Xbox Live Arcade captures Galaga

Namco's arcade classic gets yet another lease on life in the form of a $5 straight port on Xbox Live Marketplace.

In 1981, the first Galaga arcade machine was turned on inside a North American arcade. In the subsequent quarter century, the Namco Games classic has remained popular, spawning several arcade sequels. During the early 1990s, one original Galaga near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus was used as an ersatz Breathalyzer--if a player could not score more than 30,000 points, his car keys were immediately seized. Today, a working unit remains a popular attraction at one of the more popular dives in San Francisco's Chinatown district.

Galaga has also been ported to numerous non-arcade platforms. In the 1980s it came to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the TurboGrafx-16, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 7800. In the 1990s, it came to the Game Boy on its own and to the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 as part of the Namco Museum collection. The first decade of the 21st Century saw Galaga-inclusive editions of Namco Museum released on the PC, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. Galaga has also appeared on mobile phones and PDAs.

Now, Galaga has come to the newest game platform--the Xbox 360. As part of its Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays release campaign, Microsoft today made the game available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 Marketplace points (approximately $5). But while many other older games rereleased on Xbox Live Arcade have modern-day features like online multiplayer and updated graphics options, the 360 Galaga is a straight port of the arcade game, offering only offline one- or two-player games. For more information, check out GameSpot's full review.

68 Comments

  • OPOLO

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 3:18 am PT

    I gonna have to check this out

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 9:13 pm PT

    Very fun game. The first XBLA game I got all 200 achievement points in.

  • dedned

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 4:49 pm PT

    Galaga is the best game of all time. way better than any ff or mgs.

  • VictusMaximus

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 4:11 pm PT

    Galaga is the best game out for Xbox 360. Old graphics, old music, and old school for old timers like me.

  • chikahiro94

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    @feryl06
    Let's take a poll - who's dumb enough to pay $5 for a game they want?! Who's dumb enough to pay $20 for disc of games that only has one or two games they actually want? If you like the games on those anthologies, great, fine. But for some of us they're not that great a deal. $5 for exactly what I want versus $20 for one or two titles and a lot of stuff I don't care about...

    The value of it is *completely* dependant on the buyer. Bad deal for you, fine, but don't knock people even though it works out better for them.

  • Drachman

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 12:36 pm PT

    Awesome game, still to this day. Too bad they didn't introduce online multiplayer options.

  • Rec-neps

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 12:35 pm PT

    This just gives me another reason to hurry and save up some money for a Xbox 360.

  • nix6six6

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 11:15 am PT

    nice, keep them coming, the more games the better. But eventually the $5 here and there starts to add up. For some reason I bought that Cloning Clyde game.

  • thorsen-ink GameSpot staff member

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 11:09 am PT

    I spent $5 for a beer at the bar which lasted a whopping 45 seconds--$5 for endless galaga sounds pretty good to me.

  • ApisBee

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 11:01 am PT

    Save this retro junk for the ineffectual little wii.

  • Chonsie

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 10:48 am PT

    Nice all we need is COMBAT for XBL arcade that would be cool. Playing combat on XBL multi-player now that would be sweet old school fun!

  • barkeep

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 10:46 am PT

    I'd pay 1$ tops.. not $5!

  • tbolt_88

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 10:28 am PT

    why do ppl complain about galaga being 5 bucks..i mean damn..like every game is at least 5 bucks..and its frigging galaga..its worth it

  • relset

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 10:01 am PT

    I can remember, galaga was incorporated in ultimate mortal kombat 3!!

  • feryl06

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 9:51 am PT

    let's take a poll---who's dumb enough to pay $5 for a single outdated, non updated game---when you can spend $20 on those anthology games, or retro games that have at least 10 games on it and are at least updated! MS, please stop throwing us these crumbs and start getting out the good games people wanna see---try taking a poll and listen to what CONSUMERS wanna actually play and focus on those xbox live arcade games--that's a start in the proper direction.

  • vhold

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 9:43 am PT

    I'm really not appreciating these mediocre xbox live arcade releases.

    Just make a freaking arcade anthology already and quit trying to nickel and dime people to death.

  • Maui00

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 9:37 am PT

    I'll get it some other day

  • wenbin09

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 8:50 am PT

    xbox live rocks!!!

  • dryden555

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 8:11 am PT

    its a straight port -- no updated graphics -- no thanks

  • OhSnapitz

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 7:59 am PT

    Call me when STreet Fighter 2 comes out.. 5 bucks for Galaga = Heck NO!

  • spidey008

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 7:25 am PT

    This is a nice addition for old school gamers.

  • snakes2solid

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 7:05 am PT


    hemakm3
    I love Galaga. I use to play on Turbografx 16.

    ^^^ LOL>.. i think i saw a turbografx for 2.49 somewhere....

