I received an Atari, Space Invaders, and Asteroids, Christmas 1981. I played this over and over and over and over! I hopelessly fantasized that an arcade style cut scene might appear, if I cleared the board enough times. 😄
The very first time I saw Taito's 'Space Invaders' was in the Spring of 1979 inside a small arcade within a shopping center at 5 Towns, Rockaway turnpike, Queens. I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh. They have eyes!"
The variations were brilliant but I think the core game on its own, the quality of recreating the arcade experience was enough to nail it down as a classic. I recall an interview with someone from Atari, of that era, and he says when Rick Maurer first presented the finished (or near finished) game to his colleagues, they were open-mouthed amazed as technically what he's done wasn't thought remotely possible. I hope the guy is still aware of his influence and how well-regarded he is. Nice video, again!
Since it was based on Breakout, and that game had several variations that didn't combine, like both steering and catch, maybe he wanted to cover all the bases. Of the hundred or so game variations, I don't think any start with the aliens on the bottom row to practice that wave. Unfortunately after Asteroids and Missile Command in 1981, Atari pretty much ended the idea of game variations, just having different levels of difficulty.
Something you didn't mention is how Space Invaders was released with four different cart labels, each representing a segment in the 2600/VCS's lifespan. The plain text label representing the early days, the picture label on the black background from 1980-1982, the silver labels from 1892-1984 and the red label during the 2600jr revival of the late 1980s, in essence the 2600's lifespan.
I really enjoyed this episode - the 2600 Space Invaders is one I've fond memories of (the sound in particular), and whilst it's not a version I play much of now, it's such an important one to celebrate. I do love that there's secrets, I'd never heard about the trick to get double shots, nor that one to advance through the various modes quicker. Even if it's a tad redundant now thanks to that amazing hack which allows you to set options from a menu screen.
FINALLY! I've been anticipating you getting to this one since it's pretty much one of the first home console games to get me into video games at the tender age of 5 back in 1984. I remember fondly playing this for hours while in the glow of my bedroom CRT with the lights off. Funny thing… I never knew about the two-shot glitch trick until just recently!
I'm trying to remember where I originally learned about the double shot trick. I think it may have been some random early 80s video game tips book my middle school library inexplicably still had on the shelves in the mid-90s?
@@AtariArchive I kidd you not, I literally found out about that trick because some other guy uploaded one of those old How to Beat Home Videogames strategy videos from the 80s. As soon as I saw that I was like "Aww man! I could have really used that trick back in the day!" Oh well…
There was another coin-op 'Space Invaders' clone out there I used to play in a local Queens, NY laundromat in '81 called 'Cosmic Guerilla' by Gremlin. The only location I ever saw this game; back in those days, there were not a lot of options to choose.
Correction: I just doubled checked my claim. Universal was the name of the company who also put out coin-op cabinets of the 'Mr. Do!' series in my neighborhood. Not all. Just one... the original 'Mr. Do!'
This game is still selling VCS consoles. Several years ago I bought an Atari Flashback system hoping to play the two player co-op, only to find the included version of the game was different from the original release and lacked the option. I had been meaning to get back into collecting 2600 again, but this was the catalyst. If I wanted to play two player co-op Space Invaders with my young nephew and show him the true Atari experience, a Flashback system just would not do. Excellent video! You always hit it out of the park with your excuse research and thoroughness. I really enjoy and appreciate this series.
And I recently bought a VCS (having owned one in the early 80s) and have grabbed a Space Invaders cartridge! I love Stella, but playing it on the real hardware feels so cool.
Outstanding, wonderful job. Very thoroughly researched as always. Love it and appreciate the care you put into these. I am curious, I wanted to ask about the different-sized screen captures. Sometimes it was normal sized, and then other times it was much smaller. I noticed that, on the larger (normal) sized captures, both the player's and aliens' laser fire would not be visible at times. Did this have something to do with it? Once again, just a stellar piece of archiving.
So the game itself uses flickering on the bullets that, if viewed at 60 fps, isn't too noticeable but gets very funky if you watch it at a lower framerate. I'm not entirely sure why the different pieces of footage may be showing the bullets differently, but it may be related to the issues I had with a piece of raw video and getting it to render correctly. That's why those clips have different sizes, too - I spent two evenings trying to get it to work right!
More specifically, re the original arcade version, the game only updated the position of one Invader per frame, which is why the formation "ripples". The fewer Invaders there are, the sooner the game cycles back to each to update their position and the faster they go. :)
Really liked that effect! The entire company of aliens slowly marching in formation producing that 'ripple' effect adds to illusion of the player facing overwhelming odds. Thought it fascinating that 'Part II' surprises the player when all of the aliens quickly marching onto the battlefield when the game begins; which was ironically a limitation of the hardware in the original 'Space Invaders'.
As a younger Atari owner, someone who was born after the system's lifespan, the biggest treat with the Space Invaders cart was its two player simultaneous play modes. Quite a rarity on the system for a shooter. Worm War 1 is another great two player shooter.
fun fact: john newcomer, the designer of the unreleased handheld version, went on to design the arcade classic joust. (which, spoiler alert, will be the subject of an atari archive episode in a couple of years.)
Brilliant. Not just Americans. Europeans too. My first console was the Atari VCS Ingersoll bundle with Combat and Space Invaders. We had Space Invaders competitions over here too in the UK. Loved that game, and I still miss the amount of variations these games had compared to the modern era. And that plug it in, turn it on, and play immediacy.
Oh yeah! While I was researching I found coverage in some British newspapers on the archive services I use - couldn't think of a good way to work them into the script I had but it was absolutely a huge hit there too.
