Video games - Galaxian

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	Video games - Galaxian

Galaxian is an arcade game that was 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.
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'
And the boss of the Space Zone in the game Pac-man world for Playstation is inspired on the game Galaxian.

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