Clones & Ports of Taito's Space Invaders

This article is concerned with clones and ports of Taito's Space Invaders of 1978), Space Invaders Part II of 1979) and Super Space Invaders of 1991 that have appeared on Western home computer game machines.

The original Space Invaders coinop was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado.

Space Invader-likes are defined by me as fixed-screen shoot 'em ups that feature 2-way horizontal movement and 1-way vertical fire of a cannon that is confined to bottom-screen but is defended somewhat from top-screen alien-wave projectiles by progressively destructible permanent fixtures. The aliens move across the playfield in steps before stepping downward towards the cannon, increasing in speed as they do so.

The article is only concerned with Space Invaders clones and ports that appeared on Western home computer game machines. The clones and ports are presented chronologically.

Space Invaders games are not the same as Galaga or Galaxian games.

Space Invaders Clones

Super Invader Apple 2 1979

M. Hata coded Super Invader for the Apple 2 in 1979. Super Invader and TRS-80 Alien Invasion (see below) are the earliest commerical home-computer clones of Taito's Space Invaders of 1978.

Super Invader is also known as Apple Invader and Cosmos Mission.

Alien Invasion TRS-80 1979

Roy Niederhoffer coded Alien Invasion in 1979 for the TRS-80. Alien Invasion is a clone of Space Invaders.

Alien Invasion features fancy screen-wipes and even an animated introduction, which furnishes an early example of computer game cinematization.

Space Intruders TRS-80 1980

Doug Kennedy of Adventure International coded Space Intruders for the TRS-80 in 1980. Space Intruders is a clone of Taito's Space Invader's Part II of 1979.

Super Vaders TRS-80 1981

Larry Ashmun of Soft Sector Marketing Inc. coded Super Vaders for the TRS-80 in 1981. Super Vaders is a clone of Taito's Space Invaders of 1978, but Super Vaders gives you a stat-breakdown post-game (shots fired, missed shots).

Space Strike IBM PC Booter 1982

Programmed by legendary coder and computer scientist, Michael Abrash (Quake), Space Strike is an early clone of Space Invaders packed into a 60 kbyte IBM PC-Booter executable.

A polished and playable fixed-screen shoot 'em up that displays in 4-color CGA 320x200 and requires just 64 kbytes RAM, Space Strike supports joystick input and keyboard control.

IBM PC exclusive.

Space Invaders IBM PC 1985

Invaders of 1985 is a 4-color CGA 320x200 i808x clone of Taito's 1978 coinop, Space Invaders. The graphics are clear, collision detection is accurate, and the waves move with precision, but the PC-speaker sounds consists of bleeps and blurps (naturally).

1985 Invaders supports joystick input or keyboard control (Shift keys for left and right and Spacebar for fire).

Amoeba Invaders Amiga 1987

LateNight Developments Corporation released Amoeba Invaders for the Amiga in 1987. A clone of Space Invaders, Amoeba Invaders was programmed and composed by Chris Halsall and drawn by Ewan Edwards.

Starforce Commodore 64 1991

Joachim Fräder of X-Ample Architectures coded Starforce for the Commodore 64 in 1991, which is an excellent Space Invaders clone with added features.

Space Invaders Ports

Super Space Invaders IBM PC 1991

Taito's Super Space Invaders coinop of 1991 was ported to IBM PC MS-DOS in 1991 by Domark. Even though it lacks the arcade's vertical screen resolution, the PC DOS Super Space Invaders is a solid port. PC DOS Space Invaders supports 2-player simultaneous action. Super Space Invaders employs some features from Galaga, Asteroids and Xevious.

PC DOS Super Space Invaders displays in 256-color VGA 320x200, 16-color EGA or TGA 320x200 or 4-color CGA 320x200.

Note that the backgrounds do not scroll in PC DOS Super Space Invaders, but they do in ST/Amiga Super Space Invaders.

PC DOS Super Space Invaders supports AbLib, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, Tandy or IBM PC Internal Speaker, aka Beeper.

PC DOS Super Space Invaders was distributed on 1x 3.5" 1.44MB HD diskette, 2x 3.5" 720kBDD diskettes or 4x 5.25" 360kB floppy disks and extracts and installs to hard disk drive via Super Space Invaders Installation. The install size is 1.4 megs and consists of 65 files.

Super Space Invaders Atari ST 1991

Domark released Super Space Invaders for the Atari ST and the Amiga in 1991. ST/Amiga Super Space Invaders was programmed by Paul Margrave and drawn and composed by Jolyon Myers. The scrolling and sprite-shifting of the ST version is not as smooth that of the Amiga version.

ST/Amiga versions of Super Space Invaders feature 2-player simultaneous action, bosses, bonuses stages and vertical and horizontal scrolling backgrounds. Super Space Invaders weapon upgrades include double and triple shot.

Space Invaders IBM PC 1995

Paul S. Read coded Space Invaders for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995. A belated but solid conversion of the original Space Invaders, this version displays in 16-color EGA at 640x400 resolution.

cf.

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Space Invaders Clones and Ports (Space Invader-likes)