Galaga

**Galaga** is is a 1981 shoot-em-up arcade game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Games. Controlling a fighter named "Gyaraga", Reinald's ship that was tasked with destroying the Galaga fleet in each stage while avoiding enemies and projectiles. Some enemies can capture the Gyaraga via a tractor beam, which can be rescued to transform the player into a “dual fighter” with additional firepower. It is the sequel to *Galaxian* in 1979 and the prequel to *Gaplus* (Galaga 3) in 1984 and *Galaga '88* in 1987, Namco's major shmup arcades.

Development was led by Shigeru Yokoyama and a small team. Initial planning took about two months to finish. Originally developed for the Namco Galaxian arcade board, it was instead shifted to a new system as suggested by Namco's Research and Development division. Inspiration for the duel fighter mechanic was taken from a film that Yokoyama had seen prior to development, where a ship was captured using a large circular beam. The project became immensely popular around the company, with Namco's president Masaya Nakamura even taking interest.

Although early location tests proved unsuccessful, *Galaga* received critical acclaim. It is widely regarded as a classic of the golden age of arcade video games and one of the greatest video games of all time. Critics applauded its gameplay, innovation, addictive nature and improvements made over its predecessor. Several home ports were released for a multitude of platforms, including the MSX, Atari 7800 and Nintendo Entertainment System, alongside releases on digital distribution platforms such as Xbox Live Arcade. *Galaga* is also included in many Namco compilations.

## Gameplay

G*alaga* is a fixed shmup video game. The player controls Gyaraga at the bottom of the screen, which must prevent the Galaga forces from destroying all of mankind. The objective of each stage is to defeat all of the space bugs, known as the "Gorgs", which will fly into formation from the top and sides of the screen. Similar to *Galaxian*, the Gorgs will dive towards Gyaraga while shooting down projectiles; colliding with either projectiles or the Gorgs will result in a life being lost.

Atop the Gorg formation are four large aliens known as "Gorg the Boss Galaga", which take two shots to destroy. These aliens can use a tractor beam to capture the player's ship, returning with it to the top of the formation and costing the player a life. Should additional lives remain, the player has an opportunity to shoot down the Boss Galaga holding the captured ship. Shooting it down as it dives towards the player will result in the captured ship being rescued, and it will join the player's ship, transforming it into a "dual fighter" with additional firepower and a larger hitbox. However, destroying Gorg with a captured ship while it is in formation will instead cause the fighter to turn against the player and act as an enemy.

Some enemies have the ability to morph into new enemy types with different attack patterns, with one even taking the form of the Galaxian Flagship. Stages are indicated by emblems located at the bottom-right of the screen. Enemies become more aggressive as the game progresses, increasing their number of projectiles and diving down at a faster rate. The third stage and every fourth thereafter is a bonus stage, where the aliens fly in a pre-set formation without firing at the player.

## Characters

**Gyaraga**

The player's ship, piloted by Space General Reinald.

**Zako**

The Galaga Bee-like alien

**Goei**

The Galaga Butterfly-like alien

**Gorg**

The Boss Galaga

**Sasori**

The Galaga Scorpion-like alien

**Midori**

The Galaga Stingray-like alien

**Galboss**

Galaxian Flagship from Galaxian

**Tonbo**

The Galaga Dragonfly-like alien

**Momiji**

The Galaga Satellite

**Enterprise**

A Blue spaceship that resembles the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek

## Gallery

GyaragaZakoGoeiGorgGorg (Damaged)SasoriMidoriGalaxian FlagshipTonboMomijiEnterprise