Galaga, the Video Game by Namco
DESCRIPTION
Type of the machine : Video Game
Galaga © 1981 Namco.
Galaga is a single-screen shoot-em-up in which the player controls a 'Fighter' spaceship and must defend the home planet against the on-coming hordes of alien invaders. The fighter can only move left and right along the bottom of the screen.
Galaga aliens fly onto the screen in a variety of formations - dropping bombs as they do so - before forming troop lines at the top of the screen. Once a troop line is formed the aliens separate and start attacking the player's ship in ones, twos and threes. The top line "Boss" aliens need to be shot twice before they are destroyed.
The Boss alien has a tractor beam that can capture the player's Fighter. A captured Fighter changes colour from white to red and stays with that particular Boss Galaga until it's destroyed. The fighter can be retrieved by destroying the Boss Galaga that captured it, but players must be careful not to destroy the captured ship itself, or that ship is lost. A rescued Fighter changes colour back from red to white and links up with the player's current Fighter, doubling its fire power.
As players progress through each screen, the speed and number of alien attacks increases. Alien formations also become more complex, making the aliens harder to shoot.
Bonus Fighters are awarded periodically throughout the game, as players reach specific point values (dictated by the 'Bonus Life' dip switch setting). Each enemy ship also has an assigned point value (see Scoring below).
The alien troop lines that form at the top of the screen are, from top to bottom: Boss Galaga, Butterflies (red/white bug ships) and Bees (blue/yellow bug ships).
In the first stage, the enemies do not drop bombs as they fly onto the screen. However, they do so in all proceeding stages.
From Stage 4 onwards, a squadron of special bonus enemies called "transforms" start appearing. They're called transforms because Bees will begin pulsating and move out of formation to change into these bonus enemies. They appear in the form of yellow scorpions in Stages 4, 5, and 6, green "Spy Ships" from "Bosconian" in Stages 8, 9, and 10, and Galaxian Flagships in Stages 12, 13, and 14. After that, the three different transforms are repeated in the same order. Transforms are always worthwhile targets because they are not very aggressive and are worth more than the other enemies. If all three transforms are destroyed, extra bonus points will be awarded.
Galaga also features CHALLENGING STAGES, these consist of 40 enemy ships that fly onto the screen in formations but do not drop any bombs. The object is to shoot as many of them as possible before they leave the play area. When an entire formation of 8 aliens is destroyed, bonus points (of between 1000 and 3000, depending on the stage) are added to the player's score. If all 40 aliens are destroyed, players are awarded a special bonus of 10000 points.
Two new gameplay features Galaga introduced are :
1) Players are given the chance to double their fire power.
2) The game has a rapid fire (automatic firing) option, whereby the player simply holds the FIRE button down and the space fighter continues to fire at the Galaga army in bursts of two missiles each.
Galaga © 1981 Namco.
Galaga is a single-screen shoot-em-up in which the player controls a 'Fighter' spaceship and must defend the home planet against the on-coming hordes of alien invaders. The fighter can only move left and right along the bottom of the screen.
Galaga aliens fly onto the screen in a variety of formations - dropping bombs as they do so - before forming troop lines at the top of the screen. Once a troop line is formed the aliens separate and start attacking the player's ship in ones, twos and threes. The top line "Boss" aliens need to be shot twice before they are destroyed.
The Boss alien has a tractor beam that can capture the player's Fighter. A captured Fighter changes colour from white to red and stays with that particular Boss Galaga until it's destroyed. The fighter can be retrieved by destroying the Boss Galaga that captured it, but players must be careful not to destroy the captured ship itself, or that ship is lost. A rescued Fighter changes colour back from red to white and links up with the player's current Fighter, doubling its fire power.
As players progress through each screen, the speed and number of alien attacks increases. Alien formations also become more complex, making the aliens harder to shoot.
