Nishikado drew inspiration for the aliens from a novel by H.
After the release of the 1974 anime Space Battleship Yamato in Japan, and seeing a magazine feature about Star Wars (1977), he thought of using a space theme. Humans would have been easier to simulate, but the designer considered shooting them immoral. Nishikado, however, was not satisfied with the enemy movements technical limitations made it difficult to simulate flying. Įarly enemy designs for the game included tanks, combat planes, and battleships. He replaced the timer, typical of arcade games at the time, with descending aliens who effectively served a similar function, where the closer they came, the less time the player had left. Nishikado added several interactive elements that he found lacking in earlier video games, such as the ability for enemies to react to the player's movement and fire back, and a game over triggered by the enemies killing the player (either by getting hit or enemies reaching the bottom of the screen) rather than simply a timer running out. The game uses a similar layout to that of Breakout but with different game mechanics rather than bounce a ball to attack static objects, players are given the ability to fire projectiles at moving enemies. Nishikado himself has cited Atari's arcade game Breakout (1976) as his original inspiration behind the game's concept, wanting to adapt the same sense of achievement and tension from destroying targets one at a time, combining it with elements of target shooting games. The game's inspiration is reported to have come from varying sources, including an adaptation of the electro-mechanical arcade game Space Monsters released by Taito in 1972, and a dream about Japanese school children who are waiting for Santa Claus when they are attacked by invading aliens. Space Invaders was developed by Japanese designer Tomohiro Nishikado, who spent a year designing the game and developing the necessary hardware to produce it. A special "mystery ship" will occasionally move across the top of the screen and award bonus points if destroyed. Defeating all the aliens brings another wave which starts lower, a loop which can continue endlessly. The laser cannon is partially protected by stationary defense bunkers which are gradually destroyed from the top by the aliens and, if the player fires when beneath one, the bottom.Īs aliens are defeated, their movement and the game's music both speed up. The aliens attempt to destroy the player's cannon by firing projectiles. While the player has three lives, the game ends immediately if the invaders reach the bottom of the screen.
The goal is to eliminate all of the aliens by shooting them. The aliens begin as five rows of eleven that move left and right as a group, shifting downward each time they reach a screen edge. Space Invaders is a fixed shooter in which the player moves a laser cannon horizontally across the bottom of the screen and fires at aliens overhead. The player-controlled laser cannon shoots the aliens as they descend. More broadly, the pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon, often representing video games as a whole. The 1980 Atari VCS version quadrupled sales of the VCS, thereby becoming the first killer app for video game consoles. It was the inspiration for numerous video games and game designers across different genres, and has been ported and re-released in various forms. It helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry, and ushered in the golden age of arcade video games.
Space Invaders is considered one of the most influential video games of all time. This made it the best-selling video game and highest-grossing entertainment product at the time, and the highest-grossing video game of all time. Upon release, Space Invaders was an immediate commercial success by 1982, it had grossed $3.8 billion (equivalent to over $13 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2016 ), with a net profit of $450 million (equivalent to $2 billion adjusted for inflation). To complete development of the game, he had to design custom hardware and development tools. The goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser to earn as many points as possible.ĭesigner Nishikado drew inspiration from Breakout (1976), Gun Fight (1975), target shooting games, and science fiction narratives such as The War of the Worlds, Space Battleship Yamato and Star Wars. Space Invaders was the first fixed shooter and set the template for the shoot 'em up genre. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed by the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado.