Ani's VS: The Space Invaders vs The Galaga Feat. GrimmCammy & PhantomRina

 

Just a few things before we start…

Hello everyone, It's been a while hasn’t it? Perhaps not as long as the waiting periods between blogs but certainly a bit since last time, here I come again with a VS blog! This time on a matchup that is possibly on my top 3 favorite matches ever. Well “possibly” is being modest, it is most definitely on my top 3. 

As you may have guessed by the title, today we will be looking at 2 of some of the most classic arcade games there are to see who truly takes a bout to the last alien. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone in this endeavor, tho I will expand on it much later on the blog. For now, pick up your pop-corn, get comfy and let's get this party started! 

NOTE: all of the footage used belongs to their respective owners, I don’t own any of the footage used here.

What are our sources?

Now, to say these 2 series have a long history is to not only lie, it's to be very, VERY, modest. These games have had a long-standing place in videogame history, even if by today’s standards they are cult classics, they have held strong in their field and have produced lots of games. For the sake of research we’ve decided to include most games available to the public, or that at least had usable footage from which to investigate. This is due to something very common between these 2 series, that is, having lost media and other games that aren’t as readily available. However, here is a list of the games looked into for both the Space Invaders and Galaga. 

Invaders:

Space Invaders
Space Invaders Part 2
Return of the Invaders
Super Space Invader ‘91

Space Invaders ‘95: The Attack of the Lunar Loonies
Space Invaders (Activision)
Space Invaders (Activision) GBC
Space Invaders Revolution
Space Invaders Extreme
Space Invaders Extreme 2
Space Invaders: Invasion Day (AKA Space Raiders)

Space Invaders: Frenzy
Space Invaders Infinity Gene
Space Invaders Gigamax
Space Invaders: World Defense
Arkanoid vs Space Invaders

Space Invaders: Get Even

Galagans:

Galaxian
Galaga

Gaplus
Galaga ‘88
Galaga ‘90
Galaxian 3 Project Dragoon

Galaxian 3 The Rising of Gourb
Galaxian 3 Attack of the Zolgear
Galaga Arrangement
Galaga Arrangement (PSP)
Galaga Legions
Galaga Destination Earth

Galaga 3D Impact
Galaga Revenge
Galaga Assault
Galaga Wars

Crossovers or no Crossovers, that's the question…

You might have noticed a lack of crossover scaling, these 2 series are rather well known for crossing over with various other properties from Arkanoid to Ultraman, to Pac-Man! Now, originally this blog was going to consider the crossovers, as they are a fun and interesting part of these game’s histories, however, we found out that the sheer volume of crossover material would needlessly bloat this blog, it would also increase our research time by a looooong shot (an already hard blog to research mind you). So for this blog we are deciding to focus on the “main” series of the characters, that is, everything pertinent to what we can assume is from Galaga and from Space Invaders. In the end however, we also found out that a lot of the scaling would be pretty roundabout to the point where both series would just end up scaling to each other via Pac-Man since both series have crossed over with it,  so that's pretty funny. (god bless lost media)

“Then what about Arkanoid vs Space Invaders?” That story is secluded on its own, the Vaus from that game isn’t the same as its mainstay series, and even taking it into account, the game only brings up interesting lore stuff and not any note-worthy feats and items. For the sake of the blog, it has been included but the Invaders will not be scaled to the Vaus. 

Background

The Space Invaders

(Alan Silvestri - “The Cosmos is Yours”)

It was the 1970’s, the apex of the space race. Humanity was on an endless crusade to escape our earthly prison and grace the sky above, to see the universe and learn our cosmos, the infinite void that gave us life. Technologies were going at an unprecedented speed, evolving and growing faster than they had ever before, and amongst the greatest minds all of them came up with the same question: “are we alone in the universe?”

Little did they know, that in a planet many worlds beyond our own, in a dimension unknown, there was life, different from our earthly selves. Squid-like pixelated beings that, perhaps, were better off never meeting. But that decision would not fall onto us. 

The Year 1978 arrived, and above them, humanity saw these aliens, these “invaders” as they called them, aliens from another world bent on conquering earth. For them, our planet was just another small speck of dust, no different than the millions of worlds and dimensions they had conquered, but for us humans? They were our enemy. Humanity had to fight. 

Armed with their guts alone and outnumbered 20-to-1, the humans came up with an invention that, if used right, would turn the tide of war and drive the invaders off; the Core Cannon. This machine alone tore through the invaders, forcing them into a retreat, but not into defeat. 

Time and time again, dimension across dimension, the invaders kept invading earth, and along them many other worlds. These ever-evolving super species will forever keep going, for as long as life exists, until there is nothing left to conquer. For they are invaders, and they will keep going, till the last alien. 

The Galaga

(Alan Silvestri - “Giordano Bruno”)

The year was 2200, and technology had reached a zenith. Humanity had, in their quest to explore the known universe, developed an achievement unlike any other; the ability to modify space-time itself to warpdrive objects across the cosmos. It wasn’t long before humanity used this technology for the betterment of man-kind, allowing people to travel to new worlds and populate not only the solar system, but the galaxy as we knew it. This was the era of the “Galaxians”, people that now were born and lived far beyond our pale blue dot of earth, and now had been born amongst the stars. 

However, not everything was all sunshine and rainbows for the Galaxians, for opening themselves to the world meant opening to new dangers as well. Through many years, the Galaxians came in contact with a variety of alien species or UMIS, as they called them, each more dangerous than the last. But none of them would have ever prepared humanity for one of the worst yet. 

They came from nowhere, in 2279, an extraterrestrial force of fearsome reputation and power. These bug-like critters came like a horde, bees of a swarm, taking over world after world. Humanity was at a checkmate, and for them they only had one name; the Galagans. 

Humanity fought bravely, and in their desperation they built a state-of-the-art machine that could hopefully save them; the Galaxip, powerful vessels designed to fight the intruders which, miraculously, succeeded.

But even if one of the great Galaxian-Galagan wars had been quelled, it would not be the last, for what can you do against the impossible? The Galagans are insatiable, and will stop at nothing until every dimension is theirs. Such is their will, such is life. 

Equipment (Invaders)

Shields

Used in many Space Invader entries, the Invaders seemed to have figured out how to use and manufacture basic shield technology (good for them). With this newfound state-of-the-art knowledge, the Invaders have manufactured various types of shield to defend themselves from incoming damage which are as follows:

Basic Shield: Used in World Defense, it is a grid-like shield that covers one alien at a time, capable of handling one enemy shot before being destroyed. 

Grey shield: A basic, grey-colored shield that can take a few shots before being fully destroyed. 

Bubble shield: A special bubble encasing that, while not necessarily providing extra protection against shots, does allow the Invaders to bounce around like silly little gooberinos (those rascals).

Prism Shield: Cube-like shields seen in Infinity Gene, these shields can be activated and deactivated by the Invaders, and make them impervious to all shots from the main ship. Yes, I mean impervious to all shots.  

Items

Used in Space Invaders for the N64/PS1, the mother ships from this game carry several items for the Invaders to use. It should be noted that even if the player is the one that uses the items in-game, it is explicitly specified that these items are meant for the Invaders (it is even called “Alien Technology” outright). The player just happens to steal them whenever they shoot the mothership down, meaning that these items should be suitable for use for the Invader army. 

The following items are:

Barrier

It grants an energy shield that defends for one attack, after that its gonzo. 

Double shot

It allows 2 shots on screen at the same time, essentially a rapid-fire tool

Timestop

Freezes time for five seconds, forcing enemy ships to stop moving. 

More Items (the squeakquel)

For some reason, Activision’s Space Invaders (1999), a game for the Playstation 1 and N64, has a Game Boy Colour version with the same title. The game has similar theming, and also has a similar power up system to the home console versions, but has very different items. These include:

The Solar Flare

This item seems to spawn a bright light in the sky behind the Invaders which… causes them to stop moving? Seems to be another form of time stop technology. 

Invulnerable

Makes the user temporarily invulnerable, simple as.

Laser Boost

This item powers up the user's weapon temporarily, allowing them to fire much faster.

Maximum Shot

This creates a massive blast that can wipe out a whole squadron in a single shot.

Bolt

This modifies the user’s weapon to fire an electrical bolt that can bounce between foes. They need to be fairly close for this chain to activate however.

Shuriken

Modifies the user’s weapon to fire honest to god shurikens. How these are as strong as lasers exactly is unclear but they slice targets in half, and cause each half to fly off, causing them to collide with other enemies if they’re in the way. 

