Galaxian

TECHNICAL DATASHEET

Game name: Galaxian

Manufacturer: Namco

Year of development: 1979

Category: Shooter

• Hardware Platform Info:
• Main CPU Z80 @ 3,072Mhz
• Sound generated with discrete circuitry
• Video Resolution 224x256 pixels

Main developers: Kazunori Sawano, Shigeichi Ishimura y Kōichi Tashiro

GAME STORY

History of development:

After the success of Taito's Space Invaders game, Namco decides to exploit the theme of alien hordes' invasions, improving the experience with different new elements.

Galaxian is the first game that uses a real RGB monitor, and was designed using a system of 8x8 pixels tesserae that saved a lot of memory compared to the previous system.

It also improves the fact that enemies are no longer so static and incorporate more complex attack patterns.

General description of the game:

The dynamics was the already known of a ship at the bottom of the screen, which we can move left and right and shoot a single type of projectiles, avoiding at all times the shots and attacks of enemy ships.

Curiosities:

It sold more than 40,000 units in North America and for some time in Japan was more successful than Pac-Man.

It was one of the first games to be exported by the Japanese company, supported by Midway.

HISTORY OF THE MACHINE IN ARCADE VINTAGE

Status: OPERATIONAL

Information about the location and purchase by Arcade Vintage:

Machine purchased by José Mª Litarte from a farm near Nancy (France), on a journey of more than 3,000 km throughout Europe.

Information on the restoration process or repairs carried out:

Ricardo Fernandez-Vega restored the monitor, power source and plaque, as well as applying an insecticide to treat a pest of termites that were eating the wood.