The release of Space Invaders started a major trend in arcade gaming. The public appetite for laser-beams and aliens couldn’t have been more voracious! For another, games of this kind were easy to create, as very little work had to go into creating a black backdrop with a few twinkling stars. That meant more processing power to spend on filling the screen with swarms of varied enemies. Galaga, released in 1981 by Namco, was one of the most influential games in this genre. Players took control of a small ship at the bottom of the screen, and were tasked with blowing away all of the enemy fighters streaming down from the top. It’s still playable now; give it a try! Play galaga now on GamePix!