Space Invaders is back! Again. Wait. This may have happened before. Maybe it’s a new version? Nope. It’s most all the versions! We recently reviewed the physical release of Taito’s Space Invaders Invincible Collection from publisher ININ Games and Strictly Limited games here, and now ININ has kindly released it digitally so everyone can enjoy some fine retro action! While we previously went through each section of the game, it’s nice to go back again and re-examine them all from perspectives of different players to give you a variety of opinions on the collection, so here goes!
SPACE INVADERS / SPACE INVADERS COLOR
The original Space Invaders from Taito in 1978 was a classic arcade machine that nearly everyone is familiar with. It’s a bit odd that the color version of the game is actually separate from the regular version in this collection if you’re familiar with arcade games though. To turn Space Invaders into a color game, Taito actual put overlay strips of clear colored plastic over the spots where each line of Invaders would move down, creating a color effect on a black and white monitor. This is replicated by the colors of the game and is why each row stays certain colors at certain heights. There could easily have just been an option to switch to color here. The original game is still fairly challenging to this day and newbies to the series may find it a bit unforgiving as well as slightly frustrating! Space Invaders Color has a 5th digit to its score that the original lacks, but for the majority of more casual players, scores won’t get that high to begin with!
SPACE INVADERS PART II
Space Invaders II shakes up the game’s formula a bit. After you manage to survive for a bit, some Invaders break into two smaller aliens when hit, making it much harder to clear the waves of enemies. There’s also a second UFO style added to the game which is more challenging to shoot down than the original and can even drop extra Invaders when you progress far enough the the game! There’s more challenge here but the basic mechanics and movement are essentially unaltered from the first game. It’s still a fun and fascinating title, but compared to later entries in the series, it’s still somewhat of a relic.
LUNAR RESCUE
Lunar Rescue is a bit of a surprise and is likely unfamiliar to most players. In Lunar Rescue, you drop a lunar lander from the mothership, land on one of the multiple landing pads while dodging asteroids, pick up an astronaut of some sort, and fly them back to the mothership while shooting down aliens that try to stop you while you try not to run out of rocket fuel. It’s kind of a mix of Space Invaders, a shmup, and Space Taxi, the classic taxi game for the Commodore 64. Lunar Rescue is surprisingly fun for its age and the shift in mechanics from landing to returning is very enjoyable! Lunar Rescue is an excellent inclusion in the collection and well worth spending some time with!
SPACE CYCLONE
In comparison to the original Space Invaders games and Lunar Rescue, Space Cyclone is a significant departure. It’s an incredibly obscure Taito release and the only way to play it previously was pretty much on emulation. Even then, the emulation wasn’t good so to have an official release is pretty cool. However, as the weakest entry in the Space Invaders Invincible Collection, it’s still not all that exciting for all its rarity. Your goal in Space Cyclone is to shoot down aliens riding asteroids. Moving along the bottom of the screen like Space Invaders, you have limited mobility though, and the aliens are incredibly nimble, diving off of asteroids and flitting erratically down to the bottom of the screen where they jump about in your fire area and try to destroy you. The movement is wild and hard to track and even though the game has some neat voice effects, the overall vibe is pure and utter frustration. The UFO even comes down and fires a massive lightning bolt that is near impossible to dodge, pushing players to controller-throwing levels of rage. There’s probably a good reason why this one wasn’t more widely distributed back in 1980.
SUPER SPACE INVADERS ’91 / MAJESTIC TWELVE
The next two titles in the series, Super Space Invaders ’91 and Majestic Twelve are respectively the US and Japanese releases of the same game. The main difference between the two is that Majestic Twelve has a level select and Super Space Invaders ’91 simply moves forward in a linear fashion as you clear levels, as well as having slight changes to some graphics. The best part about Majestic Twelve is that it’s a massive upgrade from previous Space Invaders games and includes parallax scrolling backgrounds, wild enemy patterns that shift all around the screen, and an Arkanoid-like powerup that drops from the UFO granting a variety of incredibly powerful attacks that clear whole screens of enemies in seconds.
You can get homing flames, barricades that can be shot into enemies’ paths, and there’s even a weird moth that freezes time, allowing for you to easily sweep up enemies on screen at a leisurely pace! Majestic Twelve is an absolutely fantastic game that feels more like a shmup than a Space Invaders game right down to the inclusion of actual bosses and has aged incredibly well. The weirdest part is that you have to stop UFOs from abducting cows as well in bonus stages and it’s oddly challenging. Plus, shooting cows with lasers is fun. This is a classic that everyone should play and is possibly the best title on the entire collection!
SPACE INVADERS DX
The addition of Space Invaders DX in this collection is a must, even if parts of it are a bit repetitive. You’ve got the original Space Invaders in both black and white and color in the collection and DX replicates those by adding both versions as well as one that simulates the overlays mentioned earlier in this review. There’s even a mode that simulates the backdrop reflector from the original Space Invaders Arcade cabinet (which is pretty cool). In short, there’s almost no need to include the original two games in this collection with DX present but they’re here anyway because first, they take up almost no space, and second, it’s all about having every version of the game!
In addition to the excellent multi-mode replication of the original game, there’s also a two-player mode included in DX that adds some versus effects much like Twinkle Star Sprites where your attacks send enemies flying at your opponents. And it doesn’t end there! The last mode in DX is the Parody mode, which completely re-skins the invaders as characters from a variety of Taito franchises. With each successive wave, the skins change, shaking up the visuals even though the mechanics stay the same. It’s a great overall package and definitely worth of inclusion in the Invincible Collection!
