Game Debate #206: Space Invaders

[Reed Rothchild | 9,680]

[The Count | 552]

4, all things considered. Historically, however, it'd be a ten.

[Gloves | 11,997]

I'd agree with a 4, personally. I'm not a huge fan of the early arcade shooters, but I would have been had I been born sooner and that was my primary option. 

[mbd39 | 2,039]

I've never played the arcade game. Only the Atari 2600 port which is quite good and has a bunch of variations.  7/10

[mbd39 | 2,039]

41 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I'd agree with a 4, personally. I'm not a huge fan of the early arcade shooters, but I would have been had I been born sooner and that was my primary option. 

I hope you like Galaga though.

Space Invaders _is_ primitive. I've been playing arcade games since the mid 80s and it's even before my time. Galaxian and Galaga are big steps up.

[Tulpa | 3,581]

43 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I've never played the arcade game. Only the Atari 2600 port which is quite good and has a bunch of variations.  7/10

Same. The 2600 port is a huge step up. I mean, it's still a static screen shooter, but the co-op/head-to-head variations are alone worth it, and really made it one of the first killer apps (probably the first video game killer app.)

The original I play once in a blue moon. It's fine for a couple minutes. 

Back in 1978, though, I can see why it was a sensation, when most games were still variations on Pong. 

[TDIRunner | 2,809]

I've also only played the Atari 2600 version, but I will always think highly of this game because of the fun I had playing this game with my Father.  Even though I know that Galaga is really a better game with better graphics and more variety, I will always think of Space Invaders as a great game.    

[Gloves | 11,997]

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

I hope you like Galaga though.

Space Invaders _is_ primitive. I've been playing arcade games since the mid 80s and it's even before my time. Galaxian and Galaga are big steps up.

Honestly I don't. There's just so much more out there with such a massive amount of variance by comparison, these early shooters are really boring to me.

[wongojack | 236]

I played the 2600 version first and THEN played the original.  It is a hard game to go backwards to, but at least the sound in the original arcade game is better.

Interestingly, the Intellivision knock off (Space Armada) isn't very easy on the eyes, but it does add some new features and gameplay elements that make it a challenging alternative as well.

 

I voted 5

Edited May 27 by wongojack

[RH | 5,058]

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

I hope you like Galaga though.

Space Invaders _is_ primitive. I've been playing arcade games since the mid 80s and it's even before my time. Galaxian and Galaga are big steps up.

Galaga to me is peak early arcade.  I can play it for hours.  It's the perfect balance of simplicity and form, while dynamic enough to feel fresh for several stages. It is a natural progression of what Space Invaders practically invented.

I'm not really the biggest fan of Space Invaders, and yet, if I ever sit down mess around with it for any reason, I usually lose an hour.  It was hard to pin down for me, because it's definitely a historically important game and I think that's a large part of the personal appeal, and yet, when I think about it I have feelings of boredom. But I don't feel that way when I am playing though.

[Gloves | 11,997]

I play games where I see this and go "ah, easy":

 

That's not to brag, I'm not that great at them. But like, it's hard to go back to rows of dudes slowly pacing back and forth and get excited. I've had too much super-ultra-stimulus, the normal shit just don't cut it no more.

[wongojack | 236]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

I play games where I see this and go "ah, easy":

 

That's not to brag, I'm not that great at them. But like, it's hard to go back to rows of dudes slowly pacing back and forth and get excited. I've had too much super-ultra-stimulus, the normal shit just don't cut it no more.

 

Those are too much for me.  It was like something happened after 1942, and I just didn't want to keep up with the arms race of putting stuff on the screen.  I WISH I liked the genre beyond Galaga and 1942 more than I do, but I just never seem to come back to these games.  

 

And yet, I still think the original Space Invaders is a bit too simple.

[glazball | 175]

Voted middle of the road for the arcade version, which is a bit stiff and lacks color.  The 2600 version I would rate an 9/10 though, as it's one of the best games on the console.

[Gloves | 11,997]

5 minutes ago, wongojack said:

 

Those are too much for me.  It was like something happened after 1942, and I just didn't want to keep up with the arms race of putting stuff on the screen.  I WISH I liked the genre beyond Galaga and 1942 more than I do, but I just never seem to come back to these games.  

 

And yet, I still think the original Space Invaders is a bit too simple.

Something I'm pretty happy about personally is that I've kept up with gaming - I've always played new games since I could afford to do so (around PS2 times when I got my first job). Doing so I think has enabled me to stay competitive and grow, keeping my reaction speed pretty high. I can play the latest Call of Duty near competitively and that may as well be fuckin' hyper Counterstrike with the vaulting and shit, I'm parkouring all over the place (thanks, Mirror's Edge).