  • AuTiStIk1

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:46 am PT

    freeakin sweet galaga is an awesome game

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:45 am PT

    $5 well spent!!

    Xbox Live Arcade just continues to get better & better! Old Skool gaming is now back thanks to the great Xbox360.

    Go, MS!

  • abelmaestro

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:37 am PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • hemakm3

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:25 am PT

    I love Galaga. I use to play on Turbografx 16.

  • solidusScott

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:07 am PT

    i would rather pump a endless stream of qaurters into an arcade cabinet. its just more fun that way.

  • capthunt

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:03 am PT

    pff consoles

  • battojutsu

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 5:54 am PT

    Dude, you are not just buying a game, (a good game at that)...you are buying a piece of history!!! I know I played it when I was a kid and it was great! I seriously dont think $5 for Galaga is too much to ask.

  • LordBraz

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 5:31 am PT

    i'm not paying $5 for galaga

  • jkr2krz

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 4:27 am PT

    I used to play this at the laundromat... If i can get some mixed brands of soap and a vending machine next to my 360 it will be 1990-1993 all over again.

  • rbunnell

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 3:17 am PT

    Definitely worth it. My wife and two girls were even playing it, they don't do that with Condemned.

  • grave_rob

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 12:09 am PT

    much like the ataris' song, i too use to skip school & go to the arcade: hang out & play galaga all day.

    i'll be more stoked when tetris hits xbl...

  • rynmls

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 11:57 pm PT

    i have this game on my gba sp...

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 11:46 pm PT

    This game blows...it's not really that fun, and it doesn't have the old-school feel that it used to have...to top that, the trial will give you about two minutes of entertainment, and then it's over.

  • dragon_king64

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 11:16 pm PT

    Yay!!

  • EvanO_O

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 11:11 pm PT

    Can't wait for streetfighter. HADOKEN!

  • Sonicgod

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 11:05 pm PT

    You paid microsoft and other company $60 not Namco unless you bought Ridge racer 6.

    Microsoft does not have a arcade game to give free they already gave out there only LIVE arcade game out Free the sweet Hextic HD.

    I spent over $300 on just Galaga Items over the last 23 years $60 is nothing.

    Although since I have 6 copys of GALGA I am skiping this Xbox live one.thats my problem with all this LIve arcade and WII downlaoding I still have all my OLD consoles and arcade machines why would I need to download it when I got the real thing?...

    Hard to find games and improved games are the onlything that gets me to buy I rather have the real thing.

  • Cube_of_MooN

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:46 pm PT

    Hip Hip Horray..... I think.....

  • ironwarrior2

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:37 pm PT

    Well worth $5. Come on kids, you make at least $5 an hour flipping burgers at your job, and Galaga will entertain you for way longer than an hour.

  • SoralinkGS

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:27 pm PT

    I got it and all 200 achivements on it...the game is a blast and worth the 5 bucks...now waiting for SFII and Pac-man...

  • JoeyIA

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:20 pm PT

    Gawd, if you don't like Galaga or any of the other old games don't download them. Its as simple as that, vote with your dollars. But there are plenty of other people out there that have either never played many of these games or haven't played them since they originally came out.
    Like somebody mentioned before, finding arcade boards for some games is crazy hard to do. I'd like the 2-screen X-Men arcade machine but that's really hard to find and really expensive. Yeah I could play the ROM but that's not even close to being as good. If they had that on XBLA with online multiplayer and widescreen support (to replace the 2 standard screens) I'd totally buy that up and I wouldn't **** and moan about how its a decade old game either.

  • chikahiro94

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:18 pm PT

    Cool. I'm waiting for SNK to hurry up and release their old Neo Geo non-fighting games on Live or announce them for the Wii or something!

    Love the trivia about the alcohol testing. Awesome.

    And it's good news - better than buying a $20+ "Best Of..." disc that has only one game you actually want.

  • neoand12

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:16 pm PT

    MEH

  • 02EclipseGT

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 10:10 pm PT

    LOL big news. Cant I buy one of those in plug and play at like K mart or something?

  • VegetaMaelstrom

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 9:33 pm PT

    I'm just wondering how in the heck did Galaga get a 6 for graphics in Gamespot's review!?! This game is on the 360 so comparing it to other 360 games should only yield a 1 or at most a 2. If the year were 1985 then a 6 would be accurate but today? I don't think so.

  • AbstractTerror

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 9:17 pm PT

    I'm pretty close to getting all of the achievments..... yay for Galaga

  • snakes2solid

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 9:06 pm PT

    this should be a free download!!.. i paid enough for my whole setup, games are 60.oo each...etc.etc...really...this **** needs to be free!!!

  • AlphaRedWolf

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 8:55 pm PT

    Galaga was a fun game and everything and I know its not a lot but charging $5 dollars for a 25 year old game seems like a rip off they need to be like $2 bucks for the oldies.

  • tr00pa_26

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 8:01 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

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