian

Games featuring the ''Galaxian'' flagship

External links

Description

''Galaxian'' expanded on the formula pioneered by ''Space Invaders''. Like that earlier game, ''Galaxian'' featured a horde of attacking alien armies that exchanged shots with the player. In contrast to ''Space Invaders'', however, ''Galaxian'' added an element of drama by having the aliens periodically make kamikaze-like dives at the player's ship.
The gameplay was relatively simple. Swarm after swarm of alien armies attacked the player's ship that moved left and right at the bottom of the screen. The ship could only fire sparingly by default, but rearmed instantly when an enemy was hit. The player would defeat one swarm, only to have it replaced by another more aggressive and challenging army in the next screen. A plain and repetitive starfield scrolled lazily in the background, nicely contrasting with the action of the game.
''Galaxian'' was very successful for Namco and introduced several "firsts". Although true color (as opposed to a color overlay for a game that was otherwise black and white) began appearing as early as 1975, ''Galaxian'' took graphics a step further with multi-colored animated sprites and explosions, a crude theme song, different colored fonts for the score and high score, more prominent background "music" and the scrolling starfield, and graphic icons that showed the number of ships left and how many rounds the player had completed. These elements combined to create a look/feel that would set the standard for 80s arcade games such as ''Pac-Man''.
The "official" highest score in a game of ''Galaxian'' was achieved by Gary Whelan of Manchester, England on 13 August 2004 when he managed to amass a total of 399,290 points. [1]

Ports

The original arcade version of ''Galaxian'' has been ported to several systems. These include:

★ Atari 5200

★ Colecovision

★ Atari 2600

★ MSX (Europe and Japan only)

★ Famicom (Japan only)

★ Game Boy (bundled with its direct successor, ''Galaga'')
A port for the Game Boy Color was planned, but never released.
''Galaxian'' has also been released as part of the Namco Museum series of collections across several platforms:

★ Sony PlayStation (as part of ''Namco Museum Volume 3'')

★ Nintendo 64 (''Namco Museum 64'')

★ Sega Dreamcast (''Namco Museum DC'')

★ Game Boy Advance {''Namco Museum Advance'')

★ PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Windows (''Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection'')

★ PlayStation Portable (''Namco Museum Battle Collection'')
''Galaxian'' was also released on Microsoft Windows in 1995 as part of ''Microsoft Return of Arcade''.

Legacy

''Galaxian'' has spawned several follow-up games. The most popular of these was its immediate successor, ''Galaga'', which largely eclipsed its predecessor in popularity, introducing aliens attacking in intricate formations, multiple guns, and bonus rounds. A third official sequel, ''Gaplus'', was released in 1984. Like ''Galaga'', this was a bottom shooter, with some limited up/down movement (like ''Centipede''). However, by 1984 the novelty of the ''Space Invader'' formula had faded, and it was no longer successful.

Standard arcade games

★ ''Galaga'' (1981)

★ ''Gaplus'' (1984)

★ ''Galaga '88'' (1987)

★ ''Galaga Arrangement'' (1995) - released as part of ''Namco Classics Collection Volume 1''

★ ''Zero Time'' (198?) - Spanish clone. Much faster than Galaxian.

★ ''Galaxian'' was one of the most widely pirated motherboards during the early 80s. Numerous hacks were made of the game and featured slightly redesigned aliens and special bonus stages. The scrolling starfield and the lose-a-life explosion was still familiar as the one from ''Galaxian''.

Arcade Laserdisk

★ ''Galaxian 3'' (1990) Galaxian 3 : Project Dragoon (Theatre 6) for 6 Players on 2 x 110inch RGB Projectors - 18 Foot Wide Screen

★ ''Attack of the Zolgear'' (1994) (A ROM and laserdisc upgrade for ''Galaxian 3'')

Special versions

★ ''Galaxian3'' (1990) for 28(!) Players on the Video : 16(!) x 120inch RGB Projectors - 360 Degree Full Wrap Around Screen

Games Featuring Elements of Galaxian

★ The video game ''Gorf'', also by Bally Midway, has a ''Galaxian'' stage.

★ A version of the game can be unlocked in Midway's ''Mortal Kombat 3''.

