Galaga 90 1989 By: Namco

Overview:

Ah, the simple things in life. A cold glass of lemonade on a hot august day, a hot bubble bath after a long shift, tiny buoyant marshmallows dancing on the surface of a hot chocolate, and then there is Galaga. Oh, galaga. A classic among classics. There is perhaps no game so widely known and beloved, none so likely to inspire feelings of nostalgia and memories of our youth (for those of us over 30 anyway). While "Galaga 90" stays faithful to its original namesake, it isn't limited by it. Fans of the original will immediately notice the drastically improved graphics, and enemy sprites. "Galaga 90" also features a triple ship possibility (finally!), dimensional travel (which effects the backgrounds graphics for certain stages), starting mode options, a continue feature, and levels with a forced scrolling background . The play mechanics of the Galaga franchise is one of the most addictive to grace the Console Classix site. A little bit more depth and better graphics was all that was necessary to elevate the Galaga franchise to a must have game on the TG-16 console, and a must play successor to all of the fans of the original.

The evil Galaga Corps are back with a new army of aliens, mutants, and deranged bosses. The Galaxy only has one hope, and that hope is you, the commander of the Federal Army of the Milky Way. Strap into your proton fighter and drive the Galaga Corps back to the (aptly named) Planet Galaga to save the galaxy.

Directions:

The object of "Galaga 90" is to blast your way to Planet Galaga where you intend to confront and defeat the Galaga Corps once and for all. Up to two players can play "Galaga 90" by alternating turns. As in the original, enemies will attack the player's proton fighter in waves and small groups, with projectiles and by diving at the player kamikaze style. When all of the player's proton fighters have been destroyed, the game will end. Racking up points has always been of the utmost importance in Galaga games, and "Galaga 90" is no different with the first extra fighter earned at 50,000 points.

"Galaga 90" contains seven different levels and 29 different rounds. Upon completing a level the player will be taken to a different part of the galaxy. After a level is cleared, a round of Galactic Dancing will ensue, giving the player the opportunity to score huge amounts of bonus points. A new addition to "Galaga 90" is the ability to access different dimensions by obtaining warp speed capsules. There are four possible dimensions each more difficult than the last. Warp speed can be accessed by collecting two blue energy capsules dropped by enemies and obstacles. To produce the capsules the player must either smash the obstacles lined up at the start of the round, or defeat the Bodyguard enemies. Advancing dimensions also advances the difficulty of the enemies, and each dimension offers different types of enemies. Each advancement of dimension offers higher points as well as more difficult enemies.

One of the coolest features new to "Galaga 90" is the ability to combine three fighters together. Fan's of the original Galaga will remember combining two fighters for twice the explosive deep space mayhem. Combining your proton fighter ships is accomplished by allowing a Boss Galaga enemy to capture your ship with their tractor beam, then destroying it (while being careful not to damage your ship that is connected to the enemey) to cause your old fighter to combine with the fighter being currently controlled. The player can also convert their fighter ship into a triple ship by collecting a red capsule that has a chance of being dropped after all of the enemies on a screen are defeated.