Galaxian

Galaxian
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Midway
Platform(s)	ColecoVision
Release	1979
Genre(s)	Fixed shooter
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Arcade system	Namco Galaxian

Galaxian is the first ever color arcade game, released by Namco in 1979.

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. It was the first arcade game to feature true color. Previous arcade games only emulated color by projecting black and white images onto a colored background.

Legacy

Galaxian was so successful that it spawned several follow-up games. The most popular of these was its immediate successor, Galaga, which in a large part eclipsed its predecessor in popularity. Apparently, by the time Gaplus was released, the audience had tired of the repeated formula of the game, which had been exploited by numerous similar games by other developers.

Standard arcade games

• Galaga (1981)
• Gaplus (1984)
• Galaga '88 (1987)
• Galaga Arrangement (1995) - released as part of Namco Classics Collection Volume 1

Arcade Laserdisk

• Galaxian3 (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 Project Dragoon)

Special versions

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

Trivia

• A Galaxian unit appears in the 1983 movie "Joysticks".
• Other games using the Galaxian name were released, but they were not developed by Namco and are not considered part of the Galaxian canon.
• The "flagship" makes numerous cameo appearances in many Namco developed or published games, from as far back as Pac-Man to as recently as Namco Classics Collection Volume 2.
• Because of its significance to the video game industry, Galaxian is popular among collectors. It is ranked as one of the "Top 100 Videogames" by the Killer List of Videogames.
• 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]
• 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 DS, a car is available called the 'Galaxian Paradise' (in Ridge Racer 64, the car is named "White Angel" like Ridge Racer and Revolution).
• And the boss of the Space Zone in the game Pac-man world for Playstation is inspired on the game 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.

Games featuring the Galaxian flagship

• 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 round 15 are flagships, and they are worth 150 points each.

• 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 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.

• 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.

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

• Pac-Man World 3 (2005): The flagship continues it's long line of Pac-Man appearances.

External links

• The Arcade-History entry on Galaxian
• The KLOV entry on Galaxian
• MobyGames' entry for Galaxian
• Category at ODP
• Article at The Dot Eaters, on the history of Namco and Galaxian
• A web-based emulation of Galaxian
• Digital Press Easter egg page for Atari 2600 Galaxian