Bubble Gun

This one shoots bubbles that are capable of capturing a whole Invader in them, and when the bubble bursts, they are sent into a careening free-fall, where they can collide with their allies or the ground on the way down. 

Hammerhead

This one fires… hammers with jet propulsion. Sure. These things are strong enough to pierce through foes and keep going

Horizontal Blast

AKA the H-Blast, this weapon creates two shockwaves that fly off in opposite directions, which can take out a whole row of enemies in a single sweep

Shuttle Raid

This one is just silly. It calls in air support, but despite being part of the Invader’s arsenals, the air support seems to hate them because they use their ship’s mounted weaponry to kill the Invaders. Given the SOS written on the actual item, it’s possible that this is actually some form of distress beacon, which could explain this discrepancy, but it’s still strange. 

Trident

This one fires a single shot that then splits into two separate shots on contact with anything. 

Even More Items (The Trilogy…)

Next up is Space Invaders Extreme, which has its own set of items dropped by the Invaders. This includes:

Laser
Gives you a big goddamn laser, capable of piercing multiple opponents at once.

Bomb

Gives you explosive shots that can take out multiple enemies at once

Broad Shot

Make your single shot into a quintuple shot, firing 5 lasers at once. 

Shield

Big shield, nuff said.

 

Reflectors

Seen in Extreme, these special devices allow the Invaders to reflect shots fired their way. This is naturally, extremely potent. However, there are some limits. In order to be able to fire back, there are some small holes in the reflectors which can be fired through. Additionally, for whatever reason they will occasionally just open them up and let people hit them (shouldn’t be the final wording of this but like what are they doing). We’ve also seen larger versions deployed by Boss Invaders.

Blocks

In Arkanoid vs Space Invaders, the funky little aliens have made use of the iconic Arkanoid blocks! These are special cubes that serve as a layer of defence against incoming enemy fire, and they can move independently on their own or be arranged in all sorts of special shapes. And yes, they do specify that these blocks are being used by the Invaders in this game. 

The blocks come in 3 flavours: 

Colored blocks: Which take one hit to destroy.
Silver blocks: They take 3 hits to destroy.
Gold: They are unbreakable. 

Equipment (Galaga)

Ship parts

Much like the Invaders, it seems the Galaga carry with them special equipment during combat. Although the player is the one that ultimately uses these items, it seems like it's simply a product of the ship’s ability to adapt alien technology onto it, so the Galaga should be more than capable of using it. 

Here are some of the items the Galagans have used in the game Gaplus, in which they seem to be able to carry around pieces of technology for use. 

Tractor beam: A tractor beam that can capture up to 6 enemies. 

Drill: An energy drill that drags opponents in and destroys them once in the epicenter. 

Double Shot: A ship part that allows the ship to unleash a more powerful double shot, alongside just being able to shoot faster.

Warp Capsules

Invented by the Galaga themselves, these specialized capsules allow for dimensional jumping by seemingly tearing holes in reality. Seen in Galaga 88, the ship can gather them from the Galaga themselves and use it for its own devices. However, since it was their invention, the Galagans seem to carry it, it's safe to say they keep them on hand in case. 

Spawning Pods

In Galaga Destination Earth, the Galaga can deploy what are called “ spawning pods” ; they are essentially what they sound like, special modules that can spawn more of the funky little critters.

Abilities (Invaders)

Flight

Sort of explains itself, but it is well known that the Invaders possess the innate ability to fly or levitate, gently moving in single file lines towards the enemy. As less enemies are on screen, the faster they move. 

Mitosis

Unique to some aliens, they seem to be capable of dividing via some sort of strange unknown mitosis. The invaders have been shown to subdivide whenever destroyed up to a total of 4! 

Teleportation

 

The Invaders have shown the capability of instantly teleporting to a location whenever needed. As shown by Infinity Gene (and as shown above), they have been shown to teleport dozens of units in a very short timespan, with the goal of overwhelming the opponent. 

Malleability

In various games, the great ability for the Invaders to change shape has been displayed, being able to stretch themselves to cover up empty spaces left by their fallen comrades and flatten themselves like pancakes to better avoid shots. More impressively however, it seems that many varieties of Invaders exist that can reach some rather ridiculous sizes. These giant versions of Invaders can be either much larger as the fighter tank or just as big as buildings!

Zombification

From Space Invaders: Invasion Day. Some species of Invaders can take over other bodies and have then move against their will as seen in Space invaders Indepen-I mean Invasion Day. Specifically, it seems to be a sort of parasitic infection, rather than a classic zombie virus. This process seems to be relatively slow but assured, we have seen it work on humans; turning them into zombie-like monsters that don’t seem to possess much intelligence. However they make for some pretty decent grounded troops. 

Phasing

In Space Invaders Revolution, the little aliens are capable of becoming invisible and intangible for a second. This makes them immune to enemy fire. 

Portal creation

Used in World Defense, the space invaders seem to have mastered inter-dimensional technology, making use of various forms of teleportation between their “invader dimension” and our own. By opening these portals, Invaders can be easily moved onto attack positions, replenishing any fallen comrades with a seemingly endless supply of lil’ alien fellas to make up any meaningful loses. In the GBC game of space invaders, the aliens seem to have mastered “Wormhole” technology, capable of opening rifts in space to spew out aliens, in fact, in Arkanoid vs Space Invaders, they once planned to teleport enough troops to invade an entire galaxy all at once!

“Twisting”

Seen in Space Invaders Extreme, the Invaders are able to "twist" themselves around, making themselves thinner targets. Does this imply they are aware they’re 2-d game characters???

Ghost Physiology

Seen in Attack of the Lunar Loonies, the Invaders seem to have the extremely peculiar ability to keep on fighting even as spirits, as seen in the gif. Specifically, they seem to have a whole “star” dedicated to holding the spirits of the Invaders, where they all seem to carry about the same abilities and powers as regular Invaders, alongside the ability to possess inanimate objects like chairs and tables (as evidenced by their death animation being the same as a regular ghost invader). Meaning that even after death they can still keep on fighting as ghooooooooostssssssssss. Woooooooooooooo spoopy. 

Abilities (Galaga)

Flight

All classic Galagans, from the smallfry to the big guns, all seem capable of flight in the vacuum of space, either thanks to their physicality or other means.  

Tractor Beam

A classic attack with an even more classic sound! The Galaga units known as “Boss Galaga” can unleash a powerful “tractor beam”, a slow moving yet wide-area covering ray of absolute doomness that will capture any vessels that are in its vicinity. In-game, these are powerful enough to capture the fighter enemy ships to do their bidding! If an enemy is captured, the captured entity will remain by that one specific Boss Galaga’s side until it is destroyed. It should be noted that different kinds of Galaga have different kinds of tractor beams depending on species! For example, the ladybugs and butterflies seem to have a more narrow beam. 

In Galaga: Destination Earth, the Tractor Beam item can be used to force enemy ships to fight alongside the player.

Hacking

Although not specifically told how, we know thanks to Galaga: Destination Earth, that the powerful bug-like aliens have sufficient technical-know-how to take over foreign technology, more than capable of disrupting and taking over earth-made machinery. This is shown when they reprogrammed a set of defense missiles to attack Earth. They also attempt to take over other human tech, including fans that can alter Earth’s atmosphere, and solar power plants located on the surface of the Sun. Worth noting that human technology in G:DE has progressed to the point that they have “self-replicating nano-bots” that can terraform entire planets. 

Merging

Seen first in Galaga ‘88, many basic Galagans are capable of merging into each other, turning into one larger alien. They’re capable of moving quickly, and being much tougher than most other Galagans, being able to take multiple shots before being taken out. 

Portal Creation

Seen often in titles such as Galaga Arrangement, the Galagans are capable of creating portals in some fashion, with which they can immediately summon massive quantities of troops directly into the midst of the battle. Additionally, in titles like Galaga ‘88, levels are different “dimensions” rather than parsecs, and the Galaxians appear in all of them. 

Extreme Heat Resistance

In Galaga: Destination Earth, the Galagan forces are seen flying extremely close to the surface of the Sun. 

Invaders Troops

No interdimensional alien army would be complete without people to do the invading with. Across its many iterations, these colorful aliens have built and recruited some of the meanest mother-fifers this side of the Arcade cabinet, with an armada expanding entire dimensions. These critters have taken over countless planetary civilizations with none to oppose them until they arrived on earth. Here we will see just how big their army is and who comprises it. 

