Galaga [rückläufig]

Es ist das klassische Arcadespiel, das niemand an denkt, dennoch gespielten jeder. Es ist auch eine Folge, die unendlich besser war, als sein Vorgänger.  Es ist Name:  Galaga.  

Es ist einfach, zu vergessen, gerade wie erfolgreich Raum-Eindringlinge war.  1978 war es das Spiel, daß Sie Viertel in endlos pumpen würden, bis Sie gezwungen waren, nach Hause zu kommen.  Namco freigegeben Galaxian das folgende Jahr als Konkurrenz.  Analytisch konnten Sie das sagen Galaxian war besser als Raum-Eindringlinge in jeder Weise.  In der Farbe mit reicheren Tönen, hatte sie mehr Bewegung und pizazz.  Jedoch nehmen Sie mein Wort für es,  Galaxian immer war irgendwie niedrige Miete.  Es war, was Sie spielten, nur wenn es keine andere vorhandene Maschine gab.

Galaga änderte alles das.  

Wenn es ein einzelnes Wort gibt, das zusammenfaßt Galaga, it’s “polish.” Everything has been honed, refined, and subtly improved.  The view is tighter, increasing tension.  Enemy ships fly into formation at the beginning of each round, rather than simply appearing.  One of the keystones of playing well is learning to pick off enemies before they form up.  Also there’s the capture mechanic:  the player’s ship can be captured by one of the ‘boss’ enemies, then if the boss is later destroyed, the captured ship “docs” with your new ship, providing you with double the firepower but twice the target area.  (I personally always found that docking made my game shorter and more brutal, but I always went for it anyway.)

Perhaps the greatest addition to the game is the idea of the “challenge stage”, which mixes up gameplay by providing you with a comparatively non-dangerous stage on which you are able to focus more on score than on survival.  Remembering the first time I got a perfect score on a challenge stage still gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Having the “doubled ship” helps increase your score on the challenge stages significantly.

The success of Galaga ensured the survival of a Namco tradition of creating sequals.  As a contrarian, I actually prefer the sort-of-but-not-really sequel Bosconian, a game which transported the Galaga fighter into a war zone where its goal was to destroy space stations. The “official” sequel, Gaplus, never appealed to me (nor, if my surveys are accurate, to anyone else.)  Galaga, in the end is all about polish and balance.  The failure of similar games to prove similarly addictive demonstrates how razor-thin the edge of greatness is.

Despite being a game with no plot and no characters, people get surprisingly emotional about Galaga.  This is the ultimate proof that art is only partially about subject matter.  It is also about craft.  Galaga is not remembered for what it was, but for having been a well-crafted example of what it was.  The next time you stand in a store and deliberate over which of the HD-laden, fully 3D, online multiplayer extravanzas you want, ask yourself this question:  “Will it be as much fun as Galaga?”

But don’t blame me if asking that question makes you go home empty-handed.  Blame Namco.