Bonus Fighters are awarded periodically throughout the game, as players reach specific point values (dictated by the 'Bonus Life' dip switch setting). Each enemy ship also has an assigned point value (see Scoring below).
The alien troop lines that form at the top of the screen are, from top to bottom: Boss Galaga, Butterflies (red/white bug ships) and Bees (blue/yellow bug ships).
In the first stage, the enemies do not drop bombs as they fly onto the screen. However, they do so in all proceeding stages.
From Stage 4 onwards, a squadron of special bonus enemies called "transforms" start appearing. They're called transforms because Bees will begin pulsating and move out of formation to change into these bonus enemies. They appear in the form of yellow scorpions in Stages 4, 5, and 6, green "Spy Ships" from "Bosconian" in Stages 8, 9, and 10, and Galaxian Flagships in Stages 12, 13, and 14. After that, the three different transforms are repeated in the same order. Transforms are always worthwhile targets because they are not very aggressive and are worth more than the other enemies. If all three transforms are destroyed, extra bonus points will be awarded.
Galaga also features CHALLENGING STAGES, these consist of 40 enemy ships that fly onto the screen in formations but do not drop any bombs. The object is to shoot as many of them as possible before they leave the play area. When an entire formation of 8 aliens is destroyed, bonus points (of between 1000 and 3000, depending on the stage) are added to the player's score. If all 40 aliens are destroyed, players are awarded a special bonus of 10000 points.
Two new gameplay features Galaga introduced are :
1) Players are given the chance to double their fire power.
2) The game has a rapid fire (automatic firing) option, whereby the player simply holds the FIRE button down and the space fighter continues to fire at the Galaga army in bursts of two missiles each.
TECHNICAL
CABINET :
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Main CPU : Z80 (x3), MB88xx
Sound Chips : Namco 3-channel WSG, discrete circuitry (for the ship explosion sound)
Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 288 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.61 Hz
Palette colors : 32 (16 colors for tiles + 16 colors for sprites)
Players : 2
Control : 2-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (FIRE)
TRIVIA
Although Galaga was a superior game, it didn't sell the large numbers that its predecessor did. One of the first games with a bonus stage.
The game 'rolls over' at 999990 points. The player 1 score counter is 6 digits, but the player 2 counter is 7 digits. Therefore, most good players start a 2-player game and play exclusively on Player 2's side so their score won't 'roll over' at 999990. After the 1000000 mark, new Fighters are no longer awarded.
What happens after finishing Stage 255 depends upon the skill level set in the DIP switches:
* On the easy skill, the game resets.
* On the medium skill, the game flips to "Stage 0" which plays as a strange cross between the 2nd Challenging Stage and a regular level where the enemies shoot. The game will advance to Stage 1 after completion, and the game will get easy again.
* On the hard skill setting, the words "Stage 0" stay on the screen forever. No more enemies ever appear. The player can continue to move the ship and fire, but there is no way to advance to the next level, or to die. To play again, the machine must be reset.
* On the hardest skill, the game flips to "Stage 0" which plays like Stage 1 (no extra enemies when flying onto the screen), but it is still as difficult as Stage 255. The game will advance to Stage 1 after completion, and the game will get easy again.
If you have more than 7 extra Fighters, the marker for the screen will only show 7 1/2 (!) Fighters remaining. Additional extra Fighters will still be credited, even though they won't show on the screen.
The Bees are also referred to as 'Zako' and the Butterflies are also referred to as 'Goei'.
Stephen Krogman holds the official record for this game with 15,999,990 points.
A Galaga unit appears in the 1983 movie 'WarGames', in the in 1983 movie 'Spring Break' (being played by one of the main characters), in the 1984 movie 'The Karate Kid', and in the 1987 movie 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'.
