Neon Retro Arcade - Space Invaders

Space Invaders

1978

Midway

Space Invaders was certainly not the first videogame, but it is the first game that many people ever remember playing (even more than Pong) in an arcade. While the gameplay never really gets too fast (compared to later games like Defender, Centipede, etc), the heartbeat-type sound speeds up and really gets you into the action. Space Invaders really established space shooters as the dominant genre in the late 70s and into the early 80s.

Story

There are Invaders from Space. Need more story than that? You're naturally the last hope for humankind, so its up to you to blast those alien squids out of the sky. Hurry up, though- the longer you wait, the faster these aliens move. The creator credits Breakout, War of the Worlds, and Star Wars for inspiring his game. Space Invaders took videogames from an interesting novelty to a worldwide phenomenon.

Tips & Strategies

Hitting the flying saucers that pass by above gets you big points.

If you want to build up your skills, aim for the missles that are shot at you.

This game was notoriously responsible for a coin shortage in Japan, and whole arcades were built just to house multiple Space Invaders cabinets- this game was huge.