Classic Invaders

These creatures make up the bulk of the Invader’s armies, consisting of three main types: Octopi, Crabs and Squids. Despite the differences in size and species, they largely share the same abilities, being able to fly and shoot lasers. These attacks are capable of damaging the large Barriers seen in Space Invader stages, as well as destroying the player's Cannon in a single blast. Conversely however, they are also usually killed in one shot by the Cannon’s projectiles in turn. As more Invaders are taken out, the remaining troops move quicker and quicker, advancing on the player and their barriers with great speed, making them all the harder to hit. 

In Space Invaders: Part II, they do gain some additional abilities. Namely, Crabs are able to split into two smaller aliens upon getting hit, and whenever the last alien in a level is defeated, they are seen retreating in a UFO, which could imply that they can somewhat survive getting hit.

UFOs

The classic vehicle of choice for aliens of all kinds, the Space Invaders have their own brand of flying saucer. Typically seen flying above the rest of the troops, these ships originally served as a score bonus for skilled players, but have gained quite a few variations and powers since the original arcade game. In Part II, not only are they often used to escape from the battle with an SOS Signal to call for backup, they can also deploy additional troops in the form of additional Squid Invaders. Additionally a new variant, sometimes called a “Blinking” UFO can be seen, which "blinks" between being invulnerable and vulnerable, making it all the better for supplying backup. 

By themselves the basic UFO’s come equipped with a general set of abilities, which include: 

• Changing their size at will, either becoming huge or small

• Shooting pew pew lasers

• A tractor beam to capture cows (a classic)

• Summoning other invaders as a form of attack or just as a defensive shield

• Flying around as UFO’s tend to do

However, these are just the basic UFO’s that the seemingly infinite-sized army possesses. Across its many iterations and games, the Invaders have come up with a great deal of variations of said UFO. Most of them capable of just a little extra, here are some of those unique UFOs:

Get Even’s UFO: As mentioned in the name, this is a UFO used in the WiiWare exclusive game “Space Invaders Get Even”. Think about it like Pikmin sorta. Regardless, this UFO is probably one of the more complex ones, as it is able to command at least 100 Invaders at once, being able to direct them to attack different positions in a variety of coordinated attack formations, such as becoming a drill or bouncing around the place. If it ever comes to lose any Invaders, it can replenish them over time. It can also call for backup in the form of a giant UFO that unleashes an orbital strike. This UFO was able to single handedly lead a counter attack on earth. 

Commander’s UFO Mech: A UFO looking mini mech designed to fight while piloted by a small Invader! Aside from the basic energy pellets, this mech comes armed with loads of bombs, it can throw gigantic bowling balls to crush its enemies and even summon backup in the form of smaller Invaders

Final Boss UFO: In Space Raiders, the final boss is the central intelligence of the UFO, capable of speech; this machine can create a variety of mechanical monsters to do its bidding, such as a floating drone-like machine that can take many configurations and comes armed with a variety of energy based attacks. It can also create shockwaves, summon explosives and laser waves. Its second phase is more direct with the central computer taking center stage, firing a great variety of energy projectiles such as spears, explosives and lasers alongside creating holographic copies of its enemies to attack. To top it all off, it seems that through some unexplained means, this specific UFO can create copies of the bosses seen in its own game; Space Raiders. 

Progressive UFO: Actual name, this UFO is rather unique, as it’s made up of 5 different spaceships,  2 small “U” shaped vessels that shoot small projectiles, 2 large main laser cannons and the central unit that shoots missiles that rain down huge lasers. These lasers can even move somehow, making it a very versatyle UFO.  

Gigantic UFO: An absolutely massive mothership, it can attack by shooting lasers, regular energy pellets, unleashing a horde of Invaders to attack, and even comes equipped with its own tractor beam!  

Ultimate UFO: Possibly the largest UFO in the Invader’s massive armada, a behemoth structure of seemingly endless size that carries with it not only many Invaders, but its armed to the teeth with all sorts of weapons, laser cannons, laser towers, energy beams, and to top it all of, a main laser canon under that shoots a huge “fuck you” beam. Truly the UFOest of the UFO’s.

Machine troops

Whenever the Invaders need a little more backup, or simply do not wish to engage directly with the enemy, they have built and devised a great series of machines and powerful robots to help them fill out their numbers. Most robots aren’t usually that special since they usually follow the same or similar patterns of attack as the Invaders; following erratic and simple maneuvers to try and overwhelm the opposition by sheer numbers, they can generally shoot lasers and divide in 2 once shot by the enemy, but none can deny the creativity of these robots, it’s crazy! They’ve built just about everything you can imagine, from abstract robots like in the PS1 to the bug-like designs of ‘Return of the Invaders, to the bizarre of ‘91 to the wacky Lunar Loonies. 

 

However here are some of the most noteworthy machine troops across all the Space Invader Games, some that require a bit more explaining to do: 

“Challenging” Alien/Mother Ship: Created by the merging of other machine aliens, the merged creature appears in Return of the Invaders. It flies around and teleports various other Invaders, and can take quite a beating. They overwhelm the player very quickly if not taken care of. 

Deflector Invaders: Also in Return of the Invaders, there are Deflectors, cute little round machines that, as the name suggest, deflect shots back at the enemy. 

Switcher: Machines with a protective shell that fire bombs at the enemy.

 

Blocker: Armed with 2 metallic side pieces. Once it is destroyed, it will shoot them outwards, effectively becoming 2 small fiery alien scraps.

Angler: Lopsided robots that shoot at an angle, something so horrendous and mean hasn’t been invented since the pink sauce. 

Freezer: These aliens will break formation to fire a laser whenever it has an open shot, they are rather annoying. 

Burster: On its own it's not much, however once destroyed it will explode into a series of smaller energy busts, making it more of a “im taking you with me” sorta enemy. 

Kamikaze: Take a gander at what it does, let me give you a hint.

Splitter: When shot it will multiply, sending smaller versions of itself on every vacant spot adjacent to it. 

Leecher: Goofy silly lil fellas that will shoot massive fireballs down at the enemy. 

Shifter: This alien actually has some strange sense of self-preservation and will attempt its best to dodge enemy attacks, with varying results. 

Bomber: Distinct from the upcoming Bomb Invader, instead these spherical machines drop explosives that send two fragments flying off when they hit targets which can damage other things in the area. 

Cloaker: These bad boys can turn invisible at will, making them very useful for stealth and deception. They can even keep shooting while invisible. 

X Class: One may expect them to fire in an x-pattern, but instead these troops are tanks, able to retract their bodies into a ball, which can withstand enemy fire and protect allies behind themselves. However, they can’t attack in this form, and must extend their limbs to do so, thus exposing themselves to enemy fire. 

Berserkers: These appear like UFOs, and have a special property. They can withstand a hit of typical enemy fire, and in doing so become enraged, turning red and gaining a much more powerful laser. If they manage to cool down, they can even take another hit. But if they are hit a second time while enraged, they die. Additionally, some special weaponry is able to take them out in a single shot, regardless of their current state. 

Dodgers: These bastards are able to dodge enemy fire, if there’s enough space for them to do so. To defeat them, you need to force them into a formation where they can’t dodge away from the attack, either with their own allied ships or the screen edges. They also typically struggle to dodge when going at high speeds already, such as when they are the only remaining Invaders in a squad. 

Ice: Pretty simple, these guys fire projectiles capable of freezing the enemy ship in place temporarily. 

Core Canon Replica: Wanting to give humanity a taste of their own medicine, the Invaders developed a replica of the original Core Canon in Space Invaders Revolution. This can move and fire much like the original, although it also has a more powerful, larger laser shot it can fire. Also unlike the original, it is piloted by an Invader. 

Specialized troops

Once they land on ground or even just close enough to initiate contact, the Invaders can unleash an army of grounded and aerial troops to better take care of the enemy. Here are some of the specialized type of troops seen across the series:

Bomb Invader: A particular Invader with a case of self-implode syndrome. When shot, it’ll explode, taking nearby Invaders alongside it. Also sometimes used as projectiles by larger Invaders.

Assault invader: Armed with a shield-like platform, they are essentially kamikaze, immediately launching into the enemy either in a straight line or in a zig-zag fashion. 

Seeders: Alongside having a disgusting name, the Seeder-type Invaders can seemingly spit out worms that are capable of walking across the ground for a short distance before expiring. While doing so, they can damage enemy crafts. 

Space Hoppers: These vaguely frog-like creatures are able to. Hop. They appear in a large swarm on Jupiter and bounce across the screen, seemingly attempting to crush the player’s ship. 

Kamikaze: A very on-the-nose name but accurate. These Invaders are able to shoot fireballs from their mouths, and when they get shots they immediately start flying directly down, preferable at whatever ship just shot at them. While doing so, they will die if they are hit again. Additionally, similar to the Berserker, some special ammo will kill them in one shot and prevent them from descending. They’ve also been seen in large numbers, where they tend to immediately try to slam into their enemies. 

Unknown: These Invaders have extremely hard shells that are heavily resistant to enemy attacks. However, they are vulnerable to attacks on the rest of their squishy bodies, and hitting the edges of their shells causes them to flip over, exposing them. Additionally, they seem to panic while in this state, as instead of, say, flipping back, they seem to instead flail about wildly. Additionally despite the toughness of their shells, some special weapons are capable of piercing them and killing them regardless. 

Bomb (part 2): Seen in Attack of the Lunar Loonies, these minions carry bombs and throw them, nothing much. 

Raiders Troops

Not even the Space Invaders were safe from the gritty reboot trend, and so in the early 2000s, we were gifted with Space Invaders: Invasion Day, AKA Space Raiders. Unlike the classic Space Invaders, these guys are deployed on the ground, and are battled by individuals with guns rather than the Core Cannon. 

Plants: A special variety of enemies that resemble huge flowers or venus fly-traps that shoot energy pellets and purple clouds of…something. They have the peculiar ability to shoot out seeds that, if not destroyed in time, will grow into fully fledged enemies. One version of this enemy will even become invisible, making it harder to shoot. Some shoot fire! 

Blobs: Slime-like gooey enemies that shoot energy pellets they can go around through the ground, making them difficult targets. Some versions can divide into 4 smaller blobs once defeated. A version of this enemy can duplicate your player, à la ditto! 

Predator: I’m not even joking they are just the fucking Predator, they are bipedal aliens that carry with them a soulder laser canon, an energy shield and have a massive claw arm for melee fighting. 

Shrinking Soldier: Foot soldiers capable of growing larger and shrinking at will. They also shoot fire. 

 

Invader Commanders

No army would be complete without anyone in charge, and though the Invaders seem to be smart enough to work individually, they are much more powerful as a cohesive unit, all under the command of one of the many bosses  across the series. 

Giant Invaders

Across pretty much all entries of the games, there have been several giant versions of the Invaders. These work essentially the same as any others, but they are much larger and bulkier, needing several shots to be taken down. However, some are more unique than others. For example, in the “Extreme” games, the giant Invaders seem to be conformed of small cubes all controlled by a singular colored block (as seen in the gif above). Also as seen above, these giant Invaders seem to possess the ability to summon smaller Invaders, shoot pew pew lasers, merge with one another to become more powerful forms, and even have a slight regeneration. 

Giant Machines

Whenever aliens aren’t enough, the machines come through. These automatons are deadly and ready to throw down. Here we present some of the boss machines across a variety of Space Invader games. 

Space Invaders (SIA)

Crush: A large machine made entirely out of metal with two great engines attached to it. Its main method of attack is chasing enemies while flying and crushing them under its weight, a bit barbaric but hey, if it works it works. 

Shell: A cybernetically enhanced cyborg-like creature. It has a study outer shell that keeps an energy field active around its weak spot. However, sufficient damage will make the shield impossible to sustain. Its main method of attack is by unleashing a barrage of explosive energy spheres. When near death it will try to crush opponents in a desperate gamble. 

Rotator: A versatile and quick fighting machine of which little is known due to its efficiency at destroying tanks. It attacks making use of a wide array of energy pew-pew laser beams, front mounted turrets and missiles. 

Scallop: A large ring-like machine that is divided into 3 great parts focused on encapsulating and defeating opponents. Its right side comes equipped with a huge laser cannon while the right wields a missile launcher. The middle part unleashes a spread of energy shots at the opponent. 

Soldier: As the name implies, this is a humanoid-esk robot that hovers in the air and shoots a barrage of missiles. It also comes protected by 4 barricades to better help it defend against enemy attacks.  

Tripod: 3 poligonal-like robots that fly and shoot lasers in all manner of positions. Their strength lies in their ability to unleash said lasers from 3 different angles, being very tricky to maneuver around. 

Centipede: As the name implies, this is a centipede-like machine divided into 5 parts, a main head and 4 different circular units. It flies around and can even separate its body so each part moves individually, being able to reattach itself later as well. 

Golem: Shaped after the iconic monster in the arcade cabinet, the golem is nothing short of a mech, as large as a 28 story building. This creature can shoot lasers from its eyes, teleport and summon rockets to try and attack. In the worst case scenario it's even strong enough to throw entire buildings! 

Super Space Invaders ‘91

Flying Saucer: A large vessel of war armed with 4 long tentacles that shoot a barrage of laser pew-pew beams. 

Boomerang saucer: A massive ship that shoots a giant shuriken boomerang from its center and homing missiles from its sides. However, the giant boomerang it shoots it's also its power source, so destroying it will destroy the machine for good. 

Massive pac-man: Not its official name but one i’ve given it because just, look at it, it's a funky lil’ pac-man fella. Regardless, this machine carries with it 2 massive arms that shoot lasers while the central unit fires an even bigger laser. 

Final Boss: A machine unlike any other, it can fire smaller robotic replicas of the Invaders that shoot missiles and laser beams. 

Space Invaders (1999) GBC

Fleet Commander: The big machine is equipped with two simple energy cannons that it can aim in multiple directions. The bottom of the ship is durable enough to survive all manner of attacks, but its cannons are vulnerable to attack, and if both are destroyed the commander flees. 

Fleet Commodore: Very similar to the Fleet Commander, but now in gold. Additionally, if its cannons are destroyed, it engages some brand new weapons: A large pink smashin' hammer deployed from the base and a pair of “wands” that can shoot energy beams made up of a chain of smaller energy projectiles. Much like the previous version, the hammer is vulnerable to enemy fire once activated, and when destroyed the Commodore will flee. 

Fleet Admiral: Now in green! Has all the weapons of the Commodore, but instead of fleeing after its stamper is destroyed, it sticks around to keep fighting. To do so, it keeps firing its “wands”, but with the protective armour on the bottom destroyed, enemies can fire up into the main body, damaging the internals and even potentially digging through the whole rig and shooting the pilot directly. 

Alien Queen: This massive, one eyed alien is the Alien Queen, and is seemingly who the other Fleet ships were based off, as she has versions of all of their weapons, including their canons, stampers and wands. Unlike them, she can fire off her own eyeball from her body in a final, desperate attack, which flies back and forth quickly in an attempt to finish her enemies. But if this eye is attacked while in flight, she dies

Space Invaders: Infinity Gene

There are a lot, and I do mean a LOT, of enemy types in Infinity Gene. In here we will only mention the bosses and sub-bosses, for a full list of enemies check out the wiki.

Sol: A massive warship named after the Akira orbital laser (probably)! This bad boy can summon giant lasers and energy pellets. 

Diffuser: A broad, manta-ray shaped ship that can fly and attacks by unleashing a horde of Invaders.

Jolyne: An elongated ship with bolt-like nubs on its ends, it can retract and is fairly unique, extending a long cube that serves as the only source to damage the enemy. The cube by itself will shoot energy pellets. When attacked it will retract, making it harder to aim. 

Spider: Encased in a laser shield, this spherical machine’s only purpose is to bounce around the field, trying to ram into opponents. 

Teleporter: As the name implies, this enemy teleports! A lot! It will teleport around the player and try to catch it off guard with a unique “shifting” attack. 

Vanity: An absolutely massive ship that resembles a rod with 2 nubs attached to it. It fires energy shots from its nubs until they are destroyed, which, from there it will start unleashing wave after wave of energy pellets. 

The Moon: Despite being called the moon, it looks nothing like it. This chromosome shaped ship will move around the battlefield leaving after-images, shooting a deadly barrage of lasers across it. 

Ladybug: A diamond shaped robot that can cling to walls making use of 4 extremities. Although it can fly on its own as well, it will fire rotating shuriken-like projectiles. 

Mandala: Honest to god I don’t even know what to call this thing, this… whatever the hell it is, will spawn and start rapid-firing a bunch of projectiles. Its main method of getting the best of you is by overwhelming firepower and tricky patterns, so, keep on your toes! 

Unknown: A strange and amorphous entity with no set form, as it will shift between a variety of forms. Because of this, it will also copy various attacks from previously seen bosses here, like spewing bullets, summoning branching lasers, and spewing out rotating cubes. For its final attack it will shoot a massive ball of energy ala Genki Dama. 

Centipede: A segmented boss that can move its parts independently. It can shoot lasers, energy bullets and the sort, but it will die once all of its parts have been definitively destroyed.

