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Space Invaders (スペースインベーダー)

Released in 1978

Developer: Taito
Manufacturer: Taito
Distributor: Taito

(10 total votes)

game marquee

Game Summary

Space - Stop the aliens from landing

Hardware Info

Controls: 3 Buttons
Vertical-mounted Raster monitor
224 x 256 Resolution
Colors: 7 B/W

Additional Hardware Info (from Mame)

8080 cpu @ 2 Mhz
* Samples audio
* Information was extracted from Mame, so "Samples audio" may indicate the game has analog sound hardware.

Hardware Platform

Taito 8080 Based

Mame ROMs

invaders, Space Invaders
alieninv, Alien Invasion Part II
cosmicmo, Cosmic Monsters
earthinv, Super Earth Invasion
sinvemag, Super Invaders
si_cv, Space Invaders Colour (CV Version)
si_sv, Space Invaders (SV Version)
si_tv, Space Invaders (TV Version)
spaceatt, Space Attack II

Game Details

Classic - The game that started it all. The aim was simply to shoot the 55 alien invaders in each wave before they could land. The invaders would be arranged in five rows of 11, and shuffled along left to right and back again, moving down a row when the formation reached the sides of the screen. Your laser base could only have one shot in the air at a time (a common limitation of early shoot-em-ups), but the four shelters provided some protection from the invaders bombs. As the invaders formation was depleted, they would speed up, and often the last invader proved almost impossible to kill as it hurtled along just above your base. Possibly the first attract mode with a sense of humour, it would display "INSERT CCOIN", and an invader would come along and bomb the offending "C".

As colour video games such as Galaxian and Pac Man started to appear, a significant number of Colour Space Invaders machines appeared. These consisted of nothing more than a standard black and white machine with a multi-coloured filter in front of the screen!

control panel

cabinet photo

title screen

gameplay screen

promotional flyer

Coinop.org Member Ratings / Comments

by kk. Comment: "This game isn't that fun, but it and Asteroids were all we had at the time." 2000-07-26 09:09:21Z

by gameninja99. Comment: "Very good game,my favorite and only classic.Also my cheapest game 75$! But the sound doesnt work.i need to replace some boards." 2000-08-15 02:32:36Z

by freakman. Comment: "very good classical game" 2000-09-30 14:19:10Z

by Hellnation. Comment: "It's the most beautiful cab i've ever seen!! :)))) 100%" 2002-12-13 10:27:47Z

by Reinen. Comment: "Of course, THE classic. Although I`d like someone to explain to me why they bounced the monitor image off a mirror - what`s that all about..?" 2003-02-21 20:13:22Z

by darth_maru. Comment: "good!" 2003-05-25 12:50:38Z

by JaffaMused. Comment: "Excellent game - and still pretty challenging today! Love the wav they used a mirror to 'project' everyting onto the moon background - very innovative." 2004-01-20 18:47:29Z

by nosrevlah. Comment: "C'mon!! This was just the beginning of things to come. Great game that brings back many memories." 2003-12-22 12:58:47Z

by MINKYMONKEY. Comment: "They kept it very quiet, very quiet indeed. The forthcoming invasion was to instant quick and no kid or parent would be able to avoid what was about to happen. Then the world went mad!! Children from the 4 corners of the globe became instant warriors but their battle was fueled by the stars and a quest to save earth. People stared into video cabinets, their eyes blood shot their pockets empty. Japan had to double its currency of coinage. Parents had to file for larger overdrafts to allow their child to experience star battle. As star wars boomed across the cinema, the arcades became the arena for human kind to join the battle. Was this the end of the world? No it was the introduction of space invaders. This game to me is my everything. Its my youth and child hood wrapped into one. Lets be honest folks theirs a lot of us feel this way." 2005-08-06 14:23:33Z

by spaciessean. Comment: "Fantastic game. In fact I am so lucky to have inherited an original machine and cabinet." 2005-10-14 23:21:04Z

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This game page was created 8/3/1998 12:00:00 AM and last updated 12/13/2021 6:38:28 AM