The Autopsy of Space Invaders
written by James 'Jimster' Nation
Page 1 of 3
Darting back and forth between the shelter of protective bunkers, a lone laser base makes a last stand against the approaching alien horde, in complete knowledge that his task is eternal and the only way out is to die...
How to Play
The concept of the game is simple. Shoot all of the incoming invaders as they gradually approach the bottom of the screen. If they reach the bottom or hit you three times, the game is over. Use the bases as protection and hit the saucer that flies along the top of the screen for extra points.
When Toshihiro Nishikado originally designed Space Invaders for Taito, he had no idea what effect it was going to have on the world. Space Invaders shook the gaming world and became an overnight success.
The simplicity of it's gameplay and the adreneline rush towards the end of each wave as the invaders sped up ensured the game was a hit with the public.
The game was created in 1978 and came in upright and cocktail cabinets, using a black and white monochrome screen with a green overlay to add a splash of colour to the bunkers and player sprite.
The game was such a hit with the public that any Space Invaders machine was guaranteed to draw a massive crowd, so much so that the machines started popping up in all kinds of places that never would have contemplated having an arcade machine before. There were even cases of arcades replacing all of their machines with Space Invaders because that's where the money was being spent.
This mass coverage of the market and the insatiable demand for the machine caused large problems. In Japan there was a national shortage of 100 yen coins causing a small blip in the economy. Why? Because all of the coins were sat in the bottom of Space Invaders coin boxes... With a game this popular it isn't surprising that Taito made over $500 million on just this one game.
A home version of the game was developed or the Atari VCS in 1980, the first arcade conversion for home consoles. As a result, vast quantities of the cartridges were sold and it became a very good reason to own a VCS system, helping Atari make a success of their machine. Unsurprisingly, there has been a version of Space Invaders for virtually every computer/console ever produced.
Addiction to the game was sometimes so serious, incidents of petty theft and violence occurred so that gamers could feed their gaming habit. Residents of Mesquite, Texas went so far as to attempt having the game banned citing the game as having a detrimental effect on the young.