Galaga / Galaxian mini-Faq v0.50 for NES gameboy and SNES supergameboy licensed from Namco(c)
the game - what is it? 2-in one arcade classic 2-d shooter
and how much? (around $27.99 toyasaurus)
bottom line - if you really liked them in the arcades, get it! if you're expecting a good translation! NO WAY!!!
---------------------For Anybody that cares, here's why------
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ past - and present ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ galaxian ---==--- for those of you coming out of arcades in the early 80's you probably wanted to conquer something harder than space invaders(c), and pac-man(c), what else besides asteroids(c) was there?
well namco decided to come out with a 2-d shooter, somewhat like a space invaders clone, the result was galaxian.
in order to make the game play different, they had it so that the enemies could now dive at you, making it much harder to shoot them , and avoid their missiles, you also don't have any shields.
there seemed to be quite a following, and this game went on to be one of the all time classics, witness it's resurgence as a hidden game in MK3, and also included as a sample level in the loading screen of Ridge Racer for the Playstation.
see verdict for other versions/translations!
galaga --==--
galaga will go down in history as not only one of the best sequels in arcade history (right up there with ms. pac-man) but one of the ALL-TIME arcade favorites.....
there is hardly a person around that hasn't seen it , or played it before....
it is similar to galaxian, but it is much more complicated..
many attack waves of enemies fly out of the screen in different patterns. they assemble at the top of the screen, and try to attack you.
one of the ships comes down, and takes you up in a tractor beam, and if you shoot it correctly , you can get a double ship and destroy them twice as quickly!
not only is this one of the biggest money making game of all time, ITS STILL AROUND, almost every bar, game-room, airport,etc.etc.. still has one..
its simplicity, controls and gameplay make it fun for everyone, and for the more experienced players, bonus challenging stages test your reflexes, and your stamina (as long games can last for hours)...
there are other versions (Nintendo, and upcoming sony psx) , but they are hard to come buy, if you want this game, this is where to get it. if you have the import Tekken for the sony psx, you get to try the first challenging stage with a single ship, while the game loads (there's a code for the double ship also!)
unfortunately , the sequels galaga '88 (which is kind of like a 'parodious' take on it) and gaplus/galaga 3 never did quite as well, as people quickly got tired of this genre.....
future -
A whole new-generation of fans are born.
also with the release of namco arcade classics for the psx, supposedly being considered as a domestic release (prior to current information)
and supposedly 'galaga' will be a part of microsoft arcade volume 2 for win95/96.
before i get to my usual ratings , here are some other peoples impressions!
ron [played the gameboy version to see if it worked, complained that the images were way too tiny....
i actually thought the gameboy version was smoother....
played the snes super gameboy version for about 5 minutes, got tired of it....game over]
anyway.............
==================================================================== ratings ON BOTH GAMES COMBINED
gameplay 7/10 - most of its there sounds 6/10 - close, but no cigar graphics 7/10 - very nice try, but choppy animation music 5/10 - some of it's there ( longevity n/a - depends on who you are)
overall 25/40 or 6.25/10 ---------------------------
verdict: an ok buy if you are in the mood....
(however, THESE ARE DEFINITELY NOT THE BEST VERSIONS, many , many things have been left out, see differences)
or also, if you
-love the original games -like arcade classics -don't own a playstation , and aren't getting the museum of classics
recommendations :
wait for the better versions or get space invaders (THEY DID A MUCH BETTER JOB ON THAT!!!)
[ of course the pc version might be good,
the atari 2600/5200/7800 were ok, and the atari 400/800/1200/XL versions were probably a lot better
i'm not sure , but there might have been intellivision, colecovision versions also..
of course many more unofficial rip-offs came out that never did as well.
galaga '88 came out for the turbographix, and is supposed to be a really good translation also
there are No KNOWN translations of Gaplus or Galaga 3 for the home systems, sorry]
gameplay - 2 Choices game 1 Galaga 2 Galaxian Under each game is 1 player or 2 player alternating
- no known link up at this time
- compatibility for Supergameboy - works well with all controllers
- one button A/B fires, supergboy allows you to change backgrounds - left is left, right is right
- shoot one shot at time, must wait for shot to hit something or top of screen
- in galaga, you can shoot 2 shots with one ship, 4 with a double
enemies - they actually have names now (see the manual) [i will add these in later]
notes - looks like they both have capability of large number of waves >50
- galaga gives arcade settings 30,000 for first 70,000 for next 3 ships starting
- galaxian gives 1 extra at 5,000 1 extra every 10,000? 3 ships starting
differences both games ------------- - NO score on screen (THATS RIDICULOUS) - NO STARS IN BACKGROUNDS
+ gameboy version has better horiz/vert aspect ratio for both + gameboy version has better animation for both + Very Good Practice for Ridge Racer and Tekken so you can get all the good stuff for getting perfects.
galaga ------ + at leasts it resembles galaga somewhat + title screen is still there + end statistics are still there + can almost use same patterns as arcade
- SuperGameboy version is way too squashed - medals are not right size - ships aren't right size, don't look right - music doesn't sound right - sound effects aren't right tone or pitch - sound effects go off at strange times - shots come off at different times than arcade version - enemies jump from one position to another, they don't smoothly scroll - flicker on screen when sprites overlap - not sure if all bonus stages are in there - not sure if score flips at 1,000,000 - not sure if trick to make ships stop shooting still works (doubt it)
credits - Nintendo- for supporting the SNES supergameboy namco - for making the stuff in the first place The usual guys -for all the stuff rg - me, because i have no humility ron - for getting it and trying it
copyrights - blah blah ..legal stuff no one reads anyway.... blah blah...i don't work for them! really!.... namco and Nintendo have rights to everything!! =================================================================
