Galaga '88

**Galaga '88** (ギャラガ'88) is a sequel to Gaplus and is the final in the Galaga League. The game's story is based on Commander Yeager of the UGSF leaping through various dimensions to face the recurring threat of the Galaga forces so as to protect and restore peace to space. The story, game stages, and enemy forces have evolved to make it a true successor to the series. The game was released on the arcades in 1987 and received multiple ports.

## Game System

Using the 2-way joystick, the player moves the Blast Fighter horizontally while firing its cannon using the fire button. The player can either choose whether the Blast Fighter can begin in Fighter or Dual Fighter mode. If the Dual Fighter is selected, the player can begin the game with 2 Blast Fighters combined. Similar to Galaga, the player can combine the captured Blast Fighter to power-up the controlled Blast Fighter, but in this game, the player can save the captured Dual Fighter to enter Triple Fighter mode which can also be achieved by getting a Triple Fighter capsule. The Galaga forces feature cameo enemies such as Bosses, Guards, and Grunts, including new and unique Galaga species such as Medium and Large sized Galaga. The game contains 29 stages which are broken into dimensional areas. Each interim between areas feature a Challenging Stage, "That's Galactic Dancin'." Collecting 2 Dimensional Warp capsules during the game lets the player leap to a different dimensions which starts from the first dimension and goes up to the fifth dimensions. The game ends when the player loses all Blast Fighters but they can be increased by reaching preset scores during gameplay or simply choose to continue. The game also ends when the player clears stage 29 where four different endings are determined by the dimension the player was on.

## Strangereal-Galaxian Timeline

In the year 2288 (188 A.G.), the UGSF have thwarted the Gaplus Empire in the Galaxian-Galaga War of 183. However, the aliens have evolved to a point where they can use the dimension jumper, known as "Hyper Drive." After establishing their base of operations, the Galaga began their assault on Earth using Hyper Drive. In response, the UGSF takes defensive action to protect Earth from the Galaga. The Galaxians discovered that the surviving Galaga have retreated through a dimensional hole. With this, the United Galaxy created a plan to defeat the Galaga and take the fight to Planet Galaga. Commander Yeager, pilot of the Blast Fighter, was assigned to the mission equipped with Triple Fighter Mode technology. He discovered the truth behind the Galaga invasion and began his assault on their base of operations. Within the same year, Planet Galaga fell to the UGSF and Yeager returns from his accomplished mission. While the UGSF discovered the technology behind the Hyper Drive from the Galaga remains, he found out that these alien lifeforms are originally of the same species. As each evolved differently however, they formed clans and some came together in an alliance to form "leagues." Since then, the United Galaxy ordained their cumulative existence to be called the "Galaga League."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://galaga.com/en/history/galaga88.php
2. ↑ https://ugsf-series.com/en/#galaga88
3. ↑ https://galaga.com/en/history/galagaLeague.php