Original release :
Namco's Galaga [Upright model] (September 1981)
Namco's Galaga [Cocktail Table model] (September 1981)
Licensed releases :
Midway's Galaga [Upright model] (December 1981)
Midway's Galaga [Mini-Myte model] (December 1981)
Midway's Galaga [Cocktail Table model] (December 1981)
Unofficial releases :
Gallag (bootleg)
Uchida's GATsBEe (hack)
The game 'rolls over' at 999990 points. The player 1 score counter is 6 digits, but the player 2 counter is 7 digits. Therefore, most good players start a 2-player game and play exclusively on Player 2's side so their score won't 'roll over' at 999990. After the 1000000 mark, new Fighters are no longer awarded.
What happens after finishing Stage 255 depends upon the skill level set in the DIP switches:
* On the easy skill, the game resets.
* On the medium skill, the game flips to "Stage 0" which plays as a strange cross between the 2nd Challenging Stage and a regular level where the enemies shoot. The game will advance to Stage 1 after completion, and the game will get easy again.
* On the hard skill setting, the words "Stage 0" stay on the screen forever. No more enemies ever appear. The player can continue to move the ship and fire, but there is no way to advance to the next level, or to die. To play again, the machine must be reset.
* On the hardest skill, the game flips to "Stage 0" which plays like Stage 1 (no extra enemies when flying onto the screen), but it is still as difficult as Stage 255. The game will advance to Stage 1 after completion, and the game will get easy again.
If you have more than 7 extra Fighters, the marker for the screen will only show 7 1/2 (!) Fighters remaining. Additional extra Fighters will still be credited, even though they won't show on the screen.
The Bees are also referred to as 'Zako' and the Butterflies are also referred to as 'Goei'.
Stephen Krogman holds the official record for this game with 15,999,990 points.
A Galaga unit appears in the 1983 movie 'WarGames', in the in 1983 movie 'Spring Break' (being played by one of the main characters), in the 1984 movie 'The Karate Kid', and in the 1987 movie 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'.
Original release :
Namco's Galaga [Upright model] (September 1981)
Namco's Galaga [Cocktail Table model] (September 1981)
Licensed releases :
Midway's Galaga [Upright model] (December 1981)
Midway's Galaga [Mini-Myte model] (December 1981)
Midway's Galaga [Cocktail Table model] (December 1981)
Unofficial releases :
Gallag (bootleg)
Uchida's GATsBEe (hack)
SCORING
Bee : 50 points in formation or 100 points in flight.
Butterfly : 80 points in formation or 160 points in flight.
Boss Galaga : 150 points in formation or 400 points in flight.
Boss Galaga : 800 points in flight with 1 wingman.
Boss Galaga : 1,600 points in flight with 2 wingmen.
Scorpions : 160 points each, 1,000 points for destroying all 3.
Bosconian Spy Ships : 160 points each, 2,000 points for destroying all 3.
Galaxian Flagships : 160 points each, 3,000 points for destroying all 3.
Captured fighter : 500 points in formation or 1,000 points in flight.
Challenging Stage : 100 points per ship destroyed if less than 40.
Challenging Stage : 10,000 points for destroying all 40 ships (Perfect).
Challenging Stage : 1,000 points on the first two Challenging Stages, 1,500 points on the 3rd and 4th, 2000 points on the 5th and 6th, and 3,000 points from the 7th onward for destroying a complete formation of 8 ships.
Butterfly : 80 points in formation or 160 points in flight.
Boss Galaga : 150 points in formation or 400 points in flight.
Boss Galaga : 800 points in flight with 1 wingman.
Boss Galaga : 1,600 points in flight with 2 wingmen.
Scorpions : 160 points each, 1,000 points for destroying all 3.
Bosconian Spy Ships : 160 points each, 2,000 points for destroying all 3.
Galaxian Flagships : 160 points each, 3,000 points for destroying all 3.
Captured fighter : 500 points in formation or 1,000 points in flight.
Challenging Stage : 100 points per ship destroyed if less than 40.
Challenging Stage : 10,000 points for destroying all 40 ships (Perfect).
