Tribute to Arcade Classic aka Space Invaders I

Tribute to Arcade classic aka Space Invaders is a shoot-'em-up computer game designed and programmed by Tomohiro Nishikado and distributed by Taito, released in 1978. Along with Pac-Man, Space Invaders was one of the games that shaped the early development of video games. The player controls a cannon, which he can move left and right at the bottom of the screen. Each level begins with several rows of regularly arranged aliens, which constantly move horizontally and gradually downwards, attacking the player with projectiles.

The player himself has an unlimited supply of ammunition, but can only fire a new projectile when the previous one has disappeared from the screen. If one of the aliens manages to reach the bottom of the screen and land next to the cannon, the player loses one of his lives. Video games existed before Space Invaders. In fact, Atari's game Pong had been around for several years, but Space Invaders captured the public's attention in a way that no game had managed before - this was exactly the time when many people were in the throes of Star Wars fever and excited by the spaceship and alien theme. Space Invaders even became so popular in Japanese arcades after its release in 1978 that 100 yen coins became scarce throughout the country after a short time.

Tribute to Arcade classic aka Space Invaders was one of the first arcade games with coloured representations; these were created by overlay foils. It was also the first game to use a continuous and adaptive soundtrack: Four constantly repeating bass notes are repeated faster the further the game progresses or the aliens approach the player. The conversion of the game to the Atari 2600 game console, which had been rather sluggish until then, released in 1979 brought the breakthrough of video games in the home market. Many families bought an Atari video game just to be able to play Space Invaders. The game came with a single featuring a pop song of the same name. Space Invaders was part of the second squad of computer games that the Museum of Modern Art added to its permanent collection on 28 June 2013.