Space Invaders, released in 1978, is one of the earliest shooting games designed by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan. It is an arcade game enjoying great popularity all over the world. The aim of the game is of course to shoot down multitudes of alien space invaders by means of laser cannon. By shooting them down you earn as many points as possible.

 

Space Invaders
Space Invaders is characterized by moving of the laser cannon horizontally while the aliens move towards the bottom of the screen. It is interesting to note that the aliens are arranged in groups of eleven in five rows.

Every time a player shoots down an alien he earns points. When more and more aliens are defeated, their movement and the rhythm of the music speed up. When all the aliens are defeated a new multitude of aliens are born and come charging down. The job of defeating the aliens becomes more and more difficult as the game progresses.

The aliens also shoot back and try to destroy the laser cannon. Being hit causes the player to loose a life. Defense bunkers can shield the laser cannon from being destroyed. They, however, gradually destroyed by the shots fired from the aliens and the player as well. A flying saucer appears on the screen occasionally and you get bonus points when it is destroyed. It is important to know that once the aliens reach the bottom of the screen successfully without being defeated the game ends. You have to start all again for the next bout.

Space Invaders has become very popular and is known all over the world. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the worlds famous game designers, the entire video game industry was revolutionized by the arcade game of Space Invaders. He admitted that he was not interested in video games before he saw Space Invaders. The game attained success in a big way so that it paved the way for the creation of several other shooting video games.

 

Source playspaceinvaders.info