Space Invaders (Game Boy)

(Pic courtesy of GBDB.com)

Now, here's a game that's been dead and buried for years! Space Invaders, on it's basic level now in 2011, is a very boring arcade shooter that'll be over before you know it. Don't tell that to 1980! On Game Boy, however, this game made in 1994 (licensed for the millionth time by Taito who basically keeps telling the game world: "Hey! We don't have anymore good arcade games, so keep playing Space Invaders!"*) . This game is as basic as it can get - five long rows of invaders creep slowly across and down the screen while your ship is tasked with destroying them all before they reach the bottom and end the game. They do shoot back, however, so the player is provided with four "shields" that act as protection to duck under to avoid enemy fire. They are effective, to a point. Now, with the more aliens destroyed, the remaining aliens gain speed (I'm sure you all know this all by now). If any of them reach the very bottom of the screen, the game ends even if you have lives remaining.

So, how does it look, feel and play on Game Boy? Arcade perfect. Arcade perfect, that is for Game Boy. Space Invaders feels great, looks great and plays amazing, though it is a sparse translation. There's nothing on this cart besides the basic Space Invaders besides an option to play a 'Vs. Game' against another friend via link cable. Bleh**. The only thing this game needs is the original intro screen that reads "Play Space Invaders" and an arcade joystick to make it the perfect experience. As it stands, Space invaders for the Game Boy is a great experience, and if you can get it for the right price (I paid $3 for it - probably too high), you'd normally have hours of fun with it. But since the game only lasts a few minutes at a time, you'll probably only have minutes of fun with it.

Final Score: Three motherships out of four.

* Yes, I know Taito has a few other decent arcade games like Elevator Action and some others, but I always think that they really have been milking Space Invaders forever!

** Hope you didn't ever pay full price for it!