Alongside Space Invaders, a large portion of the game was inspired by Star Wars, specifically its large-scale space battles. Sawano and his team set out to make a game anybody could play, using a "simple is best" motto during production – this helped trim away large-scale ideas in favor of a game that could loop endlessly and be able to use only two enemy types. Although development of the game lasted six months, Sawano had made several ideas half a year before production began.
To help capitalize on the game's success, Namco president Masaya Nakamura ordered Sawano to make the best "post-Invaders" game they could, which put a vast amount of pressure on the development team. Early in the game's development, Taito had released Space Invaders in Japan, which swept the country by storm and helped turn the video game industry into a highly-profitable business. Galaxian was designed by Kazunori Sawano, who had previously worked on many of Namco's electro-mechanical shooting gallery arcade games, notably Shoot Away (1977). The game's attract mode featured a slim scenario, reading "WE ARE THE GALAXIANS. Rounds are indicated by small flags at the bottom of the screen. Enemy movement will increase as the game progresses alongside the number of shots that the enemies fire. The Galaxip can only fire a single shot at a time, and the player must wait for it to either hit an enemy or the top of the screen before being able to fire another, due to limitations of the hardware.įlagships will make a divebomb with two red escort ships - shooting all three of these will award the player bonus points, with extra points awarded to the destruction of the flagship. Enemies will make a divebomb towards the bottom of the screen while shooting projectiles in an attempt to hit the player. The enemies appear in formation towards the top of the screen, with two escort ships, labeled the "Galaxian Flagship" or "Galboss". The player controls a starship called the "Galaxip", the objective being to clear each round of aliens. Galaxian is a space-themed fixed shooter. Galaxian has also been ported to many home systems and is included in numerous Namco compilations.Īliens diving toward the player's ship (arcade) Its success led to several sequels and reimaginings most notable of these is Galaga, which usurped the original in popularity. In retrospect, it has gained fame for its historical importance and technological accomplishments. The game was celebrated for its gameplay and usage of true color graphics. It was the second highest-grossing arcade video game of 19 in Japan and the second highest-grossing of 1980 in the United States, where it became one of the best-selling arcade games of all time with 50,000 arcade units sold by 1982. Galaxian was Namco's first major arcade video game hit. Galaxian is one of the first video games to feature RGB color graphics and the first ever to use a tile-based hardware system, which was capable of animated multi-color sprites as well as scrolling, though the latter was limited to the starfield background while the game itself remained a fixed shooter. He was inspired by the cinematic space combat scenes in Star Wars, with enemies originally being in the shape of the film's TIE Fighters. Sawano strove to make the game simplistic and easy to understand. Space Invaders was a sensation in Japan, and Namco wanted a game that could compete against it. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.ĭesigned by company engineer Kazunori Sawano, Galaxian was Namco's answer to Space Invaders, a similar space shooter released the previous year by rival developer Taito. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco.
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