There was a time when it was more fun to leave the house and play video games at the local arcade with friends (think any non-monster scene on Stranger Things). There are many games that were a staple of this era. You had Frogger, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and the famous Pac-Man.
However, that list wouldn’t be complete without Galaga. This game launched on the scene in 1981 and was a hit in the arcades. The premise is basic; you are in control of a starship that destroys Galaga forces. Nevertheless, while the game is simple, it has made a significant mark on video game culture. So, think you know everything there is to know about this class video game? Check out our list of 10 mind-blowing facts about Galaga.
10 It’s A Sequel
So, you may know about Galaga, but what you probably don’t know is that this legendary game wasn’t the first in the franchise. In 1979, Galaxian was released by Namco for Japanese audiences, and by co-publisher Midway, in the United States.
Space was a pretty popular theme in the late 70s and early 80s, so it made sense that this game would strike a chord with audiences. It was advanced for the time and was ported to the first Apple computer as well as the Atari 2600, and Commodore 64
9 You Can Stop Attacks
As a society, we have come to become pretty familiar with video game cheat codes. However, back in the day, this wasn’t as prevalent.
Well, Galaga did have a pretty significant bug that made the game more manageable—but probably much less fun. Players could exploit a bug that canceled out the bullets from enemies. Hmmm, we wonder if all those high scores at mall arcades had something to do with this?
8 Galaga Tekken? What?
So, gaming companies can get a little weird when it comes to crossovers. Nevertheless, this one by Bandai Namco has to take the cake. In 2015, the game company launched Galaga Tekken. The game looks like Galaga, but instead of shooting at ships, you are trying to get past characters of the Tekken game franchise.
This crossover was so weird that many thought it was an April’s Fools prank. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint—it wasn’t. When you consider the fact that you would play Galaga while waiting for the first Tekken game to load in 1995, this crossover does start to make a bit of sense.
7 A Galaga Reference In Lost
Lost is one of those shows that is bound to include a lot of video game and geek references. The plot of the show is very reminiscent of old school mysteries of the 80s and 90s.
Gamers will be happy to know that Lost went past the typical film and show references to highlight a classic video game. The producers were such big fans of Galaga—and played it on downtime—that they named a submarine in the show after the game. It’s always refreshing when a significant player in pop culture acknowledges another.
6 A Prehistoric Naming Honor
You know your game is cool when its title is used to name a prehistoric animal. When paleontologists located the remains of a giant shark, they noticed that the teeth resembled that of Galaga aliens.
So, in honor of the similarity, they named the shark Galagadon nordquistae. We always like a nice mix of science, geekdom, and pop culture. Ultimately, we hope the team at Jurassic Park is aware of this, because they may want to write this one into their next movie.
5 An Anime Crossover
When a game has been around as long as Galaga, it makes sense that it would be a part of a lot of different crossover situations. In addition to Tekken, another popular franchise has joined forces with this arcade classic.
In 2015, gaming fans could play Space Galaga, a crossover between Space Dandy and Galaga. It was a gaming app for the smartphone and allowed for level customizations. We can’t argue with the fact that this is a pretty neat way to pass the time.
4 Some Thought Galaga Wasn’t Challenging Enough
When Shigeru Yokoyama first developed the game, the higher-ups noticed that while Galaga was addictive, it wasn’t challenging enough.
The concern was that gamers would be able to play for too long on one coin, so leadership had Yokoyama go back and add more difficulty to the game. So if you have ever torn out your hair playing Galaga, you have this moment to blame.
3 A Rapid Planning Process
Okay, so let’s go back in time to the 1980s. Looking at how advanced classic games like Galaxian and Galaga were for that time, it is incredible that Galaga didn’t really have a long planning phase.
According to Yokoyama, the initial planning time for Galaga only took two months. Even developers who are creating simple mobile app games today are likely planning for much longer than that. Yokoyama isn’t just a legend; the guy is a genius.
2 The Highest Record Holder
As we know, arcade games are known for their scoreboards. This fact has held true for the four decades Galaga has been playable. Each year, fans of the game try to beat the standing world record.
The current world record holder is Armando Gonzalez, with a score of 9,525,700. He is almost one million points higher than the second place holder, Mike Thompson. Now, that is what we call commitment.
1 It Could Be An Animated Series
These are the days of reboots, remakes, and reimaginings. This obsession with rehashing the old also applies to video game franchises. Since 2017, there has been talk of Galaga being turned into an animated series.
The Nuttery, a digital content company, and Bandai Namco have joined forces to bring an animated story of this legendary game to life. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything about this game recently, but there was talk of the title still being in development as recently as last year.
NEXT: Pac-Man: 10 Things Only Old-School Fans Will Appreciate
