Title: Galaga

Release Date: 1981

Developer: Namco

Class: Wide Release

Genre: Shoot-Em-Ups

Maximum number of players: 1

Number of simultaneous players: 2

Game Controls:

• Joystick: 4-Way
• Total Buttons: 1
• Actions:
  Fire

Overview:

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.

Facts & 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 15999990 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'.

Game Ports:

Sega SG-1000 (1983, "Sega Galaga" – Sega)
Atari 7800 (1984)
Casio PV-2000
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)
Microsoft XBOX 360 (2008, "Namco Museum Virtual Arcade") : as an Xbox Live Arcade game
Sony PlayStation 3 (2009, "Namco Museum Essentials")
Nintendo Wii (2010, "Namco Museum Megamix")

Commodore C64 (1982, unlicensed)
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 MZ-700 ("Galao")
Sharp MZ-1500
Sharp X1
Sharp MZ2500
PC [MS-DOS] (1997, "Champ Galagon" - CHAMProgramming)
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2005, "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary")

Tips & Tricks / More info:

* 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.