If you remember when the original Space Invaders Arcade Machines hit then you’ll be 40/50+ and in our opinion you too witnessed arguably the biggest launch in gaming history – the game the set the original bar for pretty much everything since – SPACE INVADERS BY TAITO.
Is that claim too bold? We don’t think so. The best selling toy at the time was SIMON, 4 coloured buttons for you to press when you heard a sound and, the arcade games scene of the 70s often looked like this.
Then, pretty much overnight, Bally Midway who had the overseas distribution license for Taito’s Space Invaders started putting Space Invaders Arcade machines EVERYWHERE. It was like no place was sacred – Pubs, Bars, Clubs, Chip Shops, Paper Shops, Train Stations, Leisure Centres and airports.
And what a gamechanger – the look was so cool back then and remains one of the most iconic arcade cabinet graphics of all time. Whichever version you played – the black and white – the black and white with green cellophane look, or the best one in our opinion – where the screen projected onto a moonlit screen to give the impression that your ship and invaders were actually floating, battling it out in space – the good news is Arcade WOW machines sport all versions.
Without a doubt, Space Invaders set the scene for a barrage of shoot em ups in 1979 and the 80s, some of them iconic and to be honest better in gameply, sound, challenges and screen variety – games such as Galaxians, Asteroids, Phoenix, Gorf, Defender and even Galaga ows a lot to the original Space Invaders creativity.
So, what are the best tactics, hints and tips to help you play Space Invaders
We are assuming you are reading this article because you love Space Invaders so we haven’t done a basic ‘how to play’ guide – but depending on your old school gaming knowledge, you may not know that there are some small tweaks that you can do with your gameplay to raise that score and go further than you have before.
The mystery ship that periodically (25ish seconds) crosses the top of your screen can give you 50, 100, 150 or a whopping 300 points, right? It’s random what it gives you right? Wrong! This could be one of the first hidden video game hidden treasures or surprises, maybe even the first ‘Easter Egg’ in a video game. You can get 300 points every time by simply counting your shots fired from the start of each screen.
From the start of each screen, count 22 shots and hit the mystery ship with your 23rd shot. After which count 14 and hit the next one with your 15th shot. Keep doing this until the next screen and start again.
If the mystery ship is going left to right, move all the way to the right and fire a shot under the ‘c’ of player 2’s high score. If it’s moving right to left, move all the way to the left and fire when it’s under the player one score – preferably last number of the score for accuracy.
To go deep into the game, you need to keep the invaders pace as slow as possible. You’ll know the more you shoot the faster they come so use this tactic to buy yourself time.
Knock out all invaders so you have 1 out on a limb on the left, and 5 x 5 invaders left on the right. This keeps the pace slow, and allows you to pick off the bottom row when they are 1 row above you (they don’t fire at 1 row above) so you can carefully pick ‘em off and repeat until you’ve had enough!
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