Galaga '88/Stages 1-3

The first three stages of the game will always take place in the first dimension, and do not feature any obstacles at all; this means that the only way to collect a blue Warp Capsule on the first or second stage is to wait for two Goei to meld with each other in order to create an enormous version of themselves (assuming you can let at least four of the twenty-four present live).

Stage 1
Welcome to the game. Once your single ship has materialized at the bottom of the screen, two groups of four Zako will fly into view on the left and right sides of the screen before circling around and taking their places in the formation above you; once you have fired a shot at each of them to kill them, another group of four Goei, two Green Don and two Pink Don will fly into view from the left side of the screen and circle around before taking their places in the formation above you. Once you have fired a shot at two of the Goei and the four Don to kill them (you should let two of the Goei live for now so they can try melding with each other), group of four more Goei and four Boss Galagans will come flying into view from the right side of the screen before circling around and taking their places in the formation above you - and once you have fired a shot at each of the four Goei and two shots at three of the Boss Galagans to kill them (you should let one of the Boss Galagans live for now so it can capture your single ship), an Enormous Hiyoko will escort a fourth group of four more Goei, two more Green Don and two more Pink Don into view from the left side of the screen before circling around, flying around above your ship as the four Goei, the two Green Don and the two Pink Don take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so. Once you have fired three shots at this Enormous Hiyoko to kill it, another Enormous Hiyoko will escort a fifth group of four more Zako, two more Green Don and two Brown Don into view from the right side of the screen before circling around, flying around above your ship as the four Zako, the two Green Don and the two Brown Don take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so. Once you have fired a total of three shots at this second Enormous Hiyoko to kill it, any remaining Galagans in formation (there was a total of forty in formation to begin with) will begin to attack your single ship.

If you had let at least two of the twelve Goei in the formation live, they will meld with each other in order to create giant version of themselves while the others are attacking you; once you have fired three shots at this enormous Goei to kill it (its eyes and tail will change colour from red to blue to green as you do so), it will leave blue Warp Capsule behind. Once you have collected this blue Warp Capsule, it will be displayed at the bottom of the screen below your ship - and if you had let even one of the four Boss Galagans in formation live, it will fly down and engage its tractor beam while all the others are attacking you. Once you have moved your single ship into the tractor beam's range, it will turn red as the text "FIGHTER CAPTURED" appears on the screen (unless you manage to fire two shots at the offending Boss Galagan to kill it while it is beaming you up); an updated version of the "Fighter Captured" theme will then be heard from the Yamaha YM-2151 as the Boss Galagan takes your captured single ship back to the top of the screen. Your next single ship will then materialize at the bottom of the screen - and once you have fired two shots at the Boss Galagan that captured your first single ship while it is attacking to kill it, your aforementioned first single ship will return to its original silver colour and spin around in midair for a few seconds before proceeding to join your second single ship at the bottom of the screen in order to become a double ship. If you had let any of the twelve Don in the formation live, they will explode into four miniaturized versions of themselves if you fire one shot at them to kill them while they are attacking you; once you have fired a shot at all four of them to kill them, you will receive an 800- (Green), 1200- (Pink), or 1600-point bonus (Brown) for doing so. Once you have fired a shot at any remaining Galagans in the formation to kill them, your ship will move back into the centre of the screen (unlike in the previous Galaxian titles) and dematerialize as it proceeds to the second stage.

Stage 2
Once your double ship has rematerialized at the bottom of the screen, two Enormous Hiyoko will escort two groups of four Zako into view from the left and right sides of the screen before circling around, flying around above your ship as the eight Zako take up their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so; once you have fired total of three shots at both of these Enormous Hiyoko to kill them, two more Enormous Hiyoko will escort two more groups of four Don (two Greens and two Pinks in both) and four Goei into view on the left side of the screen before circling around while firing a hail of bullets down at you, flying around above your ship as the four Don and the four Goei take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so. Once you have fired of three shots at both of these Enormous Hiyoko to kill them, two more Enormous Hiyoko will escort two more groups of four more Goei and four Boss Galagans into view on the right side of the screen before circling around while firing another hail of bullets down at you, flying around above your ship as the four Goei and the four Boss Galagans take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so - and once you have fired a total o three shots at both of these Enormous Hiyoko to kill them, two more Enormous Hiyoko will escort two more groups of four more Don (still two Greens and two Pinks in both) and four more Goei into view on the left side of the screen before circling around while firing a third hail of bullets down at you, flying around above your ship as the four Don and the four Goei take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so. Once you have fired three shots at both of these Enormous Hiyoko to kill them, two more Enormous Hiyoko will escort two more groups of four more Zako and four more Don (two Green and two Brown) into view on the right side of the screen before circling around while firing a fourth and final hail of bullets down at you, flying around above your ship as the four Zako and the four Don take their places in the formation above you, and flying away off the top of the screen once they have done so; once you have fired a total of three shots at both of these Enormous Hiyoko to kill them, each of the remaining Galagans in the formation (as with the previous stage, there was a total of forty Galagans in this formation to begin with) will begin to attack your bigger target double ship.