Hornet: A big fuckoff cube controlled by a center piece that has a myriad of attacks, it will try to fire its cube-like shell to the opponent. It also has lasers and can send out deflector pods that can reflect its own shots in a series of tricky patterns. Ya better watch out least you get stung. 

Octopus: A funky little fella, this guy will shim about in the air and hold on to opponents and shoot them with energy pellets, as well as leaving explosives scattered around the battlefield. 

Butterfly: An elongated ship that comes in 3 phases, each being a representation of a butterfly's change. All of the forms hold the same pattern of attack tho, shooting an intense barrage of lasers and energy pellets to overwhelm the opposition. 

Axon: A Massive urchin-shaped vessel that can extend its limbs outwards in a variety of patterns. It’s pretty to look at but quite deadly, as it can also unleash a barrage of energy bullets, and even replenish its own lost parts! 

Water Strider: This is one sliding and grooving machine that well… strides across the floor! It will unleash large columns of energy through the areas it strides through, as well as unleashing energy bullets here and there. 

Crab 🦀: A quadruped machine armed with 2 massive turret arms, it can shoot giant spears that will shoot energy bullets. It also comes equipped with a frontal laser that can destroy anything in its path, or be shot outwards in various directions. 

Squid: Very similar to octopus in many regards, however instead of explosives this machine fires a barrage of homing lasers and just… lots and lots of lasers. Once its feet are destroyed it will teleport and shoot energy bullets. 

Vertebrate: An impossibly high structure that resembles a spinal column, these series of vertebrae have a series of attacks, from shooting massive lasers, to making complex constructs made of light and lasers. It’ll also fire homing laser beams and energy bullets. Once most of the column is destroyed however, it will go into its second phase where it will try to crush the opponent between the 2 top halves of the tower, alongside shooting even more energy bullets. 

NAMELESS: the final boss of Space Invaders Infinity Gene. A mysterious pulsating dark orb that is constantly shooting lasers in all possible directions, much like a heartbeat. Tho the shots can be countered to be reflected back to Nameless, it becomes very tricky as the sheer amount of lasers can quickly overwhelm the opponent.

 

Misc

#106780 YAMATO: That's its official name, don't @me. This gigantic ship-sushi bowl thing comes equipped with some of Darius’ meanest bosses such as the King Fossil and octopus and a huge tempura shrimp! This ship is capable of shooting an intense barrage of small energy spheres, summoning Invaders and even shoot lasers.   

Giant Invader Mech: The final boss of Attack of the Lunar Loonies, it is a gigantic mech shaped like a classic invader. To say this thing is armed to the teeth is being modest, this thing is equipped with all sorts of stuff! This includes 3 giant mounted cannons that shoot giant blocks, it can shoot energy pellets from its antennae as well as lasers, it can summon a barrier of Invaders, and also has 2 gigantic hands that can stretch out either for defence or offence. 

Various Giant Invader Robots: Various robots constructed in the shape of the Space Invaders  used in Arkanoid vs Space Invaders, they come armed with the classic lasers and missiles, even fireballs! However they are especially susceptible to getting their shots deflected back to them. 

Alien Bosses

Ghost Commander: Yes, a ghost, literally. It lives on a planet where all of the spirits of the Invaders reside, and as such has control over spirits. In its boss fight, it can summon ghostly Invaders to serve its bidding, such as making a shield. It can even summon the ghosts of the classic space Invaders to fight while making the screen go dark, becoming intangible in the process. It can summon fire enemies, shoot energy pellets of various kinds and even move objects telekinetically. As a last resort it will lunge towards the opponent shooting fireballs. 

Giant Monster: A house sized behemoth that can shoot missiles, energy bullets, shoot fire from its mouth and fire energy spears from its cannon arm. Not to mention electrically charge itself for deadly closeup attacks. 

Giant Crab: A biomechanical giant crab from Invasion Day. Strong enough to bust down a giant metal door, this crab is armed to the teeth, capable of shooting energy bullets from its mouths and energy spears from its eyes. It can also survive without its head and shoot giant sonic booms alongside electric pew-pew pellets and a variety of electrical attacks. 

The Blob: A gelatinous foe found in the sewers, its body being impervious to shots with only its eye being damageable. It can shoot the usual energy bullets and even use its body as a projectile, and can summon small slime monsters and acid bullets. Even without its gelatinous body, the eye can float and attack on its own. 

Alien King: A floating alien-like warrior that can shoot a variety of energy projectiles, explosive rounds, and comes equipped with a pair of massive energy blades.

Giant Plant Monster: I’ve affectionately called this one Audrey 3. It's essentially a giant man-eater plant, strong enough to bust concrete. This thing can walk around, shoot energy bullets and electricity alongside poisonous clouds. Its mouth-like center plant can shoot acid seeds and fire gigantic energy beams. 

Galagan Troops

Carrying within them a multi-dimensionally large enterprise, the Galagans are nothing short of a force of nature. These bug-shaped critters have horrorized countless civilizations in their never-ending path of conquest and need to expand, and they wouldn’t have done it without an army to back them up. Across their many iterations, the Galagans have recruited and created all varieties of machine-esk insectoid monstrosities, all of them make up the bulk of the alien empire. In here, we will see just how large this empire is. Without further ado, I present to thee, the Galagan Empire. 

Basic Galagans

The simplest of the enemies faced in the Galaga and Galaxian games, these enemies are visually, large bugs the size of spaceships and when I mean big, I mean all sorts. Some as small as grasshoppers, ants and some as large as rhyno beetles! These bugs are seemingly capable of breathing in space, can fire projectiles capable of destroying space ships in a single blast and can fly at pretty high speeds. Once they’ve flown into formation, they will occasionally dive towards their foes to attack them, including straight up ramming into them kamikazee style. Some depictions, such as the Galagan 30th Collection Trailer also depicts them as having large jet-like… organs? Which could explain how they can fly just as fast as the space ships they battle. Curiously, some sources such as the game manual for the Atari 5200 version of Galaxian depicts them as humanoids with large wings, not unlike Angels or Valkyries. 

 

Boss Galaga

(yes, that one Smash item)

More powerful Galagans that appear alongside their troops, the Boss Galaxians can take multiple shots that normally take out their troops in a single shot. Boss Galaxians typically divebomb alongside multiple troops, making them all the harder to take out, whereas Boss Galaga use a powerful Tractor Beam which can grab and incapacitate enemy fighters, removing them from the battle unless the Boss Galaga is taken out. It should be noted that not all tractor beams are made the same; some have come in the form of spider webs from spider Galaga or more narrow beams like the ladybug Galaga! Meaning that there are more types of aliens capable of using this ability aside from the moth-like ones. 

Egg Capsule Galagans

Seen in Galaga ‘88, these Galagans arrive in egg capsules and have special abilities. While the egg capsules themselves are about as weak as regular troops, being taken out in a single shot, they are still capable of rapid flight, and firing energy projectiles. However, once in formation, these Galagans “hatch”, and can use their full capabilities. Unlike basic troops, once they start diving they can take multiple hits without dying, and fire a spread-shot of three projectiles at foes as well as energy shots, making them incredibly dangerous.

Galagan Commanders

A hive needs kings and queens, and the Galagans have them in spades, a series of some of the largest bugs you’ve ever seen! Across its vast empire and history, the Galaga have shed light over some of the meanest fighting machines. Here we will take a look at them and the games they come from. 

Giant Bug Commanders

A hive as mighty as the Galagans needs mighty commanders and bosses at its beck and call. In here I will mention some of the strongest and most noteworthy Bosses across the Galagan series!

Galaga ‘88/‘90

Giant Bat: A bat-like creature that flies around and shoots energy pellets. It can also summon different types of Galagans to attack the opposition. 

Giant Scorpion thing : A flying scorpion? Sure, let's go with that… by now you probably know what it does; summons Galagans, shoots pew pew lasers the usual.

Giant Boss Galagan: A flat-worm… galagan, tube kinda guy that shoots a stream of energy pellets while summoning Galagans. 

Giant crab/tick: A hearty and large monster mix that like the others, shoots energy pellets and summons a variety of Galagans to attack. 

Giant fly Commander: A fly that, you guessed it, flies around and shoots energy pellets while summoning minions to do its bidding. It doesn’t have much aside from that.

Galaga Arrangement (PSP)

Galagan Fly: A massive fly enemy that shoots lasers, spread shots, and will try to ram into enemies. It flies in a tricky zig-zag pattern. In another level they come in a pair of 2 flies! Double the flies double the danger I suppose.  

Galagan Stag Beetle: A ginormous sized stag-beetle that comes armed with a pair of huge pincers. It can fire a huge laser beam from its mouth and summon small Galagans. It can also fire energy shoots. 

