History VideoGame / SpaceInvaders

* MilestoneCelebration: In 2008, around the 30th anniversary of the original game's release, SquareEnix and Taito released ''Space Invaders Extreme'' for the NintendoDS and {{PSP}}, and ''SpaceInvadersGetEven'' for the {{Wii}}.

* KillerApp: Every Atari 2600 owner had a copy. Also for coin-op, too.

* StarfishAliens: The Invaders resemble octopuses, crabs, and squids. WordOfGod says the octopus ones were directly inspired by HG Wells' description of the Martians from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

The [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]] that spawned over 9 thousand other {{Shoot Em Up}}s, Creator/{{Taito}}'s ''Space Invaders'' debuted in 1978. Although VideoGame/{{Pong}} had started the industry, this game revolutionized it, virtually launching TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, establishing or [[TropeCodifier codifying]] many of the tropes used in later games, such as VideoGameLives, and a separate score counter for high scores.

** The "Option" weapon is an obvious reference to the Options from 'VideoGame/'{{Gradius}}'', they even move in the same way!

The [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]] that spawned a thousand other {{Shoot Em Up}}s, Creator/{{Taito}}'s ''Space Invaders'' debuted in 1978. Although VideoGame/{{Pong}} had started the industry, this game revolutionized it, virtually launching TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, establishing or [[TropeCodifier codifying]] many of the tropes used in later games, such as VideoGameLives, and a separate score counter for high scores.

The [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]] that spawned a thousand other ShootEmUps, Creator/{{Taito}}'s ''Space Invaders'' debuted in 1978. Although VideoGame/{{Pong}} had started the industry, this game revolutionized it, virtually launching TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, establishing or [[TropeCodifier codifying]] many of the tropes used in later games, such as VideoGameLives, and a separate score counter for high scores.

* ArtificialStupidity: The Invaders' only mode of movement is to [[{{Futurama}} drop down, increase speed and reverse direction]]. Later incarnations gave them different, but still very predictable, tactics.

* GameOver: [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption In first installments, the only way out is death]].

* NonstandardGameOver: In the original games, if an alien hits the bottom of the screen, you lose all of your lives.

** The power up items in ''Infinity Gene'' are the Newalone particles taken directly from ''Metal Black'', an obscure Taito shooter that has more in common with ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' than ''Space Invaders''. A more direct call back to ''Darius'' comes in the form of BossSubtitles in the familiar form, "WARNING - A FORMIDABLE ENEMY '[Boss Name]' HAS ENTERED THE BATTLE."

The game was so popular that it caused a Japan-wide shortage of the 100-yen coins that the game's coin slot demanded, and the home version was [[KillerApp largely responsible for the runaway success]] of the [[{{Atari 2600}} Atari VCS]] (later 2600) home console system. It also spawned the medical term "Space Invaders wrist." In United States arcades, it was the first video game to out-gross any and all {{Pinball}} machines (the top selling arcade game the year before had been [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally's]] ''Evel Knievel'' pinball). It was the first game in which play could last an [[EndlessGame open-ended amount of time]], given sufficient skill, rather than being timed to a finite clock, and it immediately spawned a host of equally classic imitators, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Gorf}}'', and the entire top-scrolling rail shooter genre.

* KillerApp: The Atari 2600 version

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: The speed increase of the aliens as the game went on was an unintended side effect of the weak processors at the time, but the developers liked it enough to keep it in.

** Demonstrated with style in [[http://www.retrosabotage.com/spacein/invasion.html this Retro Sabotage game]], where you are pitted against a single, slow moving Invader. Shoot it, and another Invader will come in its place. After shooting that one and the next one comes, [[spoiler:the game screen starts to subtly zoom out, and you could see a row of 18 Invaders, with one of them coming down to replace an Invader you shot, with yet another one coming to take its place in the row. The screen continues to zoom out, and you could see an identical row of Invaders behind the first, doubling the amount of Invaders at the top of the screen into 36. But the zoom won't stop, and gradually starts to pick up speed. Then yet another row of Invaders comes up, totalling it to 57. Then 72... 90... 108... At this point, hopeless music kicks in as the zoom continues and more and more Invaders are revealed, and it becomes increasingly apparent that they're in some sort of formation... until finally, you see '''''[[OhCrap 7,254]]''''' Invaders in a formation in the likeness of themselves, easily dwarfing your playfield. All this goes on while the player is still controling the cannon and able to shoot the single Invader he can kill in his playfield]].

