Sunday 1 June 2014

Video Game Character of the Month - June 2014 - Space Invader - Space Invaders

Video Game Character of the Month
June 2014
The Space Invader
Space Invaders
Overview:
Ah, the humble Space Invader, so mysterious, so minimalist, so evil actually. I mean, seriously, they come to Earth for no reason, without any explanation and trap us on a 2D plane with minimalist graphics (and don't tell me that's just part of the game as that's what they want us to think).
Anyway, here's a quick bit of information on the Space Invader:

They are based on crabs and squid
They appear to be made of pixely blocks
No one knows the reason why they came
No one knows how many there are
No one knows when it will end
No one knows... oh no... their coming... it's... it's too late for me... read on to fi... *end transmission*

Origin of the Space Invader:
Sorry to be so dramatic there, but I felt that it had to be done. Anyway, back to the award. The game itself was created by Tomohiro Nishikado and the inspiration for it came from many different sources. One source of inspiration was apparently, the mechanical game (do you remember them?) Space Monsters which was released by Taito in 1972 while another one was a dream about Japanese school children waiting for Santa Claus before being attacked by invading aliens (no joke). However, Tomohiro Nishikado said that the real inspiration for the game came from Atari's Breakout (which is nowhere near as cool as the dream inspiration). He has said that he wanted to create a shooting game that gave the player the same sense of achievement from beating stages but with better graphics (so he swapped out the rectangles for aliens made of rectangles). The gameplay was also changed slightly, letting the player shoot at any time against moving enemies. Then we come to the actual Space Invaders and the actual topic of this award. Originally the much-feared aliens were designed to be tanks, fighter planes and battleships. However, technical limitations made it hard to simulate flying (because realism was all the rage back then) and so humans were the next stage of development. These, too, were scrapped, not due to technical limitations but due to Tomohiro Nishikado thinking that killing them would be immoral (because killing an alien race without any attempt at diplomacy isn't). Anyway's, the alien theme came about after Tomohiro saw an article about Star Wars in a magazine. He then drew inspiration from H. H. Wells's 'The War of the Worlds' and the first Space Invader was born! The original was octopus like and it was soon joined by squid and crab like variants. Finally, came the name. The first title was Space Monsters (after the popular Japanese song 'Monster') but then it was changed to Space Invaders by Tomohiro's superiors. So now, the stage was set for one of the most spectacular invasions of media ever.

Evolution of the Space Invader:
Throughout the years, Space Invaders has had many different remakes, ports, sequels and clones that have added something to the Space Invader character and universe. This included revolutionary things such as colour graphics (!) and even letting you play as a Space Invader as well as replacing the beloved pixels with creatures from Alien! The strange octopus/crab rectangle thing has become a pop culture icon and a byword/picture for the entire video game industry. Not bad for a couple of pixels.

Games:
Space Invaders
Original Release date:
June 1978           
Release years by system:
1978 – Arcade
1980 – Atari 2600, Atari 400 and 800
1982 – Atari 5200, Handheld electronic games
1985 – Nintendo Entertainment System, SG-1000
1996 – Sega Saturn
1999 – WonderSwan
2002 – Sky Active
2006 – VG Pocket Caplet
2007 – Mobile phone
2009 – iOS
Space Invaders Part II
Original release date: 1979      
Release years by system:
1979 – Arcade
1990 – Game Boy and Skill for Prizes

Space Invaders II
Original release date: 1980      
Release years by system:
1980 – Arcade

Return of the Invaders
Original release date: 1985      
Release years by system:
1985 – Arcade

Super Space Invaders '91
Original release date: 1990      
Release years by system:
1990 – Arcade
1991 – Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, PC, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Mininvaders
Original release date: 1990      
Release years by system:
1990 – Arcade

Space Invaders DX
Original release date: 1993      
Release years by system:
1993 – Arcade
1994 – Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1995 – TurboGrafx-CD
1996 – Sega Saturn
1997 – PlayStation
2001 – Nuon

Space Invaders '95
Original release date: 1995      
Release years by system:
1995 – Arcade

Space Invaders The Beat Attacker
Original release date: 2008      
Release years by system:
2008 – Arcade

Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi
Original release date: 1990      
Release years by system:
1990 – PC Engine

Space Invaders 90
Original release date:
Japan - September 7, 1990
North America - 1991
Release years by system:
1990 – Sega Mega Drive

Space Invaders
Original release date: 1999      
Release years by system:
1999 – PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Colour

Space Invaders Get Even
Original release date:
Japan - August 26, 2008
North America - December 1, 2008
Europe - November 7, 2008
Release years by system:
2008 – Wii

Space Invaders
Original release date: 1999      
Release years by system:
1999 – Colour FX

Space Invaders
Original release date:
North America - March 19, 2002
Europe - May 3, 2002
Release years by system:
2002 – Game Boy Advance

Space Invaders Revolution
Original release date:
Japan March 24, 2005
North America - September 20, 2005
Europe - July 8, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – Nintendo DS

Space Invaders Evolution
Original release date:
Japan - September 22, 2005
Europe - November 3, 2006
Australia - October 27, 2006
Release years by system:
2005 – PlayStation Portable

Space Invaders Extreme
Original release date:
Japan - February 21, 2008
North America - June 17, 2008
Europe - July 4, 2008
Australia - July 30, 2008
Release years by system:
2008 – Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable
2009 – Xbox Live Arcade

Space Invaders Extreme 2
Original release date:
Japan - March 26, 2009
North America - October 19, 2009
Europe - October 2, 2009
Release years by system:
2009 - Nintendo DS

Space Invaders Infinity Gene
Original release date: 2009      
Release years by system:
2009 – Mobile phone and iOS
2010 – PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

Space Invaders Virtual Collection
Original release date:
Japan - December 1, 1995
Release years by system:
1995 – Virtual Boy

Space Invaders Anniversary
Original release date: 2003      
Release years by system:
2003 – Arcade, PlayStation 2, and PC

Space Invaders Pocket
Original release date:
Japan - May 12, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – PlayStation Portable

Taito Memories Volume 1
Original release date:
Japan - July 28, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – PlayStation 2

Taito Memories Volume 2
Original release date:
Japan - August 25, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – PlayStation 2

Taito Legends
Original release date:
North America October 25, 2005
Europe October 14, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC

Taito Legends Power-Up
Original release date:
North America - May 16, 2007
Europe - March 31, 2006
Australia - March 30, 2006
Release years by system:
2006 – PlayStation Portable

Taito Legends 2
Original release date:
North America - May 17, 2007
Europe - October 6, 2006
Australia - November 9, 2006
Release years by system:
2006 – PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC

Space Invaders Trilogy
Original release date: 2007      
Release years by system:
2007 – Mobile phone

Pepsi Invaders
Original release date: 1983      
Release years by system:
1983 – Atari 2600

PD Ultraman Invaders
Original release date:
Japan - December 22, 1995
Release years by system:
1995 – PlayStation

Space Raiders
Original release date:
Japan - December 19, 2002
North America - April 19, 2004
Europe - September 5, 2003
Release years by system:
2002 – GameCube, PlayStation 2

Space Invaders Collection
Original release date: 2003      
Release years by system:
2003 – ColecoVision and MSX

Arcade Legends Space Invaders
Original release date: 2004      
Release years by system:
2004 – Plug-and-play

Space Invaders × Pac-Man
Original release date:
Japan - September 1, 2005
Release years by system:
2005 – Mobile phone

Yawaraka Sensha vs Space Invaders
Original release date: November 2006               
Release years by system:
2006 – Mobile phone

Space Invaders Pinball
Original release date: 2007      
Release years by system:
2007 – Mobile phone

Minna de Invaders
Original release date: 2007      
Release years by system:
2007 – Mobile phone

Space Invaders World War
Original release date: April 2008
Release years by system:
2008 – Web browser

Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders: released (World Wide) on May 17, 2017 on iOS and Android

That's all on the humble Space Invader but if I have missed anything or made a mistake then please don't hesitate to comment. And, as always, if you have any ideas on a video game character then please comment as well. 

Goodbye for now, Harry 

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Space_Invaders_video_games

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