Galagan Centipede: A giant centipede that flies around in tricky patterns and shoots energy pellets. It comes heavily armored due to its hardy exoskeleton.  

Galagan Caterpillar: As the name implies, a large caterpillar inside of a Galagan planet-base. It can fire energy pellets either in a spread on rapid-fire.

Galagan Moth: The big bad of this game, an absolutely gargantuan moth that can fly at very high speeds. It will try to ram into the opponent and can also shoot energy pellets in a variety of ways, always keeping enemies on their toes.

Galaga 3D Impact (PSP)

Galagan Butterfly: It is a giant butterfly, it can fly through space, shoot energy pellets and homing missiles. 

Galagan Scorpion: An absolutely massive flying scorpion with a hardy shell, it can curl up like an asteroid and fly about. It can also shoot meteors and energy pellets at its enemies. 

Galagan Silverfish: A silverfish… worm… centipede-ish sorta alien. It can fly around and shoot energy pellets alongside fancy boomerang-like energy slashes. 

Galagan Snail: You guessed it, a snail, however interestingly this mollusc is rather unique. It can shoot explosive rounds and burrow underground to dodge enemy attacks. It’s deceivingly fast for a snail!

The Galagan Queen: A 3 phased super boss. The alien queen is definitely nothing to scoff at as it can summon homing missiles, energy slashing attacks, call upon Galagans to attack, shoot various types of energy pellets, summon goddam meteors for some reason and distort visuals to make them trippy. 

Misc. 

Giant Galagan Hornet: From Galaga Wars, this big alien hornet is a behemoth when it comes to power. It can shoot energy pellets from its antennae and laser beams from its eyes. Its underbelly is soft and vulnerable, however, but it can also summon Galagans to attack and defend it. Oh yea it can also fly, like hornets tend to do. 

Ballistic Boss: From Galaga Revenge, a manta-ray shaped thingie that shoots a variety of energy projectiles and an assortment of various other pew-pew lasers. 

Mothership: A giant ship shaped like a boss Galaga, seen in Galaga Assault and Revenge. It comes protected by a series of energy barriers and can summon Galagans and shoot energy beams and large energy cubes. 

 

King Galaspark

The lord of the flies himself, the leader of them all, the Rex Regum! Here is King Galaspark, the leader of the Galagans hidden well within the hive, born from a cocoon the king can summon its horde of bugs to attack, shoot deadly energy bullets and fly about in the vacuum of space. 

Feats (Invaders)

Overall

• They have valiantly fought  the greatest fighter space-ships from the Taito Universe including the Silver Hawk from Darius, the Black Fly from Metal Black and most famous of all the Vaus from Arkanoid. 

• Have successfully performed a counter-attack on earth at least one time.

• Have conquered an entire dimension and countless planets. 

• Has an official ultraman crossover

• They got their own song (its a banger).

• They promote healthy driving practices. (good for them)

Strength

• Once destroyed a mech the size of the Nazca Line’s Condor. 

• Can destroy machinery strong enough to trigger volcanic eruptions. (16.3 Tons of TNT, City Block Level)

• Once one of the bosses busted a whole city block with a few missiles. 

• As seen above the orbital laser can destroy several city blocks in one shoot. 

• One of the bosses once created a cloud blanket so large it engulfed a planet. (debatable: See before the Verdict). 

Speed

• Base invaders can dodge things such as bullets and missiles with little issue. 

• Can move in tandem with shots from the core canon, which has been stated to reach the upper atmosphere.

• Can keep up with the core cannon in combat. 

Dura

• Base invaders can survive planets exploding in their face (as shown above), these planets are also called as “stars” in-game, though how legitimate is debatable. 

• Large bosses can take several shots from the core cannon. 

• Survives the explosion of both a large spaceship and a knock-off death star. (dam you surface area) 

Feats (Galaga)

Overall

• Have been terrorizing many other worlds and timelines across the collective Namco universe, from Boscnonian to Ace Combat to even Pac-Man himself!

• Have also conquered many planets and even traveled to different dimensions!

• Successfully waged war against humans for many years.

• Developed hyper-drive technology all on their own. 

• Has an actual dinosaur shark named after it. 

• Made it into the MCU.

• THAT IS SOME GOOD ASS TEKKEN!!!

Strength

• Tractor beam is strong enough to neutralize a fighter ship (as seen above). 

• The Galagans forces have been shown to have made a large gash in a planet.

• Bosses in Galaga ‘90 shake the screen as they appear. 

• Could potentially be comparable to other alien species seen in Galaxian which have performed the following (Debatable: See Sections before Verdict):

• The Zolgear destroying an entire city.

• The Core Seed destroying earth.

• The mothership Gourb channeled enough energy to destroy the sun, forcing it to go supernova.

Speed

• Bosses and other Galaga can keep pace with the galaxip. 

• Bosses can go as fast as the Galaxip’s hyperdrive. 

• Ships and Galaga in Galaga Wars can stand and move within the vicinity of a black hole. 

Dura

• Several bosses have displayed the ability to get pelted by energy bullets and missiles with little issue. 

• Boss Galaga can take a total of 2 shots before being fully destroyed by the Galaxip.

Scaling (Invaders)

The Core Cannon & Misc feats.

Ever since that fateful day where he Invaders arrived on earth they’ve had to duke it out with Earth’s mightiest machines, most famous being the Core Cannon and its many variations across a myriad of games, sometimes called simply “the tank” do not let the simplicity fool you, it is a powerful vessel. In terms of direct scaling, not only can basically every boss Invader tank shots from it, even basic Invaders can match its basic shots with their own. So they should reasonably scale, here are some of the feats performed by the Core Cannon and its variations. 

• The opening narration of Get Even implies the Core Cannon is more powerful than all pre-existing human weaponry, to the point that after driving off the Invaders humanity began an all-new arms race to utilise its power. This would reasonably mean the Core Cannons and tech powered by them would be stronger than existing human technology.

• The core cannon once flew from Mercury to the alien homeworld, which is displayed to be on another solar system entirely. (10.52 Million times FTL)

• This is consistent, as something similar happens in Space Invaders revolution, where the Core Cannon flies from earth to the far reaches of the solar system in a very short time.

• The core cannon has been constantly capable of pulverizing asteroids.

• The ships in attack of the lunar loonies are shown flying between the vicinity of galaxies. (Debatable) 

Scaling (Galaga)

The Galaxip & Misc feats.

(yes ik it's technically not the galaxip but it's the iconic galaga fighter ship so shhhhhhhhh)

Either be the Galaxip from Galaxian, the Gyaraga Fighter from classic Galaga, or one of the many other ships across the series, the Galagans have always fought against it, tho normal enemies die in one shot from it, Boss Galaga and other bosses should be more than comparable to these fighting machines, here are some of the feats performed by various ships across the Galaxian/Galaga series. 

• The ship from Gaplus can fly between Parsecs within minutes (depending on the stage between 40 seconds and 1 minute total). (2.51 Million times light speed)

• Human technology in Destination Earth was powerful enough to "nuke" an entire planet. (See Before the Verdict) 

• A Galaxip was able to briefly resist the pull of the following black hole. (1.9 Kilotons Small Town)

• The dragoon ship was able to destroy a huge asteroid. 

• The Galaxip is possibly shown flying around in a void between galaxies (debatable)

• Ships in Galaga Wars can react and move while traveling at hyper-drive speeds. 

Weaknesses (Invaders)

Invaders rely on sheer numbers, they usually strike in erratic patterns to try and overwhelm the opposition, great for when you’re fighting one guy! Not so much when you’re fighting another army. Most of their usual shenanigans might not have as much effect here, it doesn’t help that seemingly a lot of their strategies are borderline suicidal in nature and you’re sure to lose numbers fast. Aside from that, they have a very bad tendency of having their items used against them, which could get them in a pickle.

 

Weaknesses (Galaga)

In typical combat, Galagans rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm foes more often than not. Part of this is also using kamikazee strategies to take out foes. Works well enough if you’re only dealing with a few ships, but against an army of similar size, wearing down your own numbers like this can be a problem. Additionally, in doing so they tend to put themselves more directly into the line of fire, making it easier to hit them. 

Before the Verdict:

Planet Level Invaders?

