The Rules of Galaga

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VideoGameCritic
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The Rules of Galaga

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 7th, 2016, 10:43 am

Not sure if they are rules or laws, but I posted a series of Rules of Galaga over the past week I'd like to share with the rest of you.

First rule of Galaga: Your first game is always your best. After that you start taking too many chances.

Second rule of Galaga: Allow your ship to be captured at the first opportunity.

Third Rule of Galaga: Do NOT shoot your own captured ship, unless you want to subjected to the scorn and derision of your peers.

4th law of Galaga: Once you lose the first of a double-ship, chances of losing the second one within 30 seconds is damn near 100%.

5th rule of Galaga: when equipped with the double-shot you have a moral responsibility to beat each challenge stage with a perfect score.

6th rule of Galaga: Never, EVER allow your final ship to be captured. Then it's all over but the crying.

Can you think of any more?
I should probably incorporate these into one of my Galaga reviews.

Teddybear
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby Teddybear » August 7th, 2016, 11:54 am

7th rule of Galaga: Former executives for Atari and Coleco should be smacked for not producing a home version of one of the most popular arcade games of that era for the 2600, 5200 and Colecovision.

It is amazing that gamers had to wait over 6 years to finally get Galaga ported to a home system.

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scotland
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby scotland » August 7th, 2016, 2:47 pm

Teddybear wrote:7th rule of Galaga: Former executives for Atari and Coleco should be smacked for not producing a home version of one of the most popular arcade games of that era for the 2600, 5200 and Colecovision. It is amazing that gamers had to wait over 6 years to finally get Galaga ported to a home system.


Apparently, gamers in the East did get an earlier port, via the SG-1000 as "Sega Galaga". What's funny is the box art is in Japanese, but the game is in English. Someone is crossing the streams.

Galaxian was commonly ported to early US systems - Atari 2600, Atari 400/800, Colecovision, Commodore 64, etc, but not Galaga. Galaxian even got one of those Coleco Mini Arcade units.

There are those gamers that say that they prefer the precision of Galaxian over Galaga (anyone?), or it could be the similarity in names caused some confusion, but really - in that mad heady days of 1983 when so many companies were churning out 2600 titles, why wouldn't there have been a Galaga port on the 2600 if no where else?

Someone come up with a conspiracy theory for us to disseminate across the interwebs.

Teddybear
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby Teddybear » August 7th, 2016, 5:29 pm

Galaxian (while a quality game) is simply the inspiration for the superior Galaga!

Not trying to call anyone out....but I STILL have no idea what the SG-1000 is nor it's place in the 1980's and wish there was a console review! By 1986 I was balls-deep into the Commodore 64!!!!

Scotland....thank you for being a most calming voice on this great site!!!!

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Gentlegamer
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby Gentlegamer » August 8th, 2016, 11:13 am

If you're not playing on a cocktail coin-op, with pizza/beer resting on top, you're not really playing Galaga.

Robotrek
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby Robotrek » August 8th, 2016, 4:40 pm

I got booted out of an arcade once because of Galaga. Most of us discovered you can stop the enemies from firing. Problem is, the glitch takes forever to complete. The operator down at the local arcade called Blazing Flippers (such a great arcade that existed in Maryland) kicked me out because I just sat there at the machine, he said I was "cheating". What a load of garbage that was.

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ActRaiser
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby ActRaiser » August 8th, 2016, 5:31 pm

Robotrek wrote:I got booted out of an arcade once because of Galaga. Most of us discovered you can stop the enemies from firing. Problem is, the glitch takes forever to complete. The operator down at the local arcade called Blazing Flippers (such a great arcade that existed in Maryland) kicked me out because I just sat there at the machine, he said I was "cheating". What a load of garbage that was.


Holy crap! I never knew that existed. A quick Google search confirmed it. All these years my scores have stunk...

I can't believe I never knew about that until now. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to try that the next time. That's awesome!

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scotland
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby scotland » August 8th, 2016, 9:23 pm

Teddybear wrote: By 1986 I was balls-deep into the Commodore 64!!!! Scotland....thank you for being a most calming voice on this great site!!!!


Thanks for the compliment. Its a nice set of gamers here...who apparently know far more about Galaga than I do because I did not know about that glitch either. Any other arcade glitches to get higher scores? Any for Bosconian or Sinistar maybe? See, this is why the internet was invented, to trade gaming tips.

The 7800 port seems to have both fans and detractors. I can't believe the CoCo has a port and not the C64. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.

As an aside, I always enjoy 8 bit computer talk. While sales numbers were lower than consoles, and their legacies not as bright, there was a lot of fun and creativity in there. Many an hour with a Compute! magazine and making really bad homemade games.

Tron
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby Tron » August 8th, 2016, 11:12 pm

Great points, totally relate. Can't think of any to add. You nailed em.

mbd36
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Re: The Rules of Galaga

Postby mbd36 » August 10th, 2016, 7:51 pm

Teddybear wrote:7th rule of Galaga: Former executives for Atari and Coleco should be smacked for not producing a home version of one of the most popular arcade games of that era for the 2600, 5200 and Colecovision.

It is amazing that gamers had to wait over 6 years to finally get Galaga ported to a home system.


Just as well it wasn't ported to the 2600. It would have been laughable.


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