Galaga: Demons of Death
System: NES
Release Date: September 1988
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Bandai
Genre: Shoot ‘em Up
Namco felt that arcades weren’t good enough for Galaga and decided a NES port was necessary. I can’t say I agree. Galaga is a simple game. You control a ship and can move left and right with the d-pad and shoot with the A and B Buttons. The goal is to wipe out wave after wave of enemies. They swoop on screen in a pattern, then chill out at the top of the screen moving back and forth. Occasionally, they swoop down at you and shoot their own missiles to take you out.
The very top of the enemy wave is a boss Galaga that takes two hits to destroy. They can catch you with a tractor beam and steal one of your lives. This can be good for you, because if you can shoot that boss and your ship, you get a twin shot. Of course, this is two of your lives, so there’s some risk inherent. These do make the Challenging Stages much easier and help rack up the points. There are also enemies that transform and multiply as they come for you. Earn a bonus if you kill them all.
Get your high score and share it with your friends in order to prove you’re the best. Or, die in wave five a bunch of times and quit.
Graphics: 0.5
There are no upgrades from the early 80s arcade machine.
Sound: 0.5
Just repetitive sound effects that get annoying very quickly.
Gameplay: 1.5
I guess the gameplay was good enough to warrant a million rereleases, but not great.
Difficulty: 2.0
It’s easy to learn, difficult to master.
Fun Factor: 1.0
Fun in short bursts here and there. Not much more.
Overall Grade: 1.1
Galaga: Demons of Death earns a D. Galaga is fine to play while you’re waiting for your pizza, but I wouldn’t want to pay full price for a NES game of it.