In Attack of the Lunar Loonies, basic Invaders are seen surviving planets exploding beneath them. On the surface, there’s not a lot of problems with this feat. While the game is very comedic in tone, it is closer to say, a cartoon character having wacky feats rather than an actual gag feat. It is fair to say that it’s fairly inconsistent with how the Invaders are portrayed elsewhere in-game, even being much larger than usual. However this is arguably just “representing” them without being literal. However, what actually kills this feat is surface area. While the blasts are massive, the Invaders are naturally quite far from the epicenter. We don’t have much data on how big these planets are, but even using high-end values for Planet Level and placing the Invaders directly on the surface of the planet, you’d be knocking the numbers down to levels in the range of city-block level. 

Your best bet for a planet level Space Invaders is the mentioned “cloud” feat, where the final boss of ‘91 seemingly covers a planet the size of neptune in a thick cloud of smoke and even potentially more areas. However this feat doesn’t come without some caveats; First, this is assuming that the cloud from the background WAS made by it to begin with, which could just be part of a previously existing scenery. Second, even if we assume it was done by it, we don’t have a timeframe, it could have taken days or even weeks. However, I do feel generous since we do see that once the cloud disappears the planet goes back to normal meaning that they are somehow tied and the final boss is keeping it together somehow, so, how strong then would just covering the planet get? 

Welp, thanks to Rina (she is the absolute goat and my beloved send all your energy her way please) she was able to calculate that creating a cloud of this magnitude would require 8.53 Petatons of TNT, enough to reach Multi-continental levels of strength. This would apply to pretty much all space Invaders bosses. So, with this in mind this is probably the highest you can get the Invaders, to Multi-continental. 

Star-Level Galaga?

Hoh, boy this one’s a doozy. In Galaxian 3: the Rising of Gourb if you fail to stop the final superweapon from firing, it shoots a beam into the sun which causes it to immediately supernova, taking out the earth in the process. And an alternate bad ending usage of the same weapon can also take out the Earth directly. So what’s the problem? Well, these weapons… don’t belong to the Galagans. They belong to the Gourb, a separate alien species. So the question becomes, can the Galagans scale to this?

There are a few ways you can go about these feats, but in the first thing to mention is that, in any case, we would be being very generous, as the Galagans themselves have never displayed the amount of technological capacity or similar mechanisms as to the alien species seen in the Galaxian 3 trilogy. We have never seen Galaga in the official timeline match or get anywhere near close to the level of power presented by the Gourb or Zolgear, not enough to say that the feats could scale anyway. (sort of, you will see). 

Now, another angle, timeline wise Galaga takes place after the rise of Gourb and Project Dragoon, wouldn’t then a supposedly alien species be superior or similar technologically, or in any case fighting a superior version of the ship that is stronger? Well, that has a few issues. First of all, aside from the very common trope of older technologies being many times better than new ones, the idea of the Galaga is that they are a swarm unit. The Dragoon was useful because it was small, as it could infiltrate lage vessels of war and destroy them by targeting their weak points while inside. Something that the Galagans don’t really have or do, in fact this is specified in the official timeline.

“The small size and sheer number of the aliens made it Impossible for the UGSF to employ their large vessels of war. So instead the UGSF employs their proto-type spacefighter, Galaxip.”

So it's likely that, even if humanity had weapons as powerful as the Zolgear or the Gourb, they wouldn’t use it on the Galaga because they were rendered useless. A different type of enemy required different measures, and it doesn’t matter how powerful a beam is if you can’t hit anyone with it to begin with, hence the Galaxip. 

Another argument we could make is that the Galagans mastered hyper-drive technology, a technology even humans weren’t able to do and hence, it would mean they are more advanced than the previously mentioned. However, that would be ignoring that they are different types of technologies used, and it also ignores that building planet busting weaponry goes against most of the philosophy and strategies of the Galaga. They don’t destroy planets, they conquer them, they need them as hives; if they destroy them then that wouldn’t really be very useful for them. They rely on overwhelming numbers to get the job done, so they don’t really have large vessels or machines. 

In the end, is a combination of factors that makes the feats legitimate, but very hard to scale to the Galaga (to a degree), from the player’s ship not fighting any of the final bosses directly and instead having to specifically target their weak points from the inside, to the timeline specifying that the Galagans just work differently and so they didn’t need those weapons, to the very fact that the Galagans themselves have never displayed this level of power themselves. It would stand to reason as to why as a team we saw it a bit shaky to simply scale them to these feats (however…. There is a catch, just, just keep reading and you will find out). 

Of Planetoids and Black Holes

Howeeeeever…. In Galaga: Destination Earth, humanity decides to completely nuke a planetoid in order to defeat the Galagan invasion. This is one of the bigger feats in the world of Galaga, and given the Galagans should have comparable or stronger tech (due the fact that they can hack humanity's best technologies and representing such a dire threat that humanity had to actively search for “new weaknesses”), their best weapons and bosses should compare. But the problem then becomes: do humans have a black hole bomb? And the answer is basically  “Probably not”. It’s not particularly clear what causes the black hole, but given the information on hand it frankly seems more likely to be a coincidence of destiny. They intend to destroy the planet, specifically saying they intend to “Nuke” it, and given the thing does literally go boom, they seem to be telling the truth. Not to mention, the explosion seems to be over by the time the black hole appears. So where the hell did the big ass black hole come from? Who fackin knows. Still, regardless of how it was formed, the ship survives the pull for a moment, even temporarily managing to fly away from it, before being ultimately sucked in. Despite the size of the black hole, given the distance the ship was from it as it happened, it would not scale to the full power, but a tiny fraction of it. 

Thanks to god-calculator Rina and the power of maths, taking into account the size of the planet, the speed at which the projectiles are expelled and overall time frame of it, this would end at around 1.22 Quettatons of TNT or Dwarf Star level, which is…. Absolutely fucking insane when you think about it. But not far off from the previously mentioned feats, meaning that even if the Galagans wouldn’t necessarily compare to the Zolgear and Gourb, they kinda do? Because of human technology being this powerful. We told you there was a catch to it. 

Verdict

Stats

This is a surprisingly complicated section. Mainly due to both sides having fairly limited scope in terms of directly calculable feats. However, the ones they do have paint a fairly clear picture here. 

We start with the Invaders. They have a few lower-level feats, such as the 16 Tons of TNT from the small volcanic reactors or (as crazy as it sounds) surviving an exploding planet from orbit, both of which land in the City Block range, but this is far from the end. Given the arrival of the Invaders represented an unstoppable enemy, and the subsequent creation of the Core Cannons triggered a new global arms race, it’s highly likely that they’re simply far superior to all pre-existing human weaponry. This should comfortably place the basic Invaders at City level compared to various real-world Megaton level weapons. But the strongest Invaders, the big bosses that serve as the Commanders, should be a lot stronger. The strongest feat amongst these is from Super Space Invaders ‘91, where an Invader robot commander engulfed Neptune in a thick purple fog. This reaches over 8 Petatons of TNT, comfortably Multi-Continental. 

In terms of Speed, the Invaders are largely comparable to the Core Cannon once again, and other human ships. This includes the human vessel from Space Invaders PSX travelling across solar systems to reach the Invader’s base, travelling at over 10 Million times FTL to do so. This would apply to both basic Invaders and the Boss Invaders.

Moving on to the Galagans, they have a few feats of their own. While some, like the planet gash, are a bit vague, we can point to a big one. At the end of Destination Earth, a human ship is shown temporarily resisting the effects of a Black Hole. Given the distance between them, the ship would be resisting around 2 Kilotons of TNT, Small Town level. Given even basic Galagans can take out ships of this caliber in a single shot, they likely upscale this somewhat. But that’s far from the end. Given the power of the Galagan army, their strongest troops should be comparable to the best that humanity can offer, which would include Destination Earth’s planetoid blast. Given the size of the blast, this would require 1.22 Quettatons of TNT, Dwarf Star level. While this is a big jump it’s pretty consistent with other superweapons in the verse like those seen in Rising of Gourb, which could annihilate planets and even the Sun in a single blast. 

In terms of speed, the Galagans are comparable to the likes of the Galaxip, which can cross whole Parsecs within a minute, flying at over 2.51 Million times FTL. 

Comparing them directly, the Invaders take a solid speed edge, being generally around 4.2 times faster, and definitely have stronger basic troops. Basic Galagans are comfortably in the range of small town, but that’s a bit lower than the City level Basic Invaders. However, the big bads are a bit of a different story. The 8 Petaton Invader bosses simply pale in comparison to the 1.22 Quettaton Galagan Bosses. To put this into perspective, 1.22 Quettatons is 1.22 QUADRILLION Petatons. This gap is simply massive, no two ways about it. This is a bit of a complicated situation, as it means the Invaders hold a massive edge over the basic Galagans but are basically unable to take out their commanders with raw power. 

