Space Invaders 1978 - Arcade Gameplay

Space Invaders (スペースインベーダー) is an arcade video game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars. To complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools.

It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry (see golden age of video arcade games). When first released, Space Invaders was very successful.

Gameplay by: Velberan

[Gredran]

Trivia: space invaders has one of the first bug turned features.

The creator wanted the aliens to move the same throughout, but the limits of his hardware made them slow at first.

The more aliens destroyed however freed up more processor space, so everything moved faster. The creator liked how it made the game more dynamic so kept it in :)

[EHH]

Fun fact: The reason the aliens got faster as you shot more and more of them was because of an unintentional consequence of the computer able to process them faster due to fewer aliens being on the screen. The programmer decided to keep it in as a feature to make the game more challenging.

[TyGk]

The "bum...bum..." sound used to terrify me as kid. Especially when it sped up when there were fewer aliens on the screen.

[brobunni]

This game is a masterpiece, it's still fun to this day 42 years later. Incredible.

[greenlantern]

1978 I was 9 years old when I saw this game in the back of pizza shop... very addicting and I will always cherish those days. I thank my mother for putting up with waiting until I ran out of quarters. Thanks MoM

[karaokeape]

I just realize that the BASS sound was probably an important ingredient for the success of Space Invaders.
Can feel the sensation i had again listening. And i played it like crazy when i was and around 12 year old.

[PsalmsPoetic]

I was 10. My older sister sat me down to play this game in her room one day while she entertained company in the living room. She used to DJ and practiced her mixing with her friends. I was just an annoying little brother. I was transfixed on this game. The sounds alone bring back some many memories. I can just close my eyes and listen to the sounds of this game and go right back to her room. Thank you, Lex, for the memories. I love you so much big sis. This game was an important part of us bonding. Tears...

[joshb]

I love how in Space Invaders things can go south so quickly, one minute you're feeling confident with three lives and then they're all gone a minute later and you're like wtf!

[chadiharmouche]

i love how the speed bug was passed on as a feature

[dorourke]

1:51-2:00 Fry: I could never get the last one my brother always got it for me

[wellplayod]

This game has such a weird atmosphere to it I love it so much

[zombiehitter]

middle of the night and im going to work soon, and here i am...

[isecream]

That looks like one of the earliest examples in games where projectiles can actually interact with each other, something we, ironically enough, rarely see in games these days.

[chilly]

I now have a space invaders arcade1up cabinet and I love it.
Still a great game!

[DreamDancer]

My family had this on the Atari 2600. I never played this one when I was a kid, though, but apparently, my parents found it addicting, because when I set the system up in the early 2000's (I was in my late teens, early 20's at that point), my mom came in while my dad was playing and asked "are you addicted to Space Invaders yet?"

[chrisnizer]

Still an awesome game. One of the first roms I loaded onto my Super Retrocade was Space Invaders. It's a classic! No retro arcade set-up is complete without Space Invaders.

[carensalazar]

I was born in 1977 and I love it. It was quite exciting, and frustrating when I was invaded and killed by a bullet

[jackjude]

I remember the side of the cabinet, the "Space Invaders" looked like huge evil electrified yeti with glowing eyes

[darkstatehk]

There's something so satisfying listening to this after all this time.

And I remember how deep the bass was on the cabinets. You could hear this rumble from a mile away!

[yellowveedub]

This was my first introduction to video games when I was a kid at the roller skating rink. Damn I'm old