Challenging Stage : 1,000 points on the first two Challenging Stages, 1,500 points on the 3rd and 4th, 2000 points on the 5th and 6th, and 3,000 points from the 7th onward for destroying a complete formation of 8 ships.
TIPS AND TRICKS
* Enemy Stop Shooting : on the first stage, kill everything but the 2 Bees in the bottom left corner. Then just wait, dodging the enemies' shots, until the enemy no longer drops any shots towards you. After the enemies stop firing, let them pass for 2 more trips and then kill them. For the rest of the game, the enemies will not drop shots. It will take approximately 15 minutes for the enemies to quit shooting at you, so this trick requires a lot of patience. Note : in a 2-player game, only one person has to do the cheat for both players to benefit. But as soon as 1 of the players game is over the enemies begin shooting again.
* (BUG) Take The Control Of The Fighter For Free : during the Galaga demo, the Boss Galaga comes down and tries to tractor-beam up the Fighter. As soon as that tractor-beam starts, the player can take control of the ship in the demo. The player has 2 choices here and this will effect how the game handles this bug : If the player allows himself to be captured, the demo will continue as normal and he has the option of controlling the player Fighter or not. The player can choose whether to save the captured Fighter, try to complete the level, etc. The demo mode will complete after 30 seconds and the high-score screen will appear. If the player takes control of the Fighter and destroys the Boss Galaga with the tractor beam, some of the characters on the screen will freeze while others are still moving and doing what they are suppose to be doing. This will last 15-20 seconds, then the game will go to the high score screen.
* Challenging stages are easier if the high score numbers are used to refine your aim. These tips assume a 6-digit high score :
1) On the first 2 challenging stages, aim your ships so that your left set of bullets falls between the second and third numbers in the high score list.
2) On subsequent challenging stages, aim one set of your bullets between the first and second numbers in the high score list (if the units come from the left) or between the last and next-to-last numbers (if the units come from the right). This will allow you to hit descending enemies at the highest possible point.
* Here Is A neat (and useless) Galaga Trick : it is possible to end the game with a 200% ratio. The 200% hit-miss ratio trick can only be done with your first shot of the game. When the game starts, don't move, and fire only one shot. If you time it correctly, 2 enemies will be killed at once. Let your remaining Fighters be destroyed, and presto : a better-than-perfect result.
* Easter Egg :
1) Enter service mode.
2) Keep B1 pressed and enter the following sequence : Right(x5), Left(x6), Right(x3), Left(x7). '(c) 1981 NAMCO LTD.' will be added at the bottom of the screen.
* (BUG) Take The Control Of The Fighter For Free : during the Galaga demo, the Boss Galaga comes down and tries to tractor-beam up the Fighter. As soon as that tractor-beam starts, the player can take control of the ship in the demo. The player has 2 choices here and this will effect how the game handles this bug : If the player allows himself to be captured, the demo will continue as normal and he has the option of controlling the player Fighter or not. The player can choose whether to save the captured Fighter, try to complete the level, etc. The demo mode will complete after 30 seconds and the high-score screen will appear. If the player takes control of the Fighter and destroys the Boss Galaga with the tractor beam, some of the characters on the screen will freeze while others are still moving and doing what they are suppose to be doing. This will last 15-20 seconds, then the game will go to the high score screen.
* Challenging stages are easier if the high score numbers are used to refine your aim. These tips assume a 6-digit high score :
1) On the first 2 challenging stages, aim your ships so that your left set of bullets falls between the second and third numbers in the high score list.
2) On subsequent challenging stages, aim one set of your bullets between the first and second numbers in the high score list (if the units come from the left) or between the last and next-to-last numbers (if the units come from the right). This will allow you to hit descending enemies at the highest possible point.