** The FinalBoss of ''Space Invaders Extreme'' reappeared as the first boss in the sequel, but much smaller. [[spoiler: It returns again for the final battle, this time even larger than its appearence in the first game.]]

In 2009, Taito graced the iPhone with ''Space Invaders Infinity Gene''. The game begins with the original classic gameplay, then the infinity gene takes over and the game gradually evolves into a modern ShootEmUp, as the player gains selectable ships, powerups, and an unrestricted range of movement, while the Invaders themselves enlist large ships, fleets, armadas, and bosses to take you on. There's also the added threat of terrain CollisionDamage. You can also load up your favorite music to generate custom levels, similar to ''VideoGame/{{Audiosurf}}''. The game gained crticial praise, and has recently been updated to include [[BraggingRightsReward achievements]]. It has been ported to the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, and befitting its evolution theme, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VoUvIQiDIY it has addressed]] the VideoGame3DLeap.

* DifficultyByAcceleration: This was a lucky accident. Just rendering all the sprites of the enemies was a heavy load for CPUs of the time, but as the player killed more aliens, the computer was able to devote more cycles to moving the enemies, making them faster and resulting in one of the earliest examples of this trope (although not the UrExample--''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' did it first).

The game was so popular that it caused a Japan-wide shortage of the 100-yen coins that the game's coin slot demanded, and the home version was [[KillerApp largely responsible for the runaway success]] of the [[{{Atari 2600}} Atari VCS]] (later 2600) home console system. It also spawned the medical term "SpaceInvaders wrist." In United States arcades, it was the first video game to out-gross any and all {{Pinball}} machines (the top selling arcade game the year before had been [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally's]] ''Evel Knievel'' pinball). It was the first game in which play could last an [[EndlessGame open-ended amount of time]], given sufficient skill, rather than being timed to a finite clock, and it immediately spawned a host of equally classic imitators, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Gorf}}'', and the entire top-scrolling rail shooter genre.

* AdaptiveAbility: ''Space Invaders Infinity Gene''.
* AlienInvasion

* FlyingSaucer

* MultiMookMelee: UrExample
* MusicalGameplay: ''Space Invaders Extreme''.

* MythologyGag: The power up items in ''Infinity Gene'' are the Newalone particles taken directly from ''Metal Black'', an obscure Taito shooter that has more in common with ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' than ''Space Invaders''. A more direct call back to ''Darius'' comes in the form of BossSubtitles in the familiar form, "WARNING - A FORMIDABLE ENEMY '[Boss Name]' HAS ENTERED THE BATTLE."

** Let's not forget that the Lock-On ship bears a suspicious resemblance in performance and shape to the R-Gray from the Layer Section/Ray series of shmups...

* NostalgiaLevel: The last wave of ''Space Invaders Extreme'' stage 1 is a recreation of the formation from the original.

* OneBulletAtATime
* PinballSpinoff: A year after its release, [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally]] released a ''Pinball/SpaceInvaders'' [[Pinball/SpaceInvaders arcade pinball machine]].

** one of the minor bosses extends a pixel-width tendril that makes a few random right turns, then develops a gunpod at the end; you fight it by shooting the gunpod, forcing it to retract along the tendril until it collides with the main ship. In a sense, the fight's with the tendril. The boss's name? [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Jolyne]].
** The "Option" weapon is an obvious reference to the Options from ''{{Gradius}}'', they even move in the same way!

The game was so popular that it caused a Japan-wide shortage of the 100-yen coins that the game's coin slot demanded, and the home version was [[KillerApp largely responsible for the runaway success]] of the [[{{Atari 2600}} Atari VCS]] (later 2600) home console system. It also spawned the medical term "SpaceInvaders wrist." In United States arcades, it was the first video game to out-gross any and all {{Pinball}} machines (the top selling arcade game the year before had been [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally's]] ''Evel Knievel'' pinball). It was the first game in which play could last an [[EndlessGame open-ended amount of time]], given sufficient skill, rather than being timed to a finite clock, and it immediately spawned a host of equally classic imitators, such as ''Galaxian'', ''Gorf'', and the entire top-scrolling rail shooter genre.