It may be a cliché, but Space Invaders, or simply "Spacies", is a true cultural icon. Today, the row-of-pixellated-aliens motif adorns T-shirts worn by oblivious four year olds, retro-trendy highschoolers and probably their parents too.
Space Invaders speadheaded the genre of space shooters, dominant through the eighties and still immensely popular today in many countries including Japan where most such games are made.
Spacies' gameplay involves dodging a rain of incoming missiles while sliding your laser base left and right attacking wave after wave of descending, and accelerating, alien ships. Four large shields will absorb some of the incoming munitions for you, but they get in the way as often as they help.
Space Invaders made by Neave Games
Use the cursor keys on your keyboard to move your base, and SPACE to fire.
Space Invaders trivia
- Japan experienced a shortage of Yen coins in circulation in 1978, due to the number being hoarded and deposited in Space Invaders machines.
- The US version of the game had no joystick; buttons were used for left and right instead.
- The world record high score for Space Invaders has stood since 2003 at 55,160 points.
