▲
1
▼
Tomohiro Nishikado, the game's creator, wasn't too good at playing video games and was only able to balance the game based on other people's feedback. He admitted that he had trouble making it past the first level and that he would've made the game a lot easier had he balanced it only on his own experiences.
▲
1
▼
Tomohiro Nishikado, the game's creator, wanted to create a game that was better than the Atari game "Breakout", which he was hooked on at the time. Based on the sense of accomplishment and exhilaration from breaking the targets, Nishikado wanted to improve upon this by giving the targets a more interesting shape and by turning it into a shooting game.
▲
1
▼
When Space Invaders was released in Japan, it was so popular that it caused a temporary shortage of the 100-yen coin, the coin most commonly used for arcade machines.
▲
1
▼
Even though Space Invaders used some of the latest hardware for the time, its creator, Tomohiro Nishikado, discovered that the processer wasn't powerful enough to run the game as intended (with the aliens moving at a constant speed), and instead rendered the alien graphics faster when fewer were on screen. Rather than design the game to compensate for the speed increase, he decided to keep it as a challenging gameplay mechanic.
▲
2
▼
After the game's release, the game's creator, Tomohiro Nishikado, was contractually obliged by Taito not to reveal that he was the game's designer. He would however visit Tokyo arcades to watch people play the game and would worry that there might be critical bugs in the game, and that the people playing might encounter them.
▲
2
▼
Taito's upper-level sales management originally had no faith in the game prior to its release. When Tomohiro Nishikado, the game's creator, showed to them a work-in-progress version of the game, they weren't very impressed with it as they couldn't keep up with its pace. Even some arcade operators who were shown the game weren't positive towards it either, resulting in very few orders being placed.
▲
2
▼
The invaders in the game were originally intended to be airplanes, but the vehicle movements appeared jittery. Tomohiro Nishikado, the game's creator, then wanted to use human targets instead, however Taito's president was against the idea. It was eventually settled on having aliens after the recent popularity of Star Wars, with their designs inspired by the buglike aliens from the novel "The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells.
Related Games
Bust-A-Move
Graffiti Kingdom
Psychic Force
Depthcharge
Solar Fox
The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation A
Super Spike V'Ball
Ultimate Spider-Man
Exzisus
Metal Black
Renegade
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Qix
Densha de GO!
Arkanoid
Bubble Bobble Revolution
Bonanza Bros.
Clu Clu Land
Shikigami no Shiro
Pac-Man
Bubble Bobble
Balloon Fight
Castle Shikigami 2
The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island
Double Dragon
WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game
Spider-Man 2
Chase H.Q.
Darius Gaiden
Pengo
Pop'n Pop
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom
Gladiator
Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast
Groove Coaster: Wai Wai Party!!!!
Missile Command
Cooking Mama: World Kitchen
Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color
Super Mario Run
Super Locomotive
Baraduke
Super C
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
Dr. Mario
FTL: Faster Than Light
Sonic Forces: Speed Battle
Super Mario Bros.
Radar Scope
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Dottori-kun