Controls[edit]
- Joystick: Use the joystick to direct the position of your ship on the screen. You can move the ship in 8 different directions. You can move horizontally across the entire width of the screen, but you can only move vertically a short distance from the bottom of the screen.
- Fire: Press the fire button to send a bullet up to the top of the screen. You may only have one bullet on the screen at one time. However, if you press the fire button before the current bullet has disappeared from the screen, the current bullet will immediately expire, and your new shot will launch from the ship. In this way, you can send a few bullets in the air to judge when it's going to hit, and stop firing when you're sure the bullet you've recently fired will hit.
- 1-2 Players: Press either button to begin a one or two player game.
Characters[edit]
Player Ship[edit]
Your player's ship, the FS-15 Interstellar Space Fighter, is modeled after the successful Galaxip design which fought in the original Galaxian wars. However, unlike the Galaxip, this ship has a greater amount of vertical movement capability. It can also cancel the most recent bullet that's been fired by firing a new one, giving you greater fire power capability. You must avoid being hit by any enemy weapons, or colliding with the enemies themselves, or you will lose one ship from your fleet.
Gorf[edit]
Gorf is the leader of this alien invasion. He has rallied several alien combat forces together into a unified armed force that will take over the Earth once and for all. He is very confident that his mission will succeed, and he involves himself in several aspects of the battle. He delivers the Astro Battle troops to the site of combat. Small gorfs serve as some of the Laser Attack guards. He will occasionally deliver more Galaxians to the Galaxian formation. He will spiral out during the Space Warp. And two small Gorfs escort the main Flag Ship after you reach the second rank.
Astro Battle Invaders[edit]
The Astro Battle invaders behave very much like the original Space Invaders. They march to the right or to the left until the farthest one on either side touches the edge of the screen. At that point, they drop down one row and reverse their direction. As you eliminate each one, they speed up until only one is left, which travels the fastest.
Astro Battle Saucers[edit]
During the Astro Battle, two saucers fly overhead. Hitting them earns you a certain amount of bonus points. The large saucer flies directly over the screen in one direction and moves at a constant speed until it leaves through the other side. The smaller saucer however flies to the opposite side of the screen from where it entered, only to slow down and return the way that it came.
Laser Attack Ships[edit]
These are two of the ships that you will encounter during the Laser Attack mission. Two squads appear, composed of one of the laser ships (the blue ship on the right), three of the laser guards (on the left), and one small Gorf escort. The laser guards (as well as the Gorf escort) will greak from formation and dive down to attack you. Meanwhile, the laser ships fire high intensity lasers at you, which you must avoid at all costs.
Galaxians[edit]
The Galaxians may be smaller in number, but they are far more aggressive. They dive down with greater frequency and in greater numbers. The yellow and blue Galaxians dive down on solo bombing runs, while the red Galaxians serve as escorts to the Galaxian Flagships when they perform their own bombing runs. When they pass below the bottom of the screen, or off of the sides, they will return to the formation from the top of the screen.
Space Warp Ships[edit]
While you warp through space during the Space Warp mission, you encounter three different types of enemies. One of them is the Gorf robot itself, but the other two are the ships you see here. They all perform the same way. They begin to approach from the center of the warp, and spiral outward, getting closer and closer to your ship. While they spiral out, they fire bomb your ship. Avoid their weapons at all costs.
Flagship[edit]
The destruction of the Flagship is the ultimate goal of the final mission. It has one single weak point, a single channel at the bottom of the ship that leads directly into the reactor core of the ship. The only way to take the Flagship down is to fire a shot directly into the core. The Flagship moves back and forth while slowly lowering itself closer to you. When it reaches its own barrier, it begins to rise again. As you shoot the ship, pieces of it begin to break off. You must avoid getting hit by those pieces or shoot them before they reach you. As you break holes into the ship, you can expand the channel that leads to the reactor core until it's wide enough to hit more easily. The Flagship is one of the earliest examples of the 'boss' enemy in mainstream video games.
Scoring[edit]
| Astro Battle | |
|---|---|
| Invader in formation | 50 points |
| Large Invader in mid-air | 60 points |
| Medium Invader in mid-air | 80 points |
| Small Invader in mid-air | 100 points |
| Large Saucer | 100 points |
| Small Saucer | 200 points |
| Gorf at mission start | 250 points |
| Gorf during the battle | 300 points |
| Laser Attack | |
| Gorf or Laser Guards | 100 points |
| Laser Ships | 300 points |
| Galaxians | |
| Galaxian in formation | 50 points |
| Yellow Galaxian diving | 60 points |
| Blue Galaxian diving | 80 points |
| Red Galaxian diving | 100 points |
| Galaxian Flagship or Gorf | 300 points |
| Space Warp | |
| All attacking fighters | 250 points |
| Flag Ship | |
| Chipping the Flagship | 20 points |
| Escort Gorf | 50 points |
| Flagship Chunk in flight | 150 points |
| Hitting the Flagship core reactor | 1000 points |