Gal-Ag-Ah?
Following on from last weeks’ addition of Taitos’ iconic Bubble Bobble, Hamster has an old classic that would become a must-have for the Arcade Archives, now entitled Namcos legendary shmup Galaga, which now is available for Nintendo Switch and PS4.
Originally founded in 1981, which was the sequel to Galaxian, the story is universally recognizable. Players control a lone ship; they are piloting through the stars and the invading forces of Galaga. Apart from the award-winning Galaxians, Galaga offered an improved audio/video package, and some cool new features, such as the famous Tractor Beam enemy, and the ability between players and the enemy to morph into boosted variants of themselves.
Check out the classic interstellar action in the video below, as directed by YouTuber World of Longplays.
For a company, designed and developed by a small team of Namco and led by Shigeru Yokoyama, Galaga surpassed its expectations, attracting the attention of the executives, the result being increased efforts in the marketing and packaging of the finished product. Galaga had a global smash on release and would continue to stand out in the arcades through the crash and the late 80s. Galaga is the greatest gaming icon in the world. You can see that the game is full of movies, including WarGames, The Karate Kid, and The Avengers and has even had the extinct species named after that species.
There is no bad legacy for old-school pew-pews.
Galaga is free now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. At around $8.