Galaga

Arcade version of Galaga

Galaga is an action game developed by Namco Limited. The game was initially released in arcades in 1981 and later ported to many game consoles and home computers. It is a sequel to Galaxian and features similar gameplay where players control a spaceship with the goal of earning as many points as possible by shooting the numerous, insect-like enemies that attack. Galaga was one of the most commercially and critically successful games of the era and spawned several sequels (including Gaplus and Galaga '88) and saw numerous re-releases including in compilations on modern systems.

Similar to Galaxian, players control a spaceship which can move only along the bottom of the screen. On each stage in the game there are numerous Galaga fighters (which somewhat resemble insects) which need to be shot; as the stage begins, they fly onto the screen in small groups and loop around before finally falling into formation near the top of the playfield. Once all of the fighters have appeared, they will begin attacking by firing at the player and occasionally breaking formation and attempting to crash into the player. When all fighters have been destroyed, the game continues on to the next level. As the game progresses, the quantity and speed of the Galaga fighters increases and the patterns enemies fly in becomes more complex making them harder to shoot.

The leader Galaga fighters (which take two shots instead of one to destroy) can also capture the player's ship with a tractor beam. If captured, the the ship remains in the enemy formation and will follow the Galaga leader when it attacks again. If players can shoot the enemy but not the ship, it will be reclaimed and players will have two simultaneous spaceships providing twice the firepower (but also provide the enemy with a bigger target to hit). If players accidentally shoot the captured ship when in the enemy formation it will be lost. Additionally if it is the player's last ship that is captured, the game is over.

Every few stages there is a challenging stage where players can earn bonus points. During the challenging stages several waves of Galaga fighters appear, fly around the screen in a set pattern, and then leave (the fighters don't attack or crash into the player during challenging stages). At the end of the stage bonus points are awarded based on how many of the fighters players hit.