Space Invaders Arcade Machine
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot ’em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed by the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. Space Invaders Arcade Machine was the first fixed shooter and set the template for the shoot ’em up genre.
Space Invaders Arcade Machine The electrifying one or two player game in which the players match their skill and wits in defense of the planet Earth, against waves of attacking invaders from outer space.
The player must strategically position, then fire his laser missile launcher attempting to knock out the ever-attacking invaders before they can drop missiles destroying the defender’s protective bunkers and missile launcher.
Two players play alternately for high scores and extended play time.
Objective:
- To defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser to earn as many points as possible.
Game Play:
- A fixed shooter in which the player moves a laser cannon horizontally across the bottom of the screen and fires at aliens overhead.
- The aliens begin as five rows of eleven that move left and right as a group, shifting downward each time they reach a screen edge.
- Eliminate all of the aliens by shooting them.
- While the player has three lives, the game ends immediately if the invaders reach the bottom of the screen.
- The aliens attempt to destroy the player’s cannon by firing projectiles.
- The laser cannon is partially protected by stationary defense bunkers which are gradually destroyed from the top by the aliens and, if the player fires when beneath one, the bottom.
- As aliens are defeated, their movement and the game’s music both speed up.
- Defeating all the aliens brings another wave which starts lower, a loop which can continue endlessly.
- A special “mystery ship” will occasionally move across the top of the screen and award bonus points if destroyed.
