Galaxian is a 1979 video game created by Namco for arcade machines. Players control a spaceship called the Galaxip, which must defend Earth from groups of alien enemies. The game involves destroying alien formations as they move downward toward the player.
Kazunori Sawano, an engineer at Namco, designed Galaxian as a response to Space Invaders, a popular game made by Taito the year before. Space Invaders had become very successful in Japan, so Namco wanted to create a game that could compete. Sawano aimed to make Galaxian simple and easy to play. He was inspired by the space battles in the movie Star Wars, and the enemies were originally shaped like the film's TIE Fighters. Galaxian was one of the first video games to use RGB color graphics and a tile-based system that allowed for moving, colorful images and scrolling backgrounds. However, the game itself remained a fixed shooter, meaning the player’s spaceship did not move.
Galaxian became Namco’s first major arcade success. In Japan, it was the second most profitable arcade game in 1979 and 1980. In the United States, it was the second most profitable in 1980 and became one of the best-selling arcade games of all time, with 50,000 units sold by 1982. The game was praised for its gameplay and use of true color graphics. Over time, it has been recognized for its role in the golden age of arcade games and its technological innovations. Its success led to follow-up games, including Galaga (1981), which became even more popular. Galaxian has also been adapted for many home gaming systems and is included in several Namco game collections.
Gameplay
Galaxian is a space-themed arcade game where players control a spaceship called the "Galaxip." The goal is to eliminate all enemy aliens in each round. Enemies appear in rows at the top of the screen, including two red escort ships named the "Galaxian Flagship" or "Galboss." These enemies dive down toward the bottom of the screen while firing bullets to hit the player. The Galaxip can only fire one bullet at a time. Players must wait for the bullet to hit an enemy or the top of the screen before firing again, due to the game's technology.
The Galaxian Flagship is joined by two red escort ships. Destroying all three enemies in this group gives the player extra points, with more points awarded for destroying the flagship. As the game continues, enemies move faster and fire more bullets. Each round is shown by small flags at the bottom of the screen. The game's attract mode displays a short message: "WE ARE THE GALAXIANS. MISSION: DESTROY ALIENS."
Development
Galaxian was created by Kazunori Sawano, who had previously worked on many of Namco's arcade games that combined electricity and mechanical parts, including Shoot Away (1977). When Taito released Space Invaders in Japan, it became extremely popular and helped the video game industry grow into a profitable business. To take advantage of this success, Namco's president, Masaya Nakamura, asked Sawano to design the best game possible after Space Invaders, which created pressure on the development team. Although the game took six months to develop, Sawano had already thought of several ideas six months before production began.
Sawano and his team aimed to create a game that was easy for anyone to play. They followed a "simple is best" approach, which led them to remove complex ideas and focus on a game that could repeat endlessly and use only two types of enemies. Alongside Space Invaders, the game was also inspired by Star Wars, especially its large space battles. Sawano wanted to recreate the feeling of space battles, particularly through sound effects. Many sound effects were created and tested, but most were rejected because they did not match his vision. Galaxian was Namco's first arcade game to use a synthesizer for its music.
Balancing the game was important to ensure the difficulty did not suddenly increase without warning. The team kept the number of enemies on-screen consistent and gradually made the game harder as the player progressed. The enemies were programmed to react to the player's movements and attack based on them. Early in development, Sawano wanted enemies to resemble TIE Fighters from Star Wars. To save on hardware memory and processing power, programmers used a tilemap hardware model, which divided the game into small 8×8 pixel tiles. This reduced memory and processing needs by up to 64 times compared to the framebuffer model used in Space Invaders. The hardware also supported multicolor sprites, sprite animation, and scrolling, though the game remained a fixed shooter with scrolling only used for the starfield background.
