Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and ...

'' is a Japanese

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles c ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

released in 1978 by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It ...

. It was developed by

Tomohiro Nishikado is a Japanese video game developer and engineer. He is the creator of the arcade shoot 'em up game ''Space Invaders'', released to the public in 1978 by the Taito of Japan, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginning the golden ag ...

, who was inspired by other media: '' Breakout'', ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by '' Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...

'', and ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

''. It is one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the Video game development, development, marketing, and Video game monetization, monetization of video games. The industry (economics), industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs wor ...

from a novelty to a global industry. It was first released as an arcade game and later remade on different platforms; re-releases include

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a Computing platform, computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) ...

and updated versions. Ported versions generally feature different graphics and additional gameplay options, including moving defense bunkers, zigzag shots, invisible aliens, and

two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

modes. ''Space Invaders'' is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. Taito released numerous sequels and spin-offs, many of which have also been remade on multiple platforms, including home consoles and handheld devices. Follow up titles are typically released in celebration of the original's anniversary. The first sequels were primarily released in arcades, while later titles were released on portable devices. Sequels often added

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chos ...

s and incorporated new gameplay mechanics—like

three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...

playing fields, bosses, and rhythm-action—to the original's design. Most titles were released internationally, though some are exclusive to select regions. The games have received different receptions: the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...

port of the original became the video game industry's first "

killer app In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video gam ...

", while some sequels were regarded as insignificant updates. ''Space Invaders'' and several of its arcade sequels are often included in video game compilations released by Taito. It inspired numerous other games. Many companies created

clones Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

that copied its gameplay, with more than a hundred ''Space Invaders'' clones released for various platforms (such as ''

Super Invader ''Super Invader'' (also called ''Super Invasion'' and ''Apple Invader'') is a video game written by Japanese programmer M. Hata for the Apple II and published by Creative Computing Software in 1979. ''Super Invader'' is a clone of ''Space Invad ...

'' and ''

TI Invaders ''TI Invaders'' is a fixed shooter video game published by Texas Instruments in 1981 for the TI-99/4A home computer. The game is a '' Space Invaders'' clone Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, C ...

''). Others built upon the original's gameplay (such as ''

Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who ...

'' and ''

Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to ''Galaxian'' (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starshi ...

'').

Arcade games

Home console games

Portable and handheld games

Compilations

Other titles

References

External links

Official Taito site

via archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Invaders video games

Video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...

Square Enix franchises Lists of video games by franchise Video games developed in Japan ja:スペースインベーダー