With bullet hells especially like the one I referenced above (Touhou) once you really understand that your hitbox is literally a single pixel, it starts to click. Just don't let that one pixel touch bullets and you're golden. They almost become easy.

[RH | 5,058]

7 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I play games where I see this and go "ah, easy":

 

That's not to brag, I'm not that great at them. But like, it's hard to go back to rows of dudes slowly pacing back and forth and get excited. I've had too much super-ultra-stimulus, the normal shit just don't cut it no more.

Interesting, to me there's a wide valley of enjoyment.  I love a lot of the old school stuff. Then you get into the direction of "bullet hell" and I'm not too interested, until it looks about like that.  But the reason is, when you have 10k bullets on the screen, finding the proper pattern of survival gets easier because usually, there's only one place for your ship to be at any time, within a few pixel window.  At that point, it's like your following an invisible dot around the screen.

I'm not saying these games are "easy" but I do think when you get to that point, there are only so many places for your ship to be and, from my experience, picking up the placement pattern of your ship gets a lot easier because you're no longer following and tracking the placement of bullets--your following the placement of blank spaces.

[G-type | 2,672]

bullet hells are almost like maze games but touching the walls kills you.

[G-type | 2,672]

I had the TI-99/4a clone of this as a kid, and really liked it. The atari 2600 port was ok...  I'd rather play Galaga

[DefaultGen | 5,569]

I certainly can't in good conscious give it above an average 5/10. I'd pick the vast majority of shooters over plain old Space Invaders. I don't even know how many shooters I'd consider worse. D-Force??

The only thing interesting about Space Invaders probably isn't even an intentional design choice, but when you miss a shot you really feel how bad you screwed up while you wait for it to traverse the entire screen. It's the shooter equivalent of making sure you commit to good jumps in Castlevania.

I played the 2600 version as a kid when I was bored out of my absolute mind from my limited Genesis library because Youtube didn't exist and AOL cost money per minute.

3/10

Edited May 23 by DefaultGen

[DefaultGen | 5,569]

3 hours ago, Gloves said:

Honestly I don't. There's just so much more out there with such a massive amount of variance by comparison, these early shooters are really boring to me.

You kids with your hitboxes, loot boxes, and Xboxes just don't appreciate good old fashioned fun.

[Brickman | 4,104]

I think 4 sits pretty well with this game. It's a below average shooter and this would be a game near the bottom of the list of shmups you'd be looking at playing if you were getting into the genre.

We had this on Atari as a kid and even as a kid it would be the least played game for us. River Raid was always my favourite.

[ThePhleo | 2,198]

ILL BE THE FIRST TO SAY IT.

It's one of my favorite games to play.

Great in a diner lobby, great on a cell phone, great in an arcade, great at home, great on a game boy.

Space Invaders rocks, 10/10 you all suck.

[elprincipe | 143]

6 hours ago, G-type said:

I had the TI-99/4a clone of this as a kid, and really liked it. The atari 2600 port was ok...  I'd rather play Galaga

I was just coming in here to recommend TI Invaders! Definitely my favorite version of Space Invaders. I played the Atari VCS version to death as well. 9/10 for me.

[Sumez | 3,040]

For how basic the original Space Invaders is, it really is surprisingly addictive once you start playing it, going for the high scores. Perfectly balanced around being challenging enough that it takes effort for a game to not end quickly, but just manageable enough that you'll always make it just a bit further.

And even the super simplistic graphics (usually unfairly represented in screenshots, by just the pixels produced by the hardware) are heightened by how great the game actually looks in an original cabinet - I love the 3D reflection effect with the space theme in the background.

6/10 - not something I'll go back to often, but most definitely above average

Edited May 24 by Sumez

[Sumez | 3,040]

9 hours ago, Gloves said:

I play games where I see this and go "ah, easy":

 

That's not to brag, I'm not that great at them. But like, it's hard to go back to rows of dudes slowly pacing back and forth and get excited. I've had too much super-ultra-stimulus, the normal shit just don't cut it no more.

Play Hishouzame bro

[Gloves | 11,997]

36 minutes ago, Sumez said:

Play Hishouzame bro

I'm not big on shmups where you're a biplane, as specific as that sounds. They tend to be of a specific type (e.g. 1942) and I'm just not a big fan of it. 

It's somewhat telling that Dino Riki was one of my most-played games as a kid when all we had was the NES. I like stuff with style, and variation.