Once again, if you let at least two of the twelve Goei in the formation live, they will meld with each other in order to create a giant version of themselves while the others are attacking you; once you have fired three shots at this enormous Goei to kill it (once again, its eyes and tail will change colour from red to blue to green as you do so), it will leave a blue Warp Capsule behind. Once you have collected this blue Warp Capsule, it will be displayed at the bottom of the screen below your ship adjacent to the first one you had collected on the previous stage - and once again, if you let even one of the four Boss Galagans in the formation live, it will fly down and engage its tractor beam while the others are attacking you. Once you have moved your bigger target of a double ship into the tractor beam's range, it will turn blue as the text "FIGHTER CAPTURED" appears on the screen (again, unless you manage to fire two shots at this offending Boss Galagan to kill it while it is beaming you up); that updated version of that "Fighter Captured" theme will then be heard from the Yamaha YM-2151 for a second time as the Boss Galagan takes your captured double ship back to the top of the screen. Your next third single ship will then materialize at the bottom of the screen - and once you have fired two shots at the Boss Galagan that captured your double ship while it is attacking to kill it, your aforementioned double ship will return to its original silver colour and spin around in mid-air for a few seconds before proceeding to join your third single ship at the bottom of the screen in order to become a triple ship (which cannot in turn be captured by Boss Galagans and retrieved to create some kind of "quadruple ship"). Once again, if you let any of the twelve Don in the formation live, they will explode into four miniaturized versions of themselves if you fire a shot at them to kill them while they are attacking you; once you have fired a shot at all four of them to kill them, you will receive an 800- (Green), 1200- (Pink), or 1600-point bonus (Brown). Once you have fired a shot at any remaining Galagans in the formation to kill them, your ship will move back to the centre of the screen and dematerialize as it proceeds to the third stage - which is the first bonus stage in the game, and features a total of thirty-six Hitode (along with four Boss Galagans) dancing to a waltz-type tune written by Hiroyuki Kawada.

Stage 3
Once your triple ship has rematerialized at the bottom of the screen, the text "THAT'S GALACTIC DANCIN'" will appear on the screen as an updated version of the original "Challenging Stage" introduction is heard from the Yamaha YM-2151; two groups of five Hitode will then fly into view from the left and right sides of the screen before circling around five times above your ship and flying away off the opposite left and right sides of the screen. Once you have fired a shot at each of these ten Hitode to kill them, you will receive a 1000-point bonus - and two more groups of five Hitode will then fly into view from the left and right sides of the screen before circling around five times above your ship and flying away off the opposite left and right sides of the screen. Once you have fired a shot at each of these ten Hitode to kill them, you will receive another 1000-point bonus; two more groups of five more Hitode will then fly into view on the left and right sides of the screen before circling around five times above your ship and flying away off the opposite left and right sides of the screen. Once you have fired shot at each of these ten Hitode to kill them, you will receive this third 1000-point bonus - and two more groups of three Hitode and two Boss Galagans will fly into view from the left and right sides of the screen before circling around five times above your ship and flying away off the opposite left and right sides of the screen. Once you have fired a shot at each of these six Hitode and two shots at each of these four Boss Galagans to kill them, you will receive a fourth and final 1000-point bonus; if you managed to fire a shot at all thirty-six of the Hitode (along with two shots at all four of the Boss Galagans) to kill them, the text "PERFECT! NUMBER OF HITS: 40. SPECIAL BONUS! 10000 PTS" will appear on the screen as an updated version of the "Perfect Challenging Stage" theme is heard from the Yamaha YM-2151. However, if you missed even one of the Galagans, the text "NUMBER OF HITS: XX. BONUS XX00 PTS" will appear on the screen ("XX" being the number of Galagans you did kill) - and if you refrained from touching the controls at all, you will receive a "Secret Bonus" of 10000 points.

If you managed to collect two blue Warp Capsules in the two previous stages, they will rise up from their positions at the bottom of the screen and blow up (creating a "dimensional rift" in the process); your triple ship will then pass through this rift (leading to the second dimension) as the text "DIMENSIONAL WARP: BONUS 10000 PTS" appears on the screen. However, if you only managed to collect one blue Warp Capsule in the two previous stages, it will rise up from its position at the bottom of the screen and simply dissipate in a small blowup as your triple ship dematerializes and proceeds to the fourth stage (still in this first dimension) - and if you have not managed to collect any blue Warp Capsules at all in the two previous stages, your triple ship will simply dematerialize as it proceeds to the fourth stage (still in this first dimension again) as if it had only collected one blue Warp Capsule in the two previous stages.