Go Go Galaga!

A recent addition to the Xbox Live®Marketplace takes you back to a time when you stood in the arcade for hours, playing your favorite games, and then just watching after the quarters ran out. The magic is back with Galaga!

1981 was an important year. Ronald Reagan took over as President of the United States and was promptly shot. Oakland won the Super Bowl, and MTV began broadcasting with their first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star." IBM released its first personal computer using the MS-DOS system, and Galaga hit the arcades. Culture as we now know it was on the upswing.

As a result, it's no wonder that so much of the popular culture of that time has remained vivid in people's minds and hearts. Many of us look back on those days with great fondness. Galaga has certainly maintained a strong fan following throughout the years, despite its pixelated graphics and simple design, or perhaps it's those characteristics which have made it so enduring.

Meet the granddaddy of shooters.

Game Basics
Galaga puts you in control of a ship that moves left to right only, at the bottom of the screen. You don't have a lot of mobility, but take it from the generations of Galaga champs out there, that's half the challenge.

As you move back and forth, dodging the bombs dropped by invading forces,  your job is to shoot down as many enemies as possible. The enemies come in waves, entering the screen in formation and then hovering above you. One or two at a time, they'll drop out of their ranks for a divebombing attack.

Kill off all the units in the wave and advance to the next, through a total of 255 waves! Enemy units come in three sizes and point values. The topmost ones, the larger green ones, give you the most points. They may attack solo, but more often, when they drop out of their ranks to attack, they'll bring a couple of the smaller attackers with them. Enemy ships are all worth more points while they're attacking, so it's worthwhile to be patient.

Double your firepower and wreak havoc!

Game Updates
New and improved for Xbox 360™, Galaga now has a number of new elements. For example, you'll encounter new enemy ships on some levels. These were added specifically for this new version of the game. Watch for them, as you'll not only score points for destroying them, but you can earn achievements for them as well.

In the original game, if you lost all your lives, you had to go all the way back to the beginning. The game's developers, Namco Bandai Inc., decided to go easy on you in this incarnation of Galaga, and have included a continue option.

Choose to continue on the level you last completed, or at any point between there and the beginning. Your point value resets, of course, but you do get to keep all your achievements. If your goal is to rack up as many points as possible, you'll have to start over. If, however, you just want to explore the later levels, then dive in right where you left off.

Game Achievements
You can earn up to 200 gamer points by completing the achievements in Galaga. This is a great opportunity to boost your gamer score while also improving your hand-eye coordination. Because Galaga is a straightforward, well-balanced shooter, you can play it in complete confidence that your skill will advance as you do.

They sure don't make them like this anymore. Although it's an oldie, it's a goodie, as demonstrated by a quarter of a century of popularity. If you haven't tried it, this is your chance to experience the legacy of one of the earliest examples of classic arcade gaming.

Article by Angel Leigh McCoy