Trivia / Space Invaders

• Ascended Glitch: The speed increase of the aliens as the game went on was an unintended side effect of the weak processors at the time — they couldn't handle all the aliens moving back and forth at once, but as the player started killing more and more of them, the processor had less aliens to worry about and could move them faster. The developers liked it enough to keep it in. This inspired the whole idea of games getting harder as the player progressed.
• Breakthrough Hit: For Taito.
• Executive Meddling: The original design was a Breakout clone with the twist that the "bricks" fire back. This eventually become Arkanoid, where the final boss fire back. Then they were originally people, but the executives vetoed it. They were then changed to airplanes, but they didn't make sense with the way they moved. After seeing Star Wars, the developer was inspired to change the enemies to aliens, which were acceptable to shoot and kill. It also justifies their lateral movement patterns, which didn't work with the previous designs.
• Inspiration for the Work: According to The Other Wiki, designs of the aliens were based on the octopus-like ones from The War of the Worlds as well as in squids and crabs.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Infinity Gene had yet to see a re-release for modern systems. The mobile versions had already been delisted due to not being updated for modern versions of the OS.
• Killer App: A Trope Codifier, with Taito struggling to make enough arcades to fill the demands until recruiting Midway to help, and the Atari 2600 version quadrupling the console's sales.
• Milestone Celebration:
  • 1998's Space Invaders X. In the opening cutscene, the operator of the "new" Tank steers his vessel past the "Tank Graveyard" and smiles grimly at a 1978-era Tank.
  • In 2008, around the 30th anniversary of the original game's release, Square Enix and Taito released Space Invaders Extreme for the Nintendo DS and PSP, and Space Invaders Get Even for the Wii.
  • For 2018, Taito ported the original Space Invaders Extreme to Windows via Steam, using the PSP version's interface and most of the DS version's soundtrack with a few new tracks. A port of Groove Coaster, itself a Gaiden Game to the series, was released on the same platform.
• Port Overdosed: There is a version of Space Invaders for almost every platform ever made, including graphing calculators and wristwatches.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: The game was credited with causing a shortage of 100 yen coins. In fact, it was just released in the year the Japanese Mint issued the least amount of those coins.