Space Invaders Deluxe (1980)

The sequel to the original space alien vertical shooter. Move your laser base back and forth along the bottom of the screen and shoot endless waves of aliens marching towards you from the top. Shoot the flying saucers for extra points.

On any wave, if the last alien you kill is from the bottom two rows you will get a special 'fireworks' display and a 500 point bonus. If the bottom leftmost invader is the last killed, the bonus is 1,000 points. The number of points you get for the solid flying saucer (50 - 300) depends on how many shots you have fired in the wave. The 23rd shot and every 15th thereafter is worth 300 points if it hits the saucer. When there are eight or fewer invaders left, the flying saucers no longer appear. During the attract mode demo, repeatedly press the left, right, fire, 1 player start and 2 player start buttons simultaneously as fast as you can. After a few seconds the message "TAITO CORP." will appear beneath the high score. As the game progresses, provided there is 'room' for more invaders on the top row, the flying saucers will drop more invaders that will 'land' in the top row, (as noted below in the gameplay description). If you are able to shoot an invader as it drops from the flying saucer, (but before it 'lands' in the top row), the invader will not disappear as it usually would after being shot, instead it will 'fall', sideways, but very much intact, to the bottom of the playfield. Points scored for this anomaly are unconfirmed. The invader remains at the bottom of the playfield, and will chip away like the shields, by invader fire. It will remain there until the invader fire chips it away completely or until the wave is completed. Also unconfirmed is if you can let the falling invader hit your laser base. What is known is that once the invader has fallen, your laser base can pass right through the invader, it no longer threatens the base or hampers it in any way.

The basic mechanics of play for the Space Invaders genre is simple: move your laser base left or right along the bottom of the screen and shoot the endless waves of aliens descending towards you. Their relentless march quickens as fewer and fewer aliens (each worth 30, 20 or 10 points, depending which type it is) remain. In this game, the best defense is a good offense -- your only other protection being four stationary shields which slowly get blown away by both you and the invaders. Besides aliens, you can also target the occasional flying saucer which traverses the top of the screen. For Space Invaders Deluxe, a few twists were added to this time-honored classic to make it more interesting and difficult. There are two different flying saucers. For example, one is steadily visible and worth a 'random' number of points between 50 and 300, the other blinks in and out and can only be hit when visible for 200 points. From the second wave on, various other features appear such as invaders that split into two when you shoot them and flying saucers that drop alien reinforcements.

Frankenstein SI with Braze Multigame test