Video games - Gaplus

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	Video games - Gaplus

Gaplus, far more commonly known as Galaga 3, is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1984. It runs on Namco Phozon hardware and was only known as Gaplus in Japan. A modification kit was distributed later that changed the title screen to Galaga 3.

Finding this game for home video game consoles is very difficult. It only appears on some multi-game cartridges, which were released long after its arcade release. The reason it didn't have a home conversion for so long is due to the Video Game Crash of 1983.

Gameplay

Gaplus is a sequel to Galaga
and has similar gameplay. However, it has a much steeper learning curve and much deeper gameplay in later levels. The player controls a spaceship, that can now move vertically as well as horizontally, and shoots at swarms of incoming insect-like aliens which fly in formation above it and swoop down to bomb it in a kamikaze-like dive. In this sequel, the level starts over if the player is killed before all the enemies have come in. When all enemies are destroyed, the player moves on to the next level.

The game differs from its predecessor in several ways:

By shooting at a shooting star that occasionally appears, the player can get a ship with new graphics, that can have three shots on screen instead of two. After this, the shooting the star will make a special flag appear from the Namco game Rally-X
that awards an extra life when collected.
There are two special types of stages besides the normal levels called parsecs. There are levels where the starfield reverses and enemies come in waves then leave. After this, a small force comes in like a normal stage. The challenging stages are very different from the original. Enemies are juggled by shots, each hit slowly spelling out "Bonus", "Gaplus", "Double" or "Triple" for a bonus and additional hits scoring 200 points each. It is most effective to use the red and blue powerups to repeatedly hit them.
The "king" alien on diffent stages drops several types of powerups when destroyed. The red powerup captures enemies with a tractor beam where each one provides another shot. The blue powerup gives wider and faster shots. The green powerup captures enemies in a tractor beam and can then be shot for bonus points. The purple powerup changes the screen to a vertical orientation. It may also carry a third of a ship that will be kept track of at the lower-right of the screen between games. An extra life is awarded when all three are collected.

Gaplus can be played by a single player or by two players alternating turns. The factory settings start the player out with three lives, a bonus life at 30,000 points, 70,000 points, and every 70,000 thereafter on the easiest level of play. These settings can be changed via DIP switches on the game's motherboard.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Gaplus ]

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Video games - Gaplus

Gameplay

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