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The game was so amazingly popular in Japan that it caused a
coin shortage until the country's Yen supply was quadrupled.
Entire arcades were opened in Japan specifically for this game.
Many incidents of juvenile crime surrounded the release of this
game. A girl was caught stealing $5000 from her parents and
gangs of youths were reported to have robbed grocery stores
just so they would have money to play the game.
Space Invaders, along with Pac-Man and Pong, shares the notorious
distinction of being one of the most duplicated, bootleged and/or
hacked arcade games. |
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The game Space Invaders has been a hit ever since it was released
by Taito in 1978. In the original planning for the game, they had
planned to have the aliens be human soldiers. Taito figured that they
did not want to send the message that shooting humans was ok, so they
changed it to aliens.
Shortly after being released, Space Invaders grew in popularity. In
1980, it was licensed for use in the United States. It was released
in coin-operated arcades, the Atari 2600, and the Nintendo Entertainment
System. Throughout its lifetime it has generated more than 500 million
dollars in revenue.
For those who do not know what the game is like, it is a 2D shooter
where a human must protect the earth from aliens. There are 48 aliens
in each stage that are evenly spaced apart into 6 columns. The aliens
move back and forth across the screen in a set pattern, slowly advancing
toward earth. It is the job of the human player to shoot all of the
aliens before they reach the earth. The aliens also fire randomly,
so the human player must avoid getting shot by the aliens. If the
human player is able to destroy all 48 of the aliens, then he or she
advances to the next stage where they have a new set of 48 aliens
to destroy. Another aspect of the game is the set of shields provided
to the human player. In the game there are 3 shields which the human
player can hide behind to prevent getting shot by the aliens. As these
shields receive damage, they shots are allowed to penetrate through
them.
Space Invaders has been updated and released on many different platforms,
but all have been in the standard two-dimensional form. As of yet
Taito has never released a 3D version of the game. However, in 1999,
Space Invaders was re-released for the Nintendo 64. Although the backgrounds
and characters were designed in 3D, the game is still a 2D shooter.
| Year |
Title
/ Sequal |
| 1978 |
Space
Invaders |
| 1980 |
Space
Invaders Part II |
| 1980 |
Space
Invaders II |
| 1985 |
Return
Of The Invaders |
| 1991 |
Super
Space Invaders '91 |
| 1993 |
Space
Invaders DX |
| 1995 |
Space Invaders
'95 |
| 1999 |
Space
Invaders (Nintendo '64) |
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