Galaga Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 3/5/2021)

[Image from igdb.com]

Galaga

Developer: Namco

Publisher: Namco

Genre(s): Fixed Shooter

Platforms: NES

Release Date: September 1, 1981

I've always had a pension for "retro games." I grew up in the PS2/Gamecube console generation, but I've always took the effort to play out older titles. The furthest I would go back to when seeking out these older games was the NES era as anything else beforehand seemed way to primitive to me. I respected these games for their place in video game history, but everything about them from the levels, progression, graphics, sound design, etc. was far too rudimentary to hold my attention. For some reason, Galaga was the only game from the pre-NES era that was an exception. In my hometown, the pub down the street had an arcade machine with Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, and Pole Position. It was it's own Namco Museum. Galaga was the only one of these games I would ever bother playing. Galaga was a cut above it's contemporaries.

Galaga still has plenty of dated aspects that I am not a huge fan of. I'm just not a big fan of arcade style games because of their design. Instead of a progressive experience, the goal is to rack up a high score and drain the player of their pocket change by proxy. Galaga is designed like this but I suppose I can't fault the game too much. This was just par for the course at the time. No one could even fathom that video games could even have save points at the time. It just feels tedious working your way back up from the beginning of a game after coming so far. In Galaga's case, that aspect doesn't matter as much and I can't quite pinpoint why. I guess it's because level 1 is just as enjoyable as level 20.

Galaga also feels like an overall stepping stone to other video games at the time. Compared to other early 1980's arcade games, the sound design, graphics, and gameplay seem vastly superior. Galaga has a memorable theme that puts the fun, galactic mood on full display. The constant blaster noises never get irritating and all of the other sounds in the game are just as pleasant. The graphics are an improvement on the overall early 1980's video game aesthetic because you can actually tell what everything is. The enemy spaceships kind of look like an array of bugs, but perhaps that is supposed to be the case because it's consistent across every enemy type. The way that the enemies explode in a cloud of pixels is also very alluring. The way your spaceship blows up looks really cool as well.

Galaga is also a very simple game, but that is the appeal. It's a space shooter where you shoot at enemy spaceships until the enemy spaceships destroy you. The space shooter genre just works so well in simplicity and Galaga perfected what Space Invaders laid out. The controls are a bit rigid, but it never really becomes a problem. The coolest thing about Galaga is that it might have pioneered the in-game secret. A certain type of enemy can abduct your ship and when he does this, you can shoot at down to regain your old ship and use two ships at once. Was this the first video game secret ever? Did every kid that figured this out have their minds fucking blown by this? Either way, this extra step in innovation proves my point about Galaga.