As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #46, March 2008.

When one thinks of the classic arcade shooter a few games come to mind.  Asteroids, Space Duel, and Galaxian all may invoke fond memories of the past of gaming but without a doubt there are few classic shooters that are as well remembered as the 1981 release of Galaga.  The sequel to the revolutionary Galaxian released two years earlier, Galaga took arcades by storm with its colorful graphics, memorable soundtrack, and addictive and challenging gameplay.  In the same way that one would be hard pressed to find an arcade without a Pac-Man machine, nearly every arcade had at least one Galaga machine.  In fact many arcades, pizza parlors, and the like have them to this day as the game was released in a couple special anniversary cabinets in recent years.  The continued popularity allows the game to continue to make solid money on location, nearly everyone plays Galaga, it's one of those magical games that has a minimum rule set which can be learned and exploited through refined skill.  Of course the game simply being a lot of fun has much to do with that as well.  With Galaga being so popular it has been ported to nearly every video game system capable of running it, including the NES.

The player takes command of a spaceship in a battle against swarms of alien insects which zoom onto the screen and eventually move into formation for attack.  After the first few stages a couple enemies will break off each incoming squadron and dive at the player kamikaze style while the rest of the group settles into formation.  Additionally the squadrons begin to take a few shots at the player as they form up after the first couple stages.  After all squadrons report and group into formation at the top of the screen they will begin to dive at the player, shooting during their descent.  Standard enemies simply make a single dive while bee enemies dive and make a single loop at the bottom of the screen before continuing downward.  All basic enemies wrap around to the top of the screen if they are not destroyed by the player's fire or a collision with the player's fighter.  Without a doubt what Galaga is most well known for is the Boss Galaga enemy.  In addition to taking two hits to destroy, the Boss Galaga can also capture the player's fighter and carry it back up into the formation.  If the captured fighter is the last of the player's ships, the game is over.  However if the player has at least one ship in reserve the next available ship is put into play.  When the Boss Galaga that captured the previous fighter dives down it can be shot and the captured fighter freed, joining with the current fighter in play for double firepower.  However if the Boss Galaga is shot while still in the formation the captured fighter will become an enemy, eventually diving down.  If the now enemy captured fighter is allowed to pass by it will return in the next stage and take formation with another Boss Galaga.  A few stages in, a single bee enemy will begin mutating on each stage and split into three.  Shooting all of them will give the player bonus points.  If the split enemies get passed the player's fighter two of them will disappear while the original enemy they split from returns to the top of the screen and the formation.  Every few stages the player is presented with a "Challenging Stage" which is a test of skill as enemies fly in fancy formations, shooting them all will yield a special bonus.

Bandai handled the development of the Famicom version under license from Namco, the NES version is exactly the same with the exception of NES specific copyrights.  Once the game is powered up you'll notice one of the few differences between the NES version and the arcade original:  a graphical title screen representative of the text logo that appeared on the arcade marquee, albeit far less detailed.  Aside from that the NES port of Galaga is one of the most direct conversions on the platform.  The left / right joystick of the original maps perfectly to the NES directional pad and both the B and A buttons are used to replicate the single fire button of the arcade version.  While the attract screen isn't an exact duplicate of the original, there is one present that plays a nice loop showcasing the basic gameplay.  Play control is perfect with the most accurate response this side of a joystick, the same goes for the fire buttons.  The close calls and strategic moves that made the difference between higher scores and game over are captured perfectly.

Audio is near perfect with all the sound effects and musical cues that we've become familiar with.  The introduction theme at the start of the game is a perfect recreation of the original as are the tunes that play before the challenging stages, when a player's fighter is captured, when extra lives are earned, and everything in between.  Since there is no high score name registration, the theme that played during this screen in the arcade plays during the end of game statistics screen on the NES.  In this way the entire arcade audio package makes its way onto the NES.  Sound effects are also recreated wonderfully although the explosion sound when the player's fighter is destroyed isn't quite as detailed but it's close enough and fits in fine.  Core gameplay is pretty much exactly the same with the same enemies, most of the same patterns, and all the same gameplay characteristics.  All the mechanics work exactly as they did in the arcade including enemy captured fighters returning on the next stage if allowed to pass by the player's fighter.

There is slightly less detail in each sprite than was present in the arcade but Bandai did a great job at recreating the over all appearance of everything from the enemies down to the stage symbols.  As with many arcade games of this era the original used a vertical display which needed to be converted to a horizontal display for the NES.  Bandai decided to move the scores, current stage symbol, and remaining fighters to the right side of the screen.  In this way the remaining part of the screen used for the playfield is closer in dimension to a vertical display.  However to keep the sprites large and detailed even though the playfield is scaled down, the empty vertical space in the playfield of the original is compromised.  Although the enemies behave as they did in the arcade, there is much less distance between the player's fighter and the level in which the aliens get into formation.  Granted it doesn't change a whole lot about the game but it allows the player to mow through the formation faster as the aliens start closer to the fighter than they did in the arcade.  This also makes the challenging stages somewhat different since the enemies are on screen for a shorter amount of time due to the relative loss of space in the middle.

Officially Galaga on the NES was titled "Galaga: Demons of Death" but don't be fooled, it's the classic arcade Galaga we all grew up playing.  Galaga is a perfect example of a great game in the arcade that was translated into a great game on the NES.  The NES version does the arcade original justice by changing very little to allow the game to perform well on the hardware.  It plays exactly like a slightly less detailed version of the arcade game but there's just as much fun to be had as it is a superb conversion.  The game is also somewhat common so it's an easy title to find for a few dollars.  Chalk this one up as another prime example of how classic arcade games can be properly recreated on the NES if a little attention is given.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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