Space Invaders is an arcade video game created by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars. To complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools.

It was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry. When first released, Space Invaders was very successful.

The game has been the inspiration for other video games, re-released on numerous platforms, and led to several sequels. The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system's sales and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles. Space Invaders has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows, and been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions. The pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon, often used as a synecdoche representing video games as a whole.

Source.

Alternative Titles

Space Invaders: The Original Game

Platform

Nintendo Super NES

Developer(s)

Taito Corporation

Publishers(s)

Taito Corporation, Nintendo

Genres(s)

Arcade, Shooter

NA Release Date

November 3, 1997

JP Release Date

March 25, 1994

EU Release Date

May 3, 1997

AUS Release Date

May 3, 1997

ESRB Rating

Everyone

ACB Rating

G

MVGL User Score

7.3 by 7 user(s)

MVGL Difficulty

-

Composer(s)

-

Added by

11 User(s)

This game also exists on:
Arcade Atari Nintendo Gameboy Nintendo NES MSX WonderSwan TurboGrafx CD Mobile Sega Saturn PC PlayStation 1

Coming soon...