Control your fighter, with its unique ability to combine with other fighters, and shoot down the invading aliens.
Aliens attack in formations using a variety of attack patterns. Rescue a captured fighter to combine with it to form a Dual Fighter with twice the firepower!
Earn Perfect Bonuses more easily using a Dual Fighter on the Challenging Stages!
Galaga was released in 1981, and became an instant classic with its innovative fighter combination system and varied enemy attack patterns.
The NES version of Galaga is a almost perfect port of the timeless arcade classic. Like space invaders you control a ship at the bottom of the screen and blast away at oncoming enemies. The enemies in Galaga first fly in and line up in formation and then dive-bomb at you while firing sometimes in predictable patterns and sometimes not.
Levels get progressively more difficult as you would expect. However you can allow certain enemies to capture your ship. Once captured, your ship is held hostage until you destroy the enemy holding it. The ship is then returned to you and joins up with your existing ship to double your firepower! This adds to the depth of the game, it is not without risk as you can inadvertently destroy your own ship trying to do this!
This is a fun little game, especially with the rose tinted spectacles of nostalgia firmly in place over the eyes. XBOX 360 owners can already download the arcade version with online scoreboard however. I know which I would prefer!
Average reader rating: 3.86 (21 ratings)
Please login to rate this game.
Report
1. Kenjara
08 Mar 2007, 23:34 GMT
Oh dear my dads gonna be after my wii now I can remember playing this with him on my amiga hehe. Looks like this is going to be an essential purchase.
Report
2. Dazza
08 Mar 2007, 23:39 GMT
Don't let the 3 stars put you off if you have good memories of this. It's still a classic but realistically we're comparing with much more accomplished shooters that came later.
Report
3. Don-Bon
09 Mar 2007, 04:09 GMT
Whenever this game comes to America you can be sure I will be downloading it. This was one of my favorite games years ago.
Report
4. Steamroller
09 Mar 2007, 04:54 GMT
I love this game, 5 stars in my heart.
Report
5. 1927
09 Mar 2007, 08:53 GMT
Is this the same game as galaga 88 on the pc engine? If it is, how does it compare. Galaga 88 was one of my favourite games on the pc engine.
Report
6. Dazza
09 Mar 2007, 09:04 GMT
Galaga 88 was a update to the original Galaga. It really improved on the original formula in my opinion. A good sequel.
Report
7. Jansen
09 Mar 2007, 12:46 GMT
I just bought it (PAL in germany) and played it 2hours. Definitly 5Stars!
Report
8. caz
10 Mar 2007, 06:44 GMT
so much of my youth (mispent youth) was playing galaga in the video arcades (remember those). this is a no brainer for me once its available in the us.
Report
9. AzaMcWazza
10 Mar 2007, 23:06 GMT
I will be downloading this one. Was surprised that it only got 3 stars, but I was looking for a review to let mw know how faithful it was to the original. You can still find the arcade version in some fast food places these days and I played one about 3 months ago and still loved the game, so if the VC version matches it, well it's a no brainer for a measley 500 points.
Report
10. Eric42
11 Mar 2007, 04:15 GMT
I loved Galaga for the NES. I still have it somewhere with my NES games. I always felt it was a great, faithful port of the arcade game and it will be on my "must purchase" list. Here's to hoping it'll be out in America on Monday.
Report
11. Ben
09 Apr 2007, 16:27 GMT
Practically an essential purchase for me! Sure there are many more accomplished shooters already available on the VC for only a couple hundred more points, but this is a classic. Both my parents also love this one and I know my little sisters and girlfriend will get kick out of this also. They won't like any other shooters and I think we'll all have a blast with this one. I've spend more than $5 in one sitting at the arcade for Galaga many times this is a bargain for me!
Report
12. balsho
09 Apr 2007, 23:43 GMT
Beware this doesn't save the highest score... Better off getting the gamecube Namco disc with the true arcade port.
Report
13. malchihi
12 Apr 2007, 16:22 GMT
My guess about why this game received only 3/5 stars is because of the cost of comparable games(Such as Namco Museum for GC) that have galaga as well as many other classic arcade games. The best part about Namco Museum is that you can usually find it very cheap.
Report
14. Adamant
14 Apr 2007, 05:25 GMT
Agreed, I think Nintendo could benefit from lowering the price of Namco's classic arcade games - these have been released a bazillion times already, and those collections with 5 different games can be found for under 10$ nowadays, Namco Museum 15th Anniversary can be gotten new for 20$ for the GC, and thus played on the Wii as well. Not to mention the excellent 360 download.
Galaga is an excellent game, but 5$ is a bit too much to ask for the NES port today.
Report
15. Luigison
25 Jun 2007, 18:36 GMT
I agree with most of your ratings, but you are way off on this one. Galaga is a 5 star game. There are other shooters that do more, but the simplicity of Galaga is what makes it great.
Report
16. Peter
17 Jul 2007, 04:26 GMT
This game is amazingly fun. I used to drive to a nearby restaurant with my dad just so he could play this game for an hour on an arcade machine. Now that it's out on Wii we don't have to. This game never seems to get old, simple as it may be.
Report
17. Mii be you
19 Aug 2007, 21:02 GMT
I remember playing this on a Namco Museum game.
I hated it when my fighter got captured, but then I realized that if you rescue your fighter, you get to use 2 at the same time.
This game brings back memories.
Report
18. fartbarker
07 Nov 2007, 01:29 GMT
played the heck outta this in the 80s
too bad this one doesnt save your high score which is essential, making this download completely useless imo
Report
19. fartbarker
09 Nov 2007, 11:11 GMT
I stand corrected, it does keep your high score, assuming you don't reset it.
Report
20. Tinlion
10 Nov 2007, 06:48 GMT
I'm really glad that they released this port. Finally, I can practice Galaga at home!
Report
21. learn japanese ds
09 Jan 2008, 02:40 GMT
Unless your are a purest, I don't see any reason to get this over the TG-16 version.
Report
22. DJ Triforce
05 Feb 2008, 05:03 GMT
This game is NOT like the arcade version at all. The arcade version is widescreen, only turned on it's side. I don't like it nearly as much.
And I was a little let down, oh well. To be honest, the XBOX 360 version is much better (and I hate XBOX - and I wont get one myself, but this version is the closest to it). Anyway, the game is good, but definately not the original. 
Cheers,
Travis.
Report
23. yeeat
14 Feb 2008, 03:13 GMT
well, this looks like the one i played all the time but the other one looks way better than this. Which one i should pick?
I guess i'll go with my addiction
Leave A Comment
Please login to post a comment.