Anyone over the age of, say, forty, undoubtedly has at least some memory of the quarter-sucking beast known as Space Invaders. Often disguised as a cocktail table but usually manifesting itself in North America as a cavernous, garishly decorated cabinet propped up against a wall, the game was one of the earliest arrivals in the video coin-op revolution that assaulted our shores in the late '70s and early '80s. Now, through the mystic powers of sub-miniaturization, Space Invaders has invaded once again, presumably to show the younger generation exactly what it was that stole away their parents' time and money.

This is not -- by a long shot -- the first time the game has been shrunk and re-released. So why drop twenty dollars on this version? Because, by using a formula that mixes old-school flavor with modern flash, original Space Invaders developer Taito ensured that the aptly named Space Invaders Extreme feels like the ancient yet beloved relic but in reality plays a ton better.

When you first launch the game, you can't help but notice its antiquated appearance. In this case, that's a good thing. Space Invaders was born with jagged edges and blocky CGA-style creatures and images, and to change up the essentials just wouldn't be right.


At the base of the touch screen is the familiar and oh-so-simplistically rendered cannon, ready to move back and forth with the d-pad and launch ordnance with the A or B buttons. Near the top of the screen is the traditional formation of robotic invaders, drifting leisurely from left to right and back again, dropping the occasional squiggly line, which is in fact a circa 1984 bomb. Above the invaders are flying saucers, again just like in the original game.

But wait -- something's amiss. Gone are those little fortifications near the bottom of the screen that served as hiding spots during fierce bombing. Looking closer, you realize this is but one of a ton of little tweaks and alterations Taito has cleverly infused into the game. The invaders, for example, are no longer a boring bunch of clones. Now they're white and blue and green and even two-tone and semi-translucent. And they don't always blow upon the first shot. Sometimes it'll take two or three, and even then they might shrink or multiply instead. Maybe they'll emit little force fields -- which of course makes them that much harder to kill -- or perhaps they'll turn sideways, which, in this 2D environment, essentially means they become paper-thin. Occasionally they'll break free of the pack and come straight at you at double speed, or explode with such fury that they take out all the other invaders nearby.