Release
Galaxian was released by Namco in Japan on September 15, 1979. Because the game was very successful, Namco contacted Midway Manufacturing to help release the game in other countries. Midway had previously lost a partnership with Taito due to the popularity of Space Invaders in the United States, and they were looking for a new partner. On October 17, 1979, Midway saw the game and was impressed by its special features. They agreed to work together, and Midway introduced the game at a trade show in November 1979. The game was then widely released in North America in February 1980. This helped Midway grow stronger and challenged Atari’s position as a leading company in the video game industry. To meet the high demand for the game in Japan, Namco allowed other companies, such as Taito and Irem, to produce copies of the game.
In addition to producing copies, Namco also allowed these companies to release their own versions of the game. One example was Moon Alien by Nichibutsu, which added a title screen and slightly changed the game’s images. A follow-up game called Moon Alien Part 2 was later made. This version included an energy meter that would end the game if it ran out completely. Moon Alien became the subject of a legal dispute when Nichibutsu made more copies of the game than allowed by the contract. Nichibutsu paid Namco extra money to compensate for the overproduction. Nichibutsu later created a game called Moon Cresta, which copied Galaxian’s gameplay and was successful.
Taito also released a version of the game called T.T Spacian Part-2. This version changed the game to include aliens from Space Invaders, making it one of the first examples of a crossover in a video game.
Atari, Inc. released versions of Galaxian for its Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 2600, and Atari 5200 in 1982 and 1983. These versions came out three or more years after the game was first in arcades and more than a year after Galaga. Additional versions were released by Atarisoft for the Apple II, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, VIC-20, IBM PC, and ZX Spectrum. Other companies also released versions for the MSX (in Europe and Japan), NEC PC-8801, Famicom (in Japan only), and Sharp X1. A version for the Bally Astrocade was originally called Galaxian but was later renamed Galactic Invasion.
Coleco made a tabletop version of Galaxian called Mini-Arcade in 1981. This version, along with Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger, sold three million units combined. Entex released a handheld game called Galaxian 2 in 1981. The name "Galaxian 2" was used because the game had a two-player mode. This was not a sequel, as there was no previous Entex version of Galaxian.
Reception
Galaxian was very successful both with critics and in sales when it was first released. In Japan, it was the second most successful arcade game in 1979, after Space Invaders. The next year, Galaxian did better than Pac-Man for a time, but by the end of 1980, it was again the second most successful arcade game, after Pac-Man. In 1981, Galaxian was the 18th most successful arcade game, sharing that position with Defender and Turbo. The game remained popular in Japan during the early 1980s; Game Machine reported that it was still doing well as late as August 1983.
In the United States, Galaxian was the second most successful arcade game in 1980, after Asteroids, according to Play Meter and Cash Box. By 1981, 40,000 arcade units of Galaxian had been sold in the United States, and by 1982, that number had reached 50,000 units.
Critics praised the game for using true color graphics and for improving the design first introduced in Space Invaders. The April 5, 1980 issue of Cashbox noted the game's colorful and attractive cabinet design, while the April 26 issue called it an "earthshaking hit," describing it as a true followup to Space Invaders. In a 2007 review, Sir Clive of Eurogamer called it a masterpiece, praising its "beautifully drawn" graphics, intense gameplay, and its importance in video game history. In 2021, The Guardian listed Galaxian as the greatest video game of the 1970s. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the arcade version 63 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."
Home versions and ports of the game received different opinions depending on the platform. In 1982, Video magazine reviewed the Astrocade version of Galaxian (named Galactic Invasion) and noted that the graphics were not as good as the coin-op and PC versions, but praised the gameplay as "magnificent" compared to other console versions. The Astrocade version later won a Certificate of Merit for "Best Arcade-to-Home Video Game Translation" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards. In 1983, Home Computing Weekly gave the Spectrum version of Galaxian 3/5 stars, calling it a well-written version and praising the fast, though flickery, graphics. In the same year, Softline criticized the Atari 8-bit version of the game, stating that "this game becomes tedious very quickly."
