Galaga is an arcade video game developed by Namco in 1981.
It’s a fixed screen shooter game.
It is the sequel to Galaxian, also by Namco (1979).
Plot and gameplay:
The player controls a spaceship and must destroy alien enemies, called Galagans.
The aliens arrive in formations, from the sides of the screen, then position themselves on top.
They then depart and approach the player’s spaceship, firing.
Sometimes they are alone, sometimes they are in groups of 2 or 3.
Over the course of the game, an enemy can sometimes capture the spaceship the player controls.
If you hit that alien, you recover the spaceship which, at that point, joins the controlled one. This way you can play with 2 spaceships at the same time.
There are 255 levels in Galaga.
Each enemy hit returns a score:
Bee: 50 points in formation or 100 points in flight.
Butterfly: 80 points in formation or 160 points in flight.
Boss Galaga: 150 points in formation or 400 points in flight, 800 points in flight with 1 wingman, 1,600 points in flight with 2 wingmen.
Scorpions: 160 points each, 1,000 points for destroying all 3.
Bosconian Spy Ships: 160 points each, 2,000 points for destroying all 3.
Galaxian Flagships: 160 points each, 3,000 points for destroying all 3.
Captured fighter: 500 points in formation or 1000 points in flight.
Challenging Stage: 100 points per ship destroyed if less than 40, 10,000 points for destroying all 40 ships (Perfect).
Challenging Stage: 1,000 points on the first two Challenging Stages, 1,500 points on the 3rd and 4th, 2,000 points on the 5th and 6th, and 3,000 points from the 7th onward for destroying a complete formation of 8 ships.
Galaga is perfectly emulated by MAME.
Galaga (Arcade) infos:
| GALAGA (ARCADE) | |
|---|---|
| Year | 1981 |
| Developer | Namco |
| Publisher | Namco |
| Country | Japan |
| Genre | Shoot’Em Up |
| CPU(s) | 3 x Zilog Z80 3.072000 MHz Fujitsu MB8843 1.536000 MHz Fujitsu MB8844 1.536000 MHz |
| Video | 288 x 224 (V) 60.606061 Hz |
| Palette colors | 32 |
| Sound | Speaker Namco 96.000 kHz Discrete Sound 1 Channel |
| Players | 1-2 |
Gallery:
Videos: