Not Actually #17 (Tie)– Galaga
44 Points, 7 Lists, Top Vote: #6 Stethacantus Production Date: 1981
Manufacturer: Namco
Galaga, a game that, even with the near total demise of arcades in the US, there's still probably a Galaga machine somewhere nearby. I have one at my local laundromat, which I only found out when my clothes dryer broke down.
If you're not familiar with Galaga, you wouldn't be reading this in the first place. Galaga is essentially just an updated version of 1979's Galaxian, which itself is inspired by Space Invaders. Insectoid creatures (ships?) fly onto the screen in waves, coming together to make one large formation. Once all the ships are in position, they begin dive bombing you one, two or three at a time. You control a ship at the bottom that can only move left or right to avoid them and their shots. The big difference between Galaxian and Galaga is that the titular "Galaga" ships can capture one of your ships with a tractor beam. But, if that wasn't your last ship, you can destroy the Galaga and free the ship. Do so without accidentally shooting it yourself, and the two ships can join together to double your firepower.
Numerous fun facts:
There is a bug/feature, that will cause the enemy to stop firing at you. Kill all but the bottom left two enemies, then just keep dodging their fire for about fifteen minutes. Eventually they'll stop shooting at you, and you can continue the game. From this point on, no one will fire at you.
During the attract demo, it's possible to take control of the ship. You can do this, just as the Galaga activates its tractor beam. If you avoid it, you can move the ship around until the demo times out.
Galaga has a "kill screen". A kill screen is the point at which an "endless" game ends, no matter what you do. In Galaga, it happens if you pass stage 255. The level counter rolls over and the game locks up.
The score on the one player side has 6 digits, while the score on the second player side has 7. This means the second player can rack up a 10x higher score before rolling over.
Guess how many Galaga games there are. I'm aware of at least 4: Galaga, Galaga '84, Galaga 3 and Galaga '88. And there are at least 3 official Galaxians. Plus there's the "Class of '81" Ms Pac-Man / Galaga combo machine.
https://www.youtube.com/v/NB9979OPYMcNext up, the best vector graphics game ever.