Space Invaders Extreme

The player controls a cannon at the bottom of the display (Yellow on DS and PC, Silver on PSP and Purple on Xbox 360) - this can move left or right and fire. To the top of the display formations of invaders appear - these must be shot for points and to avoid them destroying the players' cannon. Sometimes a UFO will traverse the top of the screen. This is the same basic design as Space Invaders; the player loses a life if hit, or if one of the aliens touches the ground (Nagoya Attack); but the formation of the aliens differs greatly, changing from level to level.

Sometimes there are only a handful of invaders in a tight formation, sometimes individual invaders advance rapidly down the screen separately from the main formation, and sometimes a boss level will be encountered, often consisting of a very large invader and various guards. The invaders themselves have individual properties, such as firing lasers, splitting into duplicates or charging for the ground after being hit once. Bonuses for higher scores can be obtained by doing as instructed by words that flash up on the background, such as hitting invaders of a particular color or particular type.

The game has enjoyed critical praise since its release. The game is noted for its fast-paced gameplay with IGN claiming the game "[is] energetic and addictive, and does an absolutely fantastic job retaining the old-school charm of the original 1978 classic"; however, IGN scored the PSP version of the game slightly lower due to its lack of online play and score sharing. GameSpot stated that "the gameplay has been improved" over the original. 1UP.com called the single-player mode "engrossing" and GameSpot later concludes that "Space Invaders Extreme is a very good example of how to update a classic game".

Both versions of Space Invaders Extreme were listed as the best shooter game for their respective consoles by IGN. IGN also awarded the DS version as having the best artistic design and best original score, as well as being best shooter for the DS.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 was released in Japan on 26 March 2009, 2 October 2009 in Europe and on 20 October 2009 in North America. There is a large amount of new content, such as new stages, boss formations, time attack mode and a 'bingo' system. The announcer voice was changed to an enthusiastic male voice, which sounds like a game show announcer.

Also, in Japan, a mini version was released to DSiWare called Space Invaders Extreme Z, which has no multiplayer or online WiFi rankings.