The Legacy of Space Invaders
Released in 1978 by Taito, Space Invaders was created by Tomohiro Nishikado. It wasn't just a game; it was a cultural phenomenon that defined the Golden Age of Arcade Games and influenced everything from Star Wars to modern gaming hardware.
One of the most famous legends about the game is that it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan. While likely an urban myth, it illustrates the sheer scale of its success. Technically, the game's difficulty curve was a happy accident: as the processor had fewer invaders to render, it processed the remaining ones faster, making them move more quickly—unintentionally creating the first "difficulty ramp" in gaming history.
Professional Insight: Nishikado had to design his own hardware and development tools because the microcomputers available in Japan at the time weren't powerful enough to handle the game's logic.
At BITSTART.CLUB, we’ve modernized the controls for smooth mouse and keyboard based navigation while preserving the pixel-perfect tension of the 1978 original.