Few spin-off series have been as successful as Taito’s Puzzle Bobble. The 1994 arcade game successfully used characters from the Bubble Bobble series of platformers in a brand-new puzzle game. It would go on to spawn dozens of sequels and ports (not to mention clones), most recently with Puzzle Bobble 3D for PlayStation and Oculus/Meta Quest....
We've been excited for Puzzle Bobble Everybubble, the upcoming Switch-exclusive entry in Taito's Puzzle Bobble series, since the game was announced last year. All signs point to Everybubble being the biggest and best game in the series. This one will feature numerous modes, including the exciting "Puzzle Bobble VS. Space Invaders." Despite the "VS" in the title, said mode actually allows up to 4 local players to play against the famous Space Invaders.
During this January's CES, iiRcade announced a line of upgraded home arcade cabinets. These new cabinets would run the game games but feature a height and form factor closer to classic arcade cabinets, genuine Sanwa parts, updated speaker grills and sound, and JBL audio. At last, iiRcade is ready to announce the specific name and models of the new home arcade cabinets. They will be called iiRcade Gold Edition cabinets, and four different designs are now available to preorder.
Since the debut of the original game in 1978, Space Invaders has remained one of Taito’s most beloved franchises. The series has seen numerous sequels and collections, including Space Invaders Invincible Collection for Nintendo Switch. That compilation is a Switch exclusive, but PlayStation players haven’t been left entirely high and dr...
In 1978, Taito’s Space Invaders took Japanese arcades by storm, becoming one of the highest-grossing arcade games of all time. The game would become a success in international markets as well, going on to spawn numerous revisions and sequels in the early days of arcades. More than 40 years later, Space Invaders still enjoys a loyal following ...
Video games in general owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Space Invaders, but fans of co-op especially should recognize the tremendous impact it had on gaming. It was in one of the variations of the Atari 2600 version that introduced cooperative elements to Space Invaders.
As you can imagine, a lot has changed here at Co-Optimus since we started Co-Op Classics, not the least of which is our video capabilities. Today, we'll take a look back at two Co-Op Classics, this time in video form: X-Men The Arcade Game, and Space Invaders II.
Finding the earliest example of a cooperative video game has long been a quest of mine. In this column, we've covered some of the oldest and most important co-op games. Mario Bros., from 1982, features co-op exactly as we define it here at Co-Optimus. Joust had a form of co-op, too, and it was released a few months before Mario Bros. Today, we look at an even earlier classic game with cooperative elements: Space Invaders II.
My, how things have changed since the original Space Invaders debuted more than thirty years ago! Looking back, the game seems so simple, it's hard to believe it was a national obsession. Move your ship beneath aliens, push the fire button, repeat, that's all there is to it. When Space Invaders Extreme was released on Xbox Live Arcade, I knew I had to get it for nothing more than nostalgic purposes. I was curious, too, at how my kids would react to it. In this era of open world gameplay, realistic 3D graphics, and cinematic storytelling, would young gamers get bored too quickly? The first test was to see if the kids would be interested when I was playing. After school one evening, we all went our separate ways: one kid to feed the dog, the other to his room to play with his toys. I fired up the Xbox 360 and started up Space Invaders Extreme. The walls started pounding in time with the deep bass of the EXTREME techno beat. I quickly turned it down before things started falling off the walls. (Anyone else notice thatSIE is louder than most other games?) Even just a few seconds of the loud music was enough to get my youngest son running to investigate. He immediately perched on the couch, entranced by the hypnotic action.
We rather enjoyed Space Invaders Extreme on the Xbox Live Arcade, especially the four player cooperative mode. It's oddly satisfying blasting those 8-bit baddies into pixelated pieces to the thumping soundtrack of techno.
