It was 1979 and the video game market was just starting to heat up. Taito is looking to create a new game to capitalize on the ever expanding new medium, so they decide to brainstorm...

"What would make a great new game that everyone will love? We've done Space Invaders. Asteroids has been done. Wait, I know! We'll take the gameplay of Space Invaders, throw in some asteroids to keep it interesting and then name it similarly to one of the greatest films of the last ten years! People will HAVE to love it!"

And thus, Galaxy Wars was born.

As I mentioned, the basic gameplay and look of the game was strikingly similar to Space Invaders even down to the color choices. To divert attention from the obvious rip-off, slight changes were made. Instead of firing from a moving platform, you shot your missile from a stationary launch pad and then used the joystick to guide the missile to the top of the screen to blow up the invading space ships. The speed of the missile could also be controlled by holding down the launch button while you were steering. To up the ante a bit, "meteorites" were added that floated about the screen, threatening to blow up your projectile while on the way to it's destination. Points were awarded for blowing up various ships and ranged from 50-550 depending on the ship. After clearing a level or "pattern" as the back of the flyer calls it, the player was rewarded with rousing inspirational messages like "Good!!", "Very Good!!", "Wonderful!!" and Fantastic!!". Players who failed to score any points were told to "Give Up!!"

What Galaxy Wars lacked in originality, it made up for by creating an awesome flyer and a snazzy looking arcade cabinet. I really love the color choices they made when creating the flyer which was based on the cabinet art. Changing the "outer space" color from dark blue to a weird purple color really adds a psychedelic feeling to the whole thing and makes the picture of the cabinet really pop. It reminds me a lot of the black light posters I used to look at in the back of Spencer's Gifts back in the day. Perhaps they figured if they could distract players with brightly colored space ships, they might not notice that they were just playing the same two games they had played before, just sort of mashed up together. Also notable is the bizarre logo that leaves you with the feeling that the person who created it didn't quite have a handle on the concept of perspective.

Stay tuned next week when Arcade Flyer Art Saturday hosts a gallery of flyers from arcade favorites like Contra, Street Fighter and Ghosts 'n Goblins! Flynn De Marco

[Flyer courtesy TAFA]