Clones & Ports of Namco's Galaxian 1979
This article is concerned with clones and ports of Namco's Galaxian coinop of 1979 that have appeared on Western home computer game machines.
The original Galaxian coinop was designed by Kazunori Sawano, programmed by Kōichi Tashiro, drawn by Hiroshi Ono and composed by Toshio Kai.
Galaxian-likes are defined by me as fixed-screen shoot 'em ups that feature alien wave formations that appear at top-screen and move horizontally back and forth while firing projectiles at the player's spaceship, which is confined to horizontal movement at bottom-screen. In addition, some aliens swoop downward at variable speeds, firing.
The article is only concerned with Galaxian / Phoenix clones and ports that appeared on Western home computer game machines. The clones and ports are presented chronologically.
Galaxian games are not the same as Space Invaders or Galaga games.
Galaxian Clones
Star Cruiser Apple 2 1980
Star Cruiser is an early Galaxian-like programmed in assembly language by Nasir Gebelli of Sirius Software for the 32K Apple 2 in 1980. Star Cruiser plays well and its colorful sprites are impressive for 1980.
Galaxy Invasion TRS-80 1980
Weerd TRS-80 1982
Arcadia ZX Spectrum 1983
David H. Lawson of Imagine Software coded Arcadia for the ZX Spectrum in 1982. Arcadia was notable for its high sprite-count and fast-moving sprites.
Firebirds ZX Spectrum 1983
Graeme J. Devine of Softek Software coded Firebirds for the ZX Spectrum in 1982. Firebirds is a Phoenix-like.
Gorf Commodore 64 1983
Eric Cotton ported Midway's Gorf coinop of 1981 to Commodore 64 in 1983. Gorf is an advanced Space Invaders / Galaxian clone that features Astro Battle, Laser Attack, Space Warp and Flagship attack waves. C64 Gorf is better than the flickering VIC-20 and Atari 8 bit versions of 1982.
Pheenix ZX Spectrum 1983
Martin Ward of Megadodo coded Pheenix for ZX Spectrum in 1983.
Galaxions Commodore 64 1983
Solar Software released Galaxions in 1983 for the C64. Galaxions was programmed by John Shay.
Mega Phoenix Commodore 64 1991
Fernando Jimenez of Dinamic Software coded Mega Phoenix for the C64 in 1991. Graphics by Ruben Rubio. Music by Maniacs of Noise.
Starforce Commodore 64 1991
Joachim Fräder of X-Ample Architectures coded Starforce for the C64 in 1991.
Galaxian Ports
Galaxian IBM PC 1983
Namco's Galaxian coinop of 1979 was ported to IBM PC i808x by Atarisoft in 1983 in 4-color CGA 320x200 (and 4-color CGA 640x400 for the instructions screen).
Supporting joystick input and keyboard controls, this 60 kbytes PC Booter requires an IBM PC compatible with 128 kbytes RAM. While not as good as the arcade-machine version, the sprites move about well and the controls are responsive.
Galaxian Commodore 64 1984
Namco's Galaxian coinop of 1979 was ported to C64 by Alan Pavlish of Atarisoft in 1984.
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