Overview and Gameplay
Galaga forces enter the screen along patterned flight paths, assemble in formation, and launch diving attacks against the player’s fighter. Clearing every enemy advances to the next stage in an ongoing score-based sequence.
Periodic Challenging Stages replace enemy fire with patterned target waves. Forty enemies appear, and destroying all of them awards a 10,000-point Perfect Bonus.
Controls And Mechanics
The directional pad moves the fighter horizontally, while either A or B fires missiles. Start begins or pauses play, and Select chooses the one-player or two-player mode.
Boss Galaga enemies require two hits and may capture a fighter with a tractor beam. Destroying the carrier during a diving attack can recover the captured ship and create a Dual Fighter that fires two missiles at once. The wider formation also presents a larger target.
Enemies award higher scores during attacks than while stationary. Extra fighters are awarded at 30,000 points, 70,000 points, and every additional 70,000 points. Two-player mode uses alternating turns with separate scores.
Version Notes
The North American NES release uses the expanded title Galaga: Demons of Death. It adapts Namco’s arcade game to the NES while retaining tractor-beam captures, Dual Fighters, and Challenging Stages.
Release And Credits
- Release year: 1988
- Developer: Namco
- Publisher: Bandai America
- Original platform: Arcade