Really great (and timely) video. I just picked up an AV modded 2600 and this was the first game I popped in. True classic in every sense of the word. Thank you for this!
It´s fun to snoop around your sources (when you display them on screen and google is able to find them) - but it would be awesome to have a few links in the description, too... I couldn´t find the issue of "video magazine" for example. But other than that: great work as usual!
Outside of the Arcade Alley columns, I don't think there are any Video scans online, unfortunately (though if you google those they should come up), but many of my magazine scans come from searching the Internet Archive. Newspaper clips come from those searchable newspaper archive websites; Merchandising and Weekly TV Digest aren't scanned in, but physical copies exist in libraries and archives (I photographed the Merchandising clips myself and other researchers provided me with the WTD stuff). I do like the idea of better indicating my sources though - I'll have to figure out best how I want to do that.
That guy at Warner who told Atari CEO to get the Space Invader rights "no matter what" was the man of the hour. If Mattel got them for Intellivision (or Magnavox for Odyssey²) then that system would have sold in 1980, and not have been left behind. Atari would still be in it as they had an arcade division and could port their own titles. (I just saw the 1981 ad saying their competitors don't make Asteroids, Missile Command or Warlords). The idea that some would want "original" games made me think, "like what?" After watching the previous 31 episodes, nearly all games had an arcade version or a predecessor on computer, which seems like successful market testing. When I watched the one on Human Cannonball I learned it was based on Artillery Duel, but they didn't port that coin-op game! Rather they changed it to a one-player game that seemed less-interesting to me, but could have been a fair game variation, not an entire cart. Though Space Invaders would catapult Atari to market dominance, there was something wrong there. It seems bizarre that at first Atari personnel wouldn't be interested in the hottest arcade game. Just as Rick Mauer got a pathetic bonus for making the game of the year, they had just lost their top 4 programmers. I hope to hear more about it when the reviews of Activision titles come along. There may also be a story about programmers at their arcade division getting more respect.
I figured this would be a bigger episode as it is a landmark for Atari, coin-op games and the home video market. Also I expected to see it end with the Space Invaders landing. THOOM. But he never showed that bit.
This version of space invaders was at every used video game store in the 90s. I remember way back then, you could buy space invaders loose for a dollar lol. Also the Atari 2600 space invaders was never included in any of the Atari flashback consoles.
He said there were licensing issues. I guess after all the clones they decided to exercise what rights they did have, and these flashbacks don't want to pay.
Space Invaders: the Heiankyo Alien of Atari games. (And as mentioned, an influence on Xevious). Epoch's Big Vader is an intriguing Space Invaders clone.
Something that's possible is that securing a Japanese release of the 2600 from Epoch played a factor in the executive interest in Space Invaders. Per this shmuplations interview excerpt at shmuplations.com/epoch/ Masayuki Horie (A designer/supervisor at Epoch): "The VCS Invaders game wasn’t part of the original Atari console; it was made at our request. The fact that a big American company like Atari listened to our request like that was, in and of itself, groundbreaking. I was amazed, and when the chip arrived in my hand, it was a very moving moment for me."
In American English “Maurer” is typically pronounced so as to rhyme with ‘power’. Unless R. Maurer is from the UK you might consider fixing it. Great great job though. Thanks for doing this series.
I find the claim the [arcade] processor being slowed by drawing the initial alien phalanx; then speeding up as the mass is whittled down to be dubious. The player’s laser cannon and the UFO movements (and the shots themselves) are never slowed. I would think all objects would be affected if processing time was taxed so badly. I believe this “feature” is instead a product of careful code and design, masterfully implemented by Nishikado.
Nishikado has said as much in interviews, including this one with Retro Gamer: archive.org/stream/retro_gamer/RetroGamer_003#page/34/mode/2up For my part I got it out of a translation another game history researcher provided from his Japanese memoir.
ACK NO why do you keep finding reasons to show that epileptic-at-a-rave Superman footage?! Loved the depth of this video. The sounds of the descending aliens hits primordial notes in my brain. That pepsi invaders, though. That's special.
I know it's impossible to cover all the clones at the time, but it would have been nice to see 'SPACE QUARKS' here (from Broderbund Software) for the Apple II. A fun take on the formula. Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3ey6xD-QOmI.html
I had Space Quarks and Space Invaders on the 2600 but my 6 year old brain never made the connection. I've been trying to track down a Centipede clone we had for the Apple II back then, I remember having a revolver instead of an archer, it was set in a graveyard and had tombstones instead of mushrooms. You wouldn't happen to know the name of that game, would you? Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.
Blue Atari Logbook challenge: play game 8 (invisible invaders) with difficulty on B. Pro (Alien Eliminator): 4500 Master (Alien Exterminator): 6700 Wizard (Alien Annihilator): 9000 I didn't get the Logbook until mid 1982, and was no longer as good at the game as when I got it. I didn't think to write down scores at age 10. Still when I tried it again in the 1990s I jumped Pro and made Master with 7150. I'm thinking I got an Atari with several games for Christmas 1979, then got to pick Space Invaders and Dodge 'Em at the store for my birthday in 1980, just after the former came out. Unfortunately, Mom only remembers one game and that I broke a joystick or two.
I discovered a "hack" as it were - at the time I'm not sure if anyone else found this - but if you "jiggled" the power on the VCS and then started the game - I could get the ship to fire double shots.
It's so frustrating that people in an industry seem to know so little about how popular some things are. Space Invaders is a great example of this. The people were pumping quarters into the machines but programmers weren't talking about the game? Come on guys, get out of the lab and off the internet. Go find out what real people think of your games!