* Here Is A neat (and useless) Galaga Trick : it is possible to end the game with a 200% ratio. The 200% hit-miss ratio trick can only be done with your first shot of the game. When the game starts, don't move, and fire only one shot. If you time it correctly, 2 enemies will be killed at once. Let your remaining Fighters be destroyed, and presto : a better-than-perfect result.
* Easter Egg :
1) Enter service mode.
2) Keep B1 pressed and enter the following sequence : Right(x5), Left(x6), Right(x3), Left(x7). '(c) 1981 NAMCO LTD.' will be added at the bottom of the screen.
SERIES
1. Galaxian (1979)
2. Galaga (1981)
3. Gaplus (1984) also known as "Galaga 3".
4. Galaga '88 (1987)
5. Galaxian3 (1990)
6. Galaxian3 Theatre 6 : Project Dragoon (1990)
7. Galaxian3 Theatre 6 J2 : Attack Of The Zolgear (1994)
8. Galaga - Destination Earth (2000, Nintendo Game Boy Color, PC CD-ROM and Sony PlayStation)
9. Galaga Legions (2008, XBOX 360 [Xbox Live Arcade])
2. Galaga (1981)
3. Gaplus (1984) also known as "Galaga 3".
4. Galaga '88 (1987)
5. Galaxian3 (1990)
6. Galaxian3 Theatre 6 : Project Dragoon (1990)
7. Galaxian3 Theatre 6 J2 : Attack Of The Zolgear (1994)
8. Galaga - Destination Earth (2000, Nintendo Game Boy Color, PC CD-ROM and Sony PlayStation)
9. Galaga Legions (2008, XBOX 360 [Xbox Live Arcade])
STAFF
Music by : Nobuyuki Ohnogi
PORTS
Consoles :
Sega SG-1000 (1983, "Sega Galaga" – Sega)
Atari 7800 (1984)
Nintendo Famicom (1988)
Nintendo Famicom Disk (1990)
Nintendo Game Boy (1995, "Galaga & Galaxian")
Sony PlayStation (1995, "Namco Museum Vol.1") Sony PlayStation (1995, "Tekken") : you can play the game while the main game loads. Only the challenging stages are included. Nintendo Game Boy (1996, "Namco Gallery Vol.1")
Nintendo 64 (1999, "Namco Museum 64")
Sega Dreamcast (1999, "Namco Museum")
Sony PlayStation 2 (2001, "Namco Museum")
Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2001, "Namco Museum")
Nintendo GameCube (2002, "Namco Museum")
Microsoft XBOX (2002, "Namco Museum") Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary") Microsoft XBOX (2005, "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary") Nintendo GameCube (2005,"Namco Museum 50th Anniversary") Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2005, "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary")
Sony PSP (2005, "Namco Museum Battle Collection") : a brand new "Arrangement" version unique to this port is also featured.
Microsoft XBOX 360 (2006, as a downloadable Live Arcade game)
Nintendo DS (2007, "Namco Museum DS") 
Nintendo Wii (2007, "Virtual Console" - NES version)
Sony PlayStation 3 (2009, "Namco Museum Essentials")Computers :
Commodore C64 (1982)
BBC B (1983, "Zalaga" – Aardvark)
Acorn Electron (1984, "Zalaga" – Aardvark)
Tandy Color Computer (1984, "Galagon")
MSX (1984)Fujitsu FM-7 (1985)
Fujitsu FM-77 (1985)
Sharp MZ2500
PC [MS-DOS] (1997, "Champ Galagon" - CHAMProgramming)
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2005, "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary")
Others :
Arcade (1995, "Namco Classics Collection Vol.1")
Mobile Phones (2004)
Ms. Pac-Man TV Game (2004 - Jakks Pacific)
Ms. Pac-Man TV Game Wireless Version (2005 - Jakks Pacific)
Retro Arcade featuring Pac-Man (2008 - Jakks Pacific)
SOURCES
Game's rom.
Machine's picture.
Machine's picture.
LAST EDITION
August 16, 2010