Classic Game Room HD - SPACE INVADERS for Atari 2600 review

[moodyoldmoo]

I got this game at a boot sale for £1, wish I had an Atari to play it.

[dalekusa]

Back when CGR was a lot more serious... loved it back then, hav't seen a recent one, but I doubt it is good enough for me.

[SpartanForgeWorld300]

Angry Video Game Nerd: Let's pop this fucker in!

[colonydude13]

ZOMG PEW PEW

[halo4life090]

This game is a classic :)

[1Thompsonmusic]

The narrator sounds too young to remember the original Space Invaders, such is the monotone voice.

[Bodinkski]

this sucks is got it no sound and i cant fire....

[gillianorley]

Game over, Man. Game over!

[nosajj12345]

Oh this brings back memories!

As soon as I heard those iconic sound effects and saw the graphics I felt like I was 13 yrs old again laying on my side on the living room floor in front of the TV playing the shit out of this game!

[pvtchapman1beer]

you should be able to kill all but one, let him land so he is a single friendly alien, then he can work with you to eliminate his siblings, the perfect plan

[bland9876]

I have this on xbox 360 and I can't get past one wave i am grate at galaxian tho

[MattTheSaiyan]

The "Invisible invaders" mode is one of the funniest things in video game history. Even funnier than playing "Virtua Fighter 2" on the Saturn with that under-water mode/cheat/whatever thing.

[spoonshiro]

One of my favorite Atari games.

[Gibson299]

the arcade version Raped this Howly Fuck.

[gamesDAMNED]

@Gibson299 No, the Atari version was much more scary and eerie, thanks to those sound effects. And it got really intense once the invaders began on the lowest level, and you had literally one pass to avoid death. Great fun!

[hejjagedu]

@Gibson299 but the arcade version is IN THE ARCADE

this is at your tv

[Damienf77]

The squishing sound they make when they reach earth still makes me cringe.

[DONTINSTALL2]

Youtube -

They Sold Their Souls For Rock And Roll

/watch?v=2OyP4ETNygo

[redcardinalist]

First ever console game I played (and played and played) waaay back in about 1979. Here in the UK the vcs carts were incredibly expensive; being about £30ish. I only had a few for my Atari vcs but a friend (who's dad worked in IT in the local university and had tons of cash) had loads of them. Good times!

[bababooey2006]

Need double bullets

[Spazmify]

@bababooey2006 hold the reset switch while the power is off, then turn the power on while still holding reset.

[mspeter97]

one the best video game evar

[rocknrollmustlive]

The cartridge variation to the left at 2:03 makes me think of Boston's debut album cover. Boston, Atari, and spaceships...how can you go wrong?

X D

[Tzunamii777]

Space Invaders for the Atari had one of the 1st "cheats" found in a game.

If you're playing on a real Atari system, with the system OFF, HOLD DOWN the start button when you power up, & a game will start with DOUBLE-FIREPOWER!!

Try it. I've been playing since the 70's *)

[agridomer]

@Tzunamii777 OMG!! I remember that egg!! But I did by toggling the on/off switch rapidly. This of course ruined my VCS, but the dbl-shot where worth it!! I wish I would have known the proper way to do it!!! You Rock!!

[bazfanv2]

Thee Invