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| S P A C E I N V A D E R S |
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GAME: SPACE INVADERS
PLATFORM: ARCADE
GENRE: ARCADE SHOOTER
CREATOR: TAITO Licensed by MIDWAY 1978
AUTHOR OF THIS FAQ: Kevin Butler AKA War Doc
E-MAIL: kevinb(at)technologist(dot)com
FAQ VERSION: 1.04
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNIT I: INTRODUCTION
1. Legal Stuff
2. Version Information
3. Acknowledgements
4. Welcome
5. Overview
UNIT II: GAME INFORMATION
6. The Game
6.1 The Controls
6.2 The Playing Field
6.3 Scoring
UNIT III: STRATEGIES
7. Playing the Game
8. Quirks in the Game
UNIT IV: CONCLUSION
9. Conclusion
_______________________________________________________________________________
To find a particular chapter or subchapter do the following:
1. Highlight the chapter or subchapter name you wish to find.
2. Press CTRL-C
3. Press CTRL-F
4. Press CTRL-V
5. Press CTRL-F
5. You will arrive at the desired chapter or subchapter.
_______________________________________________________________________________
**************
********************************* U N I T I **********************************
**************
+=================+
| 1. LEGAL STUFF |============================================================
+=================+
This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advanced permission from the author. Use of this guide on
any other web sit or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and
a violation of copyright. All content in this guide is Copyright 2003, 2004,
2005 by Kevin Butler. Only the sites listed below have permission to publish
this work or to display it:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.cheats.de
www.ign.com
If you wish to put this guide on your site, e-mail me and ask. Save yourself
the headache of putting up with lawsuits and whatnot because you failed to ask
a simple "Can I post your guide on <insert site>?". If you wish to use info
in this guide, please acknowledge that you have done so.
If you see this guide on any other site then the one listed above, please
e-mail me. If you wish to ask questions or give input to this guide, please
e-mail me. Just have Space Invaders as the subject so I know it isn't another
kooky vendor trying to sell me hair gel or another XXX site telling me I have
new friends.
+=========================+
| 2. VERSION INFORMATION |====================================================
+=========================+
Version 1.0 7/23/03: A guide is born.
Version 1.02 7/25/03: Confirmation of the "Shot Counting Trick" in the
acknowledgements.
Version 1.03 8/28/03: Fixed a couple of errors.
Version 1.04 1/ 2/05: An e-mail from Eric Furrer clarifying the "Shot
Counting Trick"
+======================+
| 3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |=======================================================
+======================+
The following are a list of people or organizations that have made this FAQ
possible:
My wonderful family (who has had to put up with the tapping on the keyboard)
Taito and Midway for making a great adventure game
www.klov.com for confirming the Furrer shot trick and the name of the trick.
GameFAQ's for putting up this FAQ
Eric Furrer, for whom the trick is named after, giving more details on how
he did it.
+=============+
| 4. WELCOME |================================================================
+=============+
Welcome to my FAQ for Space Invaders. Since the game is just a shooter that
goes until all your men are killed, there is no walkthrough per se. Instead it
will be broken up into the game itself, strategies for survival, and some in-
teresting quirks in the game. Input is appreciated along with constructive
criticism. If you wish to e-mail me thoughts on this FAQ, better ways of doing
things, other strategies, etc., feel free. Make sure you put Space Invaders as
the subject. If you don't, I'm liable to discard the e-mail as spam.
+==============+
| 5. OVERVIEW |===============================================================
+==============+
Space Invaders was one of the first shooters created for a commercial video
game. It gained such popularity that quarter shortages were prevalent. It
also was a contributor to kids skipping school and administrators declaring
video games an evil plague. The game is simple in concept but the action can
be extremely riveting, especially listening to the deep bass thumping sound the
invaders make. Good luck.
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******************************** U N I T II **********************************
***************
+==============+
| 6. THE GAME |===============================================================
+==============+
Space Invaders is a simple two-dimensional shooter. You control your laser
base against an endless stream of alien invaders. Once you clear out one wave
of invaders, another is just waiting to take your base out. Of course, your
objective is simple, eliminate the invaders before they eliminate you.
____________________
/ 6.1 The Controls /__________________________________________________________
--------------------
In order to become a master of this game, you must be familiar with the
controls. The controls are simple. They consist of:
- Either a knob to spin (on the older machines)
Two buttons for left and right (the newer machines that the spinner knob had
worn out on)
- A fire button
Pretty simple eh?
_________________________
/ 6.2 The Playing Field /_____________________________________________________
-------------------------
The playing field consists of 4 buildings on the bottom, your laser base, and
an array of alien invaders in an 11 x 5 formation. I have included an example
of what the playing field look like:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- |
| // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\ // \\|
| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ \__/ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- |
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |
| |
| |
| __________ __________ __________ __________ |
| / ___ \ / ___ \ / ___ \ / ___ \ |
| | / | | | / | | | / | | | / | | |
| |__/ |___| |__/ |___| |__/ |___| |__/ |___| |
| |
| +-+ |
| +==+ +--+ |
| |_______| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
You control the laser base at the bottom of the screen under the buildings.
_______________
/ 6.3 Scoring /_______________________________________________________________
---------------
Scoring in this game is pretty simple. Here are the enemies:
_____
/_____\ The saucer gets you anywhere from 100-300 points.
_
/ \
--- = 30 points
// \\
__
/ \
\__/ = 20 points
/ \
__
/ \
---- = 10 points
/ \
- On the normal machine set up, you earn a free base at 1000 points. You
start with 3 bases.
****************
******************************** U N I T III *********************************
****************
+======================+
| 7. PLAYING THE GAME |=======================================================
+======================+
When you start the game, your base will be in the middle, at the bottom of the
screen under the buildings. Your goal is to blast the invaders into dust.
- Keep in mind that once the invaders make it to either the right or left edge
of the screen, they will drop down a row and head in the opposite direction.
You should plan your strategy to prevent them from making it to an edge.
- A good strategy is to start blasting out the columns on the opposite edge of
movement. What I mean by this is if the invaders are moving right, the
start blasting out the leftmost columns first. This way, their return trip
is longer and you have more time to deal with them.
- Do not attempt to hit the invaders dead center. They fire their laser bombs
from dead center and your shots will collide, wasting your shot and letting
them move closer to an edge.
- Speaking of shots, you can only have one shot out at a time so make it count.
- Use your buildings to your advantage. "Peek" around buildings to get shots
and blast a hole in the middle of your buildings to give you protection
while you knock out columns of invaders. Keep in mind, this protection will
only last about 2 columns before the invaders blow open a hole wide enough
to destroy your base.
- Every other wave of invaders starts one row lower. Eventually, the waves
will start one row above your buildings. Be prepared to do some fast
shooting to keep them from getting any lower because once they reach your
level, the game is over.
- When you are down to taking out the last invader on a wave, that invader
will zip across the screen. The strange thing is that the invader travels
faster going left to right then going right to left. Keep this in mind when
trying to shoot it.
- The mystery saucer (or UFO) will appear at random times. If you have a good
shot at it, try to hit it. Don't go out of your way, however, to go after
it; it isn't worth the risk or time wasted.
+=======================+
| 8. QUIRKS IN THE GAME |======================================================
+=======================+
Like all video games, this game has strange things that can occur. Although
they aren't detrimental to gameplay, they are interesting nonetheless. Also
included are some tricks of the game.
+--------------------------+
| The Hidden Message Trick |
+--------------------------+
To get the hidden message, you must do the following:
- When the demo starts, you need to press the following keys at the same time
on the machine: LEFT, RIGHT, FIRE, 1 PLAYER START, 2 PLAYER START.
- Continue to press these keys rapidly as fast as you can.
- If you are successful, a message will appear under the high score.
+---------------------+
| Shot Counting Trick |
+---------------------+
To get 300 every time you hit the mystery saucer. It is named the "Furrer
Trick" named after Eric Furrer who perfected it. To do this trick, perform
the following:
- Once the new level begins, start counting the shots from your base.
- When you have fired 22 shots, stop shooting and wait for the mystery saucer.
- Use the 23rd shot to blast the mystery saucer.
- After this, start counting shots again, this time count only to 14.
- Use the 15th shot to hit the mystery saucer.
- Continue using the 14 shot rule until the level is finished.
- At the next wave, start with the 22 shot rule, then use the 14 shot rule to
finish that wave.
- Remember, all shots count regardless of hits or misses.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Eric Furrer writes:
Here's a variant of the counting trick that most people don't know and it's the
exact trick I used to play that darn game for 36 hrs over 20 years ago.
The shot count trick works great for level 1,2,3 but you can't use 22-14-14
counts for mystery ships on the 4th wave because the invaders are too low. If
you wait around for the ship after 22-14, then the invaders will be down too
quick and you will surely die.
Most players at this point do a 22 count and abandon the remaining 14 counts
and just clear the board. This slows point accumulation.
My solution is simple and the shot count works in progressions as well:
On the 4th wave count 22, wait, and clobber the 300. Now instead of counting
14, shoot the 29 invaders in the bottom rows and get the ship. Now the
invaders are high enough to do two more 14's.
Here's the grid for rolling the machine's score in about 6 minutes by the forth
wave using 29. Otherwise, you'd have to wait until the 5th wave. Seems minor,
but it saves 30 seconds per roll, which could mean a 30 minute lead against a
good player on a head to head speed match, a difference of about 50,000 pts!
1st wave - 22, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 (bonus = 3000 + 990 = 3990 first wave)
2nd wave - 22, 14, 14, 14 (bonus = 1200 + 990 = 2190 total score now = 6180)
3rd wave - 22, 14, 14, 14 (bonus = 1200 + 990 = 2190 total score now = 8370)
4th wave - 22, 29, 14 (bonus = 900 + 990 = 1890 total score now = 0260 or
10,260)(if you counted 22, 14, you couldn't get the 3rd 14 without
severe risk of death row)
5th wave - 22, 29, 14 ** same as 4th wave
6th wave - 22, 14
7th wave - 22 14
8th wave - 22
9th wave - 22
then back to the first wave!!
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******************************** U N I T IV *********************************
****************
+================+
| 9. CONCLUSION |=============================================================
+================+
I remember when this game first came out, it definitely kept us addicted for
hours on end. Heck, I was 11 at the time so it didn't take a whole lot to keep
me entertained. With the low, thumping base and the endless stacks of quarters
on the machine, I can understand how it became a major craze. The game itself
was simple in design and play but it was a test of stamina and, to a degree,
strategy and luck. Unfortunately, it is very rare to find this machine any-
where. However, through the miracle of emulation, a whole new generation is
realizing what we "old" folks enjoyed those many years ago. I hope this guide
helps you in being able to get the most amount of gameplay for this game. If
you do have other ideas or thoughts, please e-mail me and share them. Who
knows, maybe I'll start a Q&A Chapter in this guide if enough people ask the
same questions. Anyway, thank you again for reading this guide.
To see other FAQ's I have written please go to:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/32691.html
~~~ No trees were harmed in the making of this FAQ ~~~