SPACE INVADERS EXTREME
Space Invaders Extreme is one of the more modern versions of Space Invaders and it’s a shock to the senses moving from the classic series to something that’s more like a psychedelic version of Space Invaders. The game is colorful, full of heavy, intense beats, and absolutely in your face. Patterns are fast and furious and your ship is much more responsive than in previous iterations of the game. There are actually a couple of other games in the series similar to Space Invaders Extreme that are unfortunately not present though. Space Invaders Galaxy Beat which was a PSP exclusive and had a number of unique features and Space Invaders Infinity Gene which released only on mobile platforms and the PS3.
Regardless, Extreme is easily one of the most fun versions of Space Invaders designed for modern players, if you can handle the intense visuals that is. Definitely think twice about this one if you have epilepsy because the flashing lights and pulsing backgrounds are very intense. The Extreme name is no exaggeration! There are a variety of substages including roulette, boss battles, and side missions and by the time you get done with a session of Extreme it feels like you’ve been through a workout! It’s a fantastic addition to the series!
SPACE INVADERS GIGAMAX 4 SE
Space Invaders Gigamax 4 SE is a bit of an odd title in the series. It’s designed from the ground up as a local multiplayer experience and it ends up a bit weak for single players because of it. Multiple players can combine shots by moving their ships near one another to increase the power and defeat large enemy Invaders, but for obvious reasons, this can’t be done in single player mode, relegating Gigamax to the occasional party game unless you have friends coming over that want to play it with you or regular local co-op gaming buddies. It’s great to have in the collection for a true multiplayer Space Invaders experience but it’s more of a bonus than a selling point here.
ARKANOID VS. SPACE INVADERS
The final game included in the collection is Arkanoid Vs. Space Invaders. This is a bit of an odd one as the game is not actually included in the Space Invaders Invincible Collection but instead given to you as a separate download linked to your account when you purchase the game. It has to be installed and booted up separately and honestly, that’s kind of weird for a title that’s already digital. Why not include it? Hard to say. Regardless, if you’re unfamiliar with Arkanoid it’s a brick breaking game where you move a paddle along the bottom of the screen much like the ships in Space Invaders move except that you’re bouncing a ball instead of shooting aliens. In keeping with the oddness, Arkanoid Vs. Space Invaders can only be played in undocked mode on the Switch and forces you to rotate the system 90 degrees and play on a vertically oriented screen with touch controls exclusively. It’s a wild departure from other versions of Space Invaders and was originally released only on mobile platforms. There’s a story mode, 40 unlockable Taito characters, boss fights, and a unique combination of the mechanics of both games that makes for an incredibly immersive experience over its 150 levels. It’s a shame that it doesn’t play on a big screen because if you have a rotatable monitor or TV, it would be simply fantastic! Arkanoid Vs. Space Invaders is definitely a bright star in the Invincible Collection even with the portable-only settings!
THE REST OF THE COLLECTION
In addition to the vast array of Space Invaders options (16 versions if the count is correct!) provided by the Space Invaders Invincible Collection, there’s even more going on here. Not only do you get faithful emulations of all of the above games, but you can play any of them in Challenge mode as well as original mode. Challenges offer specific goals in each game for you to overcome and add additional replay value to an already extensive collection. Sure, some of the games in the Invincible Collection are just copies of each other, but adding in what are essentially achievements to work on ups the ante a bit! Some players will absolutely love this while others will be ambivalent at best.
Visually, the collection is stunning as well. It’s easy to select a game and play it, add credits, continue, or drop back to the main screen with the intuitive menu system, and there are no graphical hitches, crashes or other issues with the Invincible Collection. You can adjust menu settings as you see fit in each game and some games are rotatable, allowing for use of the Flip Grip if you have one. Most serious shmup fans will, for those of you that don’t….they’re awesome, get one!
The only real downside to the Space Invaders Invincible Collection is that there are several notable exclusions. Space Invaders ’95: Attack of the Lunar Loonies was left out, as were both Space Invaders Galaxy Beat and Space Invaders Infinity Gene. They are all unfortunate choices to leave out and both Infinity Gene and ’95 are developed by Taito so the Invincible Collection isn’t exactly a definitive collection without them. It’s especially unfortunate since Infinity Gene had a soundtrack by the esteemed Zuntata music team at Taito. Galaxy Beat was actually developed by Marvelous Entertainment though, so it makes sense that it isn’t here and has never been re-released, sadly relegated only to those that bought the Japanese PSP version (the US release was cancelled).
Ultimately though, you’re getting an absolutely massive array of Space Invaders content with the Space Invaders Invincible Collection and now that it’s available digitally, everyone can share in the fun! This is a pricey piece of software at $60, but there’s a ton of gameplay here for a variety of tastes and playstyles and almost every gamer will find at least one or two titles that appeal to them! ININ Games has outdone themselves on this collection and hopefully this paves the way for some more modern experimentation with the Space Invaders franchise but for now, just be aware that your money will be well-spent by investing in this thoroughly enjoyable (excluding Space Cyclone) collection!
This review is based on a digital copy of Space Invaders Invincible Collection provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and was excellent in both. All screenshots are from actual gameplay.