Ani Note:
Even if we take the planet exploding literally for the Space Invaders and assume they are planet-level which hey, fair (and I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt), and we upscaled on top of that! The Invader bosses would not even come close to the general power of the Galagans. It would still be Planet vs Dwarf Star. The gap can be closed, yes, but it cannot be overcomed. 

Arsenal and Abilities

Both have notable arsenals, but the Invaders take a notable edge. They have a whole bunch of special weapons that are much stronger than their standard weaponry, many of which are very good at dealing with large groups of enemies, such as shooting chain lighting, large explosives or simply massive fuckin’ lasers. While the Galagans have a few of these, the Invaders simply have much more. However, there’s a catch for both. In both cases, these items are often dropped by special Invaders / Galagans on death, allowing their enemies to take them and use them against them. The same would likely happen here, which ironically turns the Invader’s arsenal edge into far more of an arsenal neutral, as it will likely work against them just as much as it works for them. 

One of the biggest abilities on both sides is their potential to take their opponents units for themselves. These include the Invader’s parasitic Zombification and the Galagan’s Hacking. On a base level, these would largely even out, allowing both sides to take units from the other to bolster their own ranks. While zombification sounds like it could be more potent, a ton of the Invader’s army is made up of mechanical forces, from ships to massive robots, all of which would be vulnerable to this hacking. Conversely, plenty of the Galagan army is made up of organic beings, all of which would be vulnerable to being turned into undead vessels. Notably, the Galagans have their Tractor Beams, which can force enemies onto their side as well… but like many of the items on both sides these can be taken and used against them. So while it does mean the Galaga technically have two methods for troop-stealing, it will likely also end up in the Invader’s clutches with time. 

Between them, surprisingly only one side has direct access to the ability to stop time itself, being the Invaders. This could provide a massive edge, but there’s some problems. For starters, it only lasts so long, enough to take out a small battalion but likely not enough to take out an entire army at once. But moreover, like a lot of the Invader’s items, these can also simply be taken from them and used against them (bit of a theme here…). It’s also worth noting that while a Time Stop is always useful, it’s arguably more powerful in the Galagan’s hands as it allows them to completely negate the Invader’s speed edge for a time. 

Notably, both sides have methods to travel between dimensions, as well as teleport large distances, and both sides have used this to rapidly move armies between places. This is another point that would largely even out here. The Invader’s ability to create portals out of thin air and the Galaga’s hyper-drive technology mean that, if they were to trap each other in their own dimensions they could simply escape, making BFR a non-option.

Ani Note:
“But Ani and Co. how about the Space Invaders being able to fight as ghosts! The Galagans can’t counter that!” and that is surprisingly true! The Galagans have never displayed the ability to directly interact with ghosts. However, there are a few things with this: 

First: the ghosts themselves, despite being ghosts, still seem vulnerable to the basic attacks from the core cannon, suggesting that they would still be vulnerable to basic forms of attack. The only exception here is the boss ghost during intangibility, but assuming he has to carry the entire Invader army is putting too much pressure on the fella, and they would inevitably be overwhelmed. 

Second: these ghostly apparitions seem to only apply to one planet in general, and there is nothing stopping the Galagans from just raiding it or using their superior numbers to destroy it, something they can clearly do. 

Third: even if they can still work as ghosts, they still have a huge power gap to cover, something they can’t sadly work around, meaning that, even as ghosts and possibly immune, they wouldn't be able to do much in the long-run against the noticeably wide power-gap. 

And finally: We have no clue if the possession could work. It is theoretically possible since we never seen the Galagans deal with anything similar, but we have never seen them possess anything living, so it's unlikely to assume they could do it to a Galagan. 

 

Armies

This is a big one; which has the better army? Well, for starters, the Invaders are a far more varied force. The sheer number of different unit types is astounding, and provides a pretty clear advantage. While some are less notable for a space battle, such as the purely grounded troops seen in Space Raiders, they have more than enough other Invader types to throw into battle. 

In terms of conquests, both are pretty similar overall. Both have waged intergalactic wars, both have conquered whole solar systems rapidly, and both have warred with humanity for decades. Between them, only the Invaders have a canonical win in that category however. While the Galagans have come close, they’ve never fully pulled it off. Still, it is worth noting that the Invaders took that win after humanity had been in a global arms race for years instead of preparing for a return of the Invaders. 

But there is one final question: Which side has the bigger army? Well, this one is unfortunately pretty vague. Both have had pretty massive forces in various titles, especially so in games like Infinity Gene and Galaga Arrangement, both of which have dozens, if not hundreds, of aliens swarming to attack over the course of a single level. However, if there’s one potential way to see, we can look at the amount of space they occupy. Or rather, spaces. The Invaders have seemingly taken over an alternate dimension in World Defence right? Well, in titles like Galaga 88, we’ve also seen the Galaga occupy multiple dimensions, and in fact we’ve seen them occupying more dimensions at once than we’ve seen from the Invaders. This could very well imply that the Galagan Empire is simply far vaster than the Invader’s forces. 

Ani Note:
We know thanks to the arcade games and the Japanese manual of the game that the dimensions in Galaga 88 are called dimensions outright, supporting this idea (thanks to Kars Jpeg for this discovery). Considering how many times “Dimensions” are mentioned in Space Invaders, the difference between them would be approximately 2 or 3 vs 5 dimensions, still giving the Galagans an edge in army-size.  

Summary

Ultimately, this fight is fairly clear cut. The Invaders seem to take a good number of edges, but a lot of these either cancel out due to a similar ability on the side of the Galaga, such as their Zombification being matched by Hacking, the ones that don’t are just as likely to be used against them. Their massive arsenal? Their time manipulation tech? Often dropped and used by their enemies. While they still have a much more versatile army, this will not save them from the Galagan’s larger and vastly stronger army, which would likely quickly overwhelm and overpower the Invaders. 

The Space Invaders definitely put up a good fight, but in the end the Galagans Gala-gave the Invaders a run for their arcade tokens, because they seemed to have left the Invaders… Spaced out. 

The Winner are the Galaga

Before we go…

What to say… it's hard to really grasp the absolutely titanic endeavor this blog took, this is by far the longest blog (as of publishing this) that I’ve worked on, at 70+ pages and 11,000+ words. I know that my best standards are not a lot, some blogs by the G1 and other talented VS debaters have reached many more words and pages than this. That's just a fact. But there is something to having done this with my friends Cammy and Rina that I cannot really express with words right now, it honestly makes me want to cry. 

This match is one of my favorites ever, top 3 easily. If I was the owner of DB and wanted to make an episode, this would be the one to have top billing, I want it that much. But I know that it is a match that perhaps will never see the light of day, and that is fine. But that gave me the motivation to do something about it, to take my own destiny in my hands and make what I do relatively well… a blog!

This blog started all the way at the beginning of 2024, and now it's out after a year of having to look through games, manuals, etc to finally be here, at the end of the road, and what a road it was. I would like to thank some people. 

Cammy and Rina, for their unyielding support, for bringing their talents into this blog, and for being friends that had to put up with me. I would be NOTHING and I do mean truly NOTHING without them. This blog? It exists because of them. They poured love and their skills from math to writing to the formatting of this blog and it shows. They were there when I needed them and they are just the best of friends. I'm a lucky man to have them by my side, and please, send love their way, they did an amazing job and again, this blog wouldn’t have happened without them. There are not enough words in English to describe just how truly grateful I am to both.

I wanna thank my friends in general online, for being there at my lowest, for pushing and inspiring me to keep going in this blog, because I admit, it’s not the fanciest, nor the prettiest blog around, but it's mine, and they helped me see that what I do is something worth doing. Munch, Maxxine, Shulk, Dek, Bang, Mey, KingConch, Homie, the list goes on till infinity, I love you guys, and thank you so much for supporting me on my endeavors. 

I wanna thank the community too for their support on this matchup! I admit, I was scared when I first brought it up, but the reception to it has been nothing but warm and that pushed me to get this blog done in the best way possible. So for all the people that saw this match and as much as said “huh…. That’s fun”, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. 

And finally, I thank you, the reader, for reaching this point. It took a while, this is a long blog, but you can rest now. Thank you so much for reading this, and if you liked it or not, please let me know in the comments below! I do this out of the love of the art form, and so everyone can have a fun time in moments of weakness or when we aren’t feeling well. I hope to bring as much as a smirk making these blogs, so I hope you enjoyed it. I hope that I could bring a smile, even a little one. 

As always, before we go, I just want to remind you: the reader, that you’re stronger than you think.

Remember to drink water

Remember to be good to others and yourself

And Remember to stay epic.

-Sincerely
Animator3003