Legacy
The Galaxian arcade hardware had an important influence on the design of Nintendo's later arcade and console systems, including the hardware for Radar Scope (1980), Donkey Kong (1981), the Famicom, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Masayuki Uemura, a lead engineer at Nintendo R&D2, Galaxian replaced the more complex bitmap rendering system used in Space Invaders with a hardware sprite rendering system. This system animated sprites over a scrolling background, allowing more detailed graphics, faster gameplay, and a scrolling animated starfield background. These features formed the basis for Nintendo's Radar Scope arcade hardware, which improved on Galaxian by using high-speed emitter-coupled logic integrated circuit chips and memory on a 50 MHz printed circuit board. After Radar Scope failed commercially, its hardware was adapted for use with Donkey Kong, which became a popular arcade game. At the time, home systems lacked the power to accurately port Donkey Kong, so Nintendo created the Famicom to allow a fully accurate version of the game to be played at home.
The Galaxian Flagship appears as the 6th fruit in Pac-Man and has appeared repeatedly in the Pac-Man franchise. When Pac-Man entered the Super Smash Bros. series, players could throw Galaxian, which would fly in a loop and play sounds from the original arcade game.
Galaxian inspired many sequels and spin-offs for various platforms, including arcade machines and home video game systems. The first of these, Galaga, was released in 1981 and became one of the most popular video games of all time during the golden age of arcade games in North America. It was followed by Gaplus in 1984, which added power-up items and bonus stages based on juggling. Galaga '88, released in 1987, included branching level paths, new enemy types, and multiple endings.
In 1990, Namco created a theme-park attraction called Galaxian3: Project Dragoon. It was first shown at Expo '90 and later moved to Namco's Wonder Eggs theme park. The attraction was a rail shooter where up to 28 players used lightguns to shoot enemies and projectiles. A smaller version for arcades was released in 1992, followed by a PlayStation version in Japan and Europe in 1996. In 1995, an arcade remake of Galaga called Galaga Arrangement was included in the Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 compilation. This version added two-player co-operative play, boss fights, and new enemy and weapon types. It was later released on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube in 2002 as part of the Namco Museum compilation.
A Japan-only medal game spin-off, Galaxian Fever, was released in 2000 as part of Namco's Shooting Medal series. In 2001, Hasbro Interactive released Galaga: Destination Earth for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color, adding side-scrolling and third-person stages to the gameplay. In 2005, the PlayStation Portable version of Namco Museum Battle Collection included a remake of Galaga titled Galaga Arrangement, which was unrelated to the version in Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1. This game was later released on iOS devices in 2009 under the name Galaga Remix. In 2008, Namco Bandai Games released a downloadable game called Galaga Legions for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This game was a twin-stick shooter with score attack modes and multiple stages. A sequel, Galaga Legions DX, was released in 2011 under the Namco Generations label.
Galaxian is included in the Namco Museum series of collections across multiple platforms. Galaxian and Galaga were bundled together for a Game Boy release called Arcade Classic 3. Galaxian was released on Microsoft Windows in 1995 as part of Microsoft Return of Arcade. The game was also included in the Pac-Man's Arcade Party 30th Anniversary arcade machine. It has also appeared in Jakks Pacific's "Plug It In & Play" TV game controllers.
Galaxian, along with Galaga, Gaplus, and Galaga '88, was redesigned and modernized for an iPhone app called the Galaga 30th Anniversary Collection, released by Namco Bandai to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the game. Super Impulse also released a stand-alone version of Galaxian for the Tiny Arcade.
The Galaxian world record has drawn attention from many competitive players since the game's release. The most famous rivalry was between British player Gary Whelan and American player Perry Rodgers, who competed at Apollo Amusements in Pompano Beach, Florida, from April 6 to 9, 2006. Whelan held the world record with 1,114,550 points until Dutch player Aart van Vliet surpassed it with 1,653,270 points on May 27, 2009, at Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, U.S. The record was later set to 2,010,000 points on May 20, 2016, by David Lyne, and verified by Twin Galaxies on May 28, 2016.