★ The game can be seen on the home stretch of various ''Ridge Racer'' circuits. On the PlayStation version, whilst the player is waiting for ''Ridge Racer'' to load, they can play a quick game of ''Galaxian''. Also, on ''Ridge Racer 64'' and ''Ridge Racer DS'', a car is available called the "Galaxian Paradise" (in Ridge Racer 64, the car is named "White Angel" like ''Ridge Racer'' and ''Revolution'').

★ The boss of the Space Zone in the game ''Pac-Man World'' for PlayStation is inspired by the game ''Galaxian''. However, the stage itself is similar to ''Galaga''.

Games featuring the ''Galaxian'' flagship

The ''Galaxian'' flagship (also called the Galboss) has made numerous cameo appearances in other Namco games (like the Special Flag from ''Rally-X'') and would also go on to become a recurring item in other games).

★ ''Pac-Man'' (1980): The flagship makes an appearance as a bonus fruit on rounds 9 and 10, and is worth 2000 points if eaten.

★ ''Galaga'' (1981): The flagship makes an appearance as one of the "suicide ships". It splits into 2, then 3 clones of itself. If all 3 are killed, they are worth 3000 points.

★ ''Dig Dug'' (1982): The flagship makes an appearance as a bonus vegetable on rounds 16 and 17, and is worth 7000 points if eaten.

★ ''Super Pac-Man'' (1982): All regular edible items on rounds 15, 31, 47, and 63 are flagships, and they are worth 150 points each. Starting from their second appearance, Round 31, they are 160 points instead.

★ ''Pac-Man Plus'' (1982): The flagship's role is exactly the same as its role in ''Pac-Man''.

★ ''Pac & Pal'' (1983): The flagship makes an appearance as one of the "special items" that make Pac-Man turn blue when eaten, and allows him to stun the ghosts for a short while by shooting a ''Galaga'' style capture beam. It is worth 1000 points if eaten.

★ ''Pac-Land'' (1984): The ghosts in airplanes sometimes drop flagships and they are worth "7650" points (7650 is Namco's favorite number) if eaten.

★ ''Super Xevious'' (1984): The flagship makes an appearance in a silver form and as an enemy, and sometimes several of them attack at once. They are worth 300 points each.

★ ''Pac-Mania'' (1987): The flagship makes an appearance as a special fruit and in 2 forms as well, the other one being the silver form from ''Super Xevious''. The regular one is 7650 points if eaten, and the silver one is 9000 points if eaten.

★ ''Quester'' (1987): The flagship is featured as the board layout for round 5.

★ ''Pistol Daimyo no Bouken'' (1990): The flagship makes an appearance as an enemy along with the other ''Galaxian'' characters,and they attempt to hit Pistol Daimyo with their fire. [2]

★ ''Tinkle Pit'' (1993): The flagship also makes an appearance with the other ''Galaxian'' characters, but this time they appear as bonus items. It is worth 800 points if collected.

★ ''Namco Classics Collection Volume 1'' (1995): The flagship makes an appearance in ''Galaga Arrangement''.

★ ''Tekken 2'' (1995 - Arcade, 1996 - PlayStation): Win at least 7 or 8 rounds in Arcade Vs. Mode and you'll see the ''Galaxian'' flagship on the lower left (or right) hand corner of the screen. In order for this to work, you must set "Number of Wins Shown By" to "Fruit".

★ ''Namco Classics Collection Volume 2'' (1996): The flagship appears in both ''Pac-Man Arrangement'' and ''Dig Dug Arrangement''. In ''Pac-Man Arrangement'', it is worth 5000 points if eaten, and in ''Dig Dug Arrangement'', it is worth 7000 points if eaten.

★ ''Pac-Man World'' (1999): The flagship appears again in a ''Pac-Man'' game. This time, the item must be collected in order to access the mazes.

★ ''Pac-Man World 2'' (2002): The flagship appears again as an item.

★ ''Pac-Man World 3'' (2005): The flagship continues its long line of ''Pac-Man'' appearances.

★ ''Pac-Man Championship Edition'' (2007): The flagship reappears, but is this time joined by the Galaga Boss and two drones, one each from ''Galaga'' and ''Galaxian''.

External links

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★ The Arcade-History entry on ''Galaxian''

★ Article at The Dot Eaters, on the history of Namco and Galaxian

★ The Arcade Flyer Archive entries for Galaxian

★ Category at ODP

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