Gaplus, 1984 Namco/Bally/Midway (20 From 1984 #8)
25Terrific entry in the Galaxian/Galaga series (this game is also called GALAGA 3); this has some of the best music and sound effects! Perhaps the most notable novel aspect is being able to move anywhere in the lower half of the screen instead of just at the bottom, as in Galaxian and Galaga. And here, you get new weapon power-ups instead of just a double shot like in Galaga-- you can acquire a "hypno-beam" of your own (the enemy used this on you in Galaga) to capture enemies and make them fire when you do-- up to 6 new allies! You can also acquire a fast beam that can mow down enemies really quick, as well as a "corkscrew" that captures enemies and allows you to shoot them for increasing bonuses, and there is one you can unlock early in the game with a trick (I'll tell you about later) that lets you shoot 3 shots at once, instead of two. All these powerups are courtesy of a queen insect you must shoot twice. It can also drop 1/3 of a new ship that gives you a free life when you get all 3 parts. The enemies formate like in Galaga, group by group. On some stages the action seems to move in reverse and the enemies move faster; on some stages you might have the action slow down or the starfield seems to indicate you're scrolling to the right. Though you can move way up the screen I do NOT recommend you do this-- the enemies will be moving faster and shooting more often and you'll need plenty of time to react, so stay at the bottom. The challenging stages are rather interesting in that you "juggle" enemies with your shots-- though don't go overboard with shooting them or forcing them offscreen, as they will not return and there are only 4 groups of them. But juggling them adds a piece of a letter to a word you want to spell to get a bonus of some sort (points, extra life, extra piece of ship, etc.). The enemies very early on seem to leave the very center bottom alone as they formate, so this may be a safe spot for a moment; later, a good strategy may be to sweep left to right and back to draw fire away and then go back to safety. GAPLUS was the original game and it was released as both GAPLUS and GALAGA 3 in the US under the Bally/Midway license; with GAPLUS there is a neat trick to get 8 lives with the name JHIMYJ, age and blood type 00! And with both versions (I believe) you can get the Special flag from Rally-X to appear with a trick for a 1up, and make the queen give you a new weapon (3 shots on the screen at once) for the rest of the game! Neat-o! Wonderful entry in the storied Galaxian/Galaga franchise. Pew pew!