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Good
old Space Invaders. I'm in my early 40s so I was of a
certain age when this game appeared in the arcades. I
don't remember the exact year '78 or '79 and I was just
about to enter my teens. Playing pong was one thing but
this was man (or teen) against machine.
This was a game that has no radio dial to twist to bat a
square back and forth across the screen, this had
buttons. Control was a delight; responsive and
intuitive. The sounds - that background thud, the swish
of your bullets, the zap of an exploding invaders, the
boom your shooter made when it was hit. The sights - the
variety of invaders - now iconic, the for-the-time high
resolution detail of your shelters being blasted away
bit by bit - everything melded together into an
experience that could be had for 10p.
Its easy to forget what it was like, and too easy for
those not around then to take for granted. A genre was
born and standards now hard-wired into gamers' heads
were set. Three lives, a score (and hi-score), multiple
levels cranking up the difficulty - it was all there and
today's bullet-hell shmups still show their heritage.
There seemed to be hordes of versions of the original in
the arcades - I can remember the hacks and bootleg
versions that just weren't as good. This title gives us
4 of the original Taito versions. That sounds generous
but they only amount to varying how the game looks - for
instance you can select the version that had green
cellophane stuck across parts of the screen, the image
of which was reflected on a piece of glass or perspex
which had a cratered planet surface painted behind it
(my personal favorite).
There are others I don't remember like the one that uses
3 different coloured strips - its on offer too - which
will no doubt be the favourite version for some others
(your favourite tends to be the one you first
experienced).
The game is an exact copy - I have no idea if it's
emulated or not - but it looks and feels just like the
original to me, and you have to enter credits using the
shoulder buttons to be able to play. The original
gameplay features are all there; even the bug that makes
the last invader leave pixels behind as it moves across
the screen (this happens if the last
invader is one of those starting on the 2 bottom rows).
You can shot count to get the maximum 300pts from the
saucer. You can also take advantage of the fact that
invaders on the last row stop firing - a fact that gave
rise to the now famous window technique that skilled
players can use for achieving huge scores. You can also
play the 2 player alternate game (called "doubles" where
I come from). The title screen is all there with the
cute touches like the invader that replaces an
upside-down letter in the title.
This game rolls over at 9999 points in the arcade and
there's an option to increase this limit. You can choose
which level to start on and when you get an extra life
(the default is 1500pts as in the original).
What this game adds by way of new content is a 2 player
battle mode. This is accessed from the main menu and
shows the game given a graphical makeover. The screen is
split into two and players race to be the first to clear
their mini-rack. Some invaders are coloured coded which
if cleared effect gameplay, usually having a negative
effect on your opponent. Its a nice mode, not
earth-shattering, but adds some value to the title.
The thing is though - the game (complete with battle
mode) is one game amongst many you can pick up very
cheaply in the new Taito Legends collections available
for the likes of the PS2 so this game is kind of
redundant now.
However playing both versions of a simple game like this
hammers home how superior the Saturn d-pad is to any
other controller available ever - it just feels so sweet
to play the old game on the Saturn, and the Saturn
version seems to fill the screen better too which makes
me believe this to be a remake and not a emulated game.
Having said that, this is for completists and/or those
of a certain age who didn't move on from the 32bit
generation consoles. You will pick it up very cheaply
though.
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