Galaga

Galaga is a fixed shooter. The player controls Gyaraga at the bottom of the screen, which must prevent the Galaga forces from destroying all of mankind. The objective of each stage is to defeat all of the Galaga aliens, which will fly into formation from the top and sides of the screen. Similar to the previous game, Galaxian, aliens known as the "Galaga" will dive towards the player while shooting down projectiles; colliding with either projectiles or aliens will result in a life being lost.

Atop the enemy formation are 4 large fly-like aliens known as the "Boss Galaga", which take double shots to destroy (like "Galaxian Flagships" first seen in 1979's Galaxian, which take a single shot to destroy). These enemies can use a tractor beam to capture the player's ship, returning with it to the top of the formation and costing the player a life. Should additional lives remain, the player has an opportunity to shoot down the Boss Galaga holding the captured Fighter. Shooting them down as they dive towards the player will result in the captured Fighter being rescued, and it will join the player's ship, transforming it into a "dual-fighter" with additional firepower and a larger hitbox.

Galaga was created by Japanese developer Shigeru Yokoyama, a long-time veteran of Namco. Namco's first big video game hit in arcades was Galaxian (1979); the game's success led Namco to produce a large number of Namco Galaxian arcade boards to keep up with demand. By the early 1980s the game was becoming harder to sell, so to help clear out inventory, Yokoyama was tasked with creating two new games that could run on the Namco Galaxian board. The first of these was King & Balloon (1980), a fixed shooter that is cited as the first video game to incorporate speech.

The second game was instead made for newer hardware as suggested by Namco's Research & Development division. This new arcade board was named the Namco Galaga and was used in games including Bosconian (1981) and Dig Dug (1982). Although Yokoyama was not given explicit instructions to make a shooting game, management expressed desire for him to make a game similar to Galaxian. Initial planning for the project took two months.

Galaga was met with acclaim, with many applauding the engaging gameplay, structure, innovation and improvements over its predecessor, and was a popular game during the golden age of arcade video games. In Japan, it was the sixth highest-grossing arcade game of 1981, then the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1982, and then the ninth highest-grossing table arcade cabinet of 1986. In North America, it regularly appeared on the monthly sales chart of RePlay magazine from April 1980 to April 1987, being only outdone by Sega's Monaco GP (1979). Galaga was among the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1983 in the United States.

Computer + Video Games praised the challenge and improvements made over Galaxian, while Arcade Express selected it as an "Honorable Mention" in their 1983 arcade awards. Japanese publication Amusement Life said that the sense of thrill and fast-paced action made Galaga a "must play", while also praising its unique dual-fighter mechanic and colorful graphics. Vidiot magazine listed it as the seventh best arcade game of 1983, saying that its gameplay variety, dual-fighter mechanic and bonus stages made it stick out from the crowd.