space invaders is an arcade video game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in 1978. space invaders is one of the earliest shooting games, and the goal is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: Breakout, The World of Worlds, and Star Wars. To complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools. When it was first released, Space Invaders was very successful. The game inspired other video games, re-released on numerous platforms and spawned several sequels. space invaders is a two-dimensional fixed shooter game in which the player controls a laser cannon by moving it horizontally across the bottom of the screen and firing it at descending aliens. The aliens try to destroy the cannon by shooting at it as they approach the bottom of the screen. If they reach the bottom, the alien invasion is successful and the game ends. A special mystery ship will periodically move across the top of the screen and award bonus points if destroyed. The laser cannon is partially protected by several stationary defensive bunkers - the number depends on the version - which gradually destroy the alien and player missiles.
