Clones & Ports of Namco's Galaxian 1979

This article is concerned with computer-game clones and ports of Namco's Galaxian coinop of 1979. 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 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

Bill Hogue & Jeff Konyu of Big Five Software coded Galaxy Invasion in 1980 for the TRS-80. Galaxy Invasion came out one year after Namco's Galaxian coinop of 1979.

Galaxy Invasion Plus TRS-80 1982

Bill Hogue & Jeff Konyu of Big Five Software coded Galaxy Invasion Plus in 1982 for the TRS-80. As its name suggests GI+ is an incremental update on the original of 1980.

Weerd TRS-80 1982

Arthur A. Gleckler of Big Five Software coded Weerd in 1982 for the TRS-80. An exceedingly difficult Galaxian-like shoot 'em up, Weerd features several weird object designs and sound effects.

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.

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.

cf.

Lilura1 cRPG

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Galaxian Clones and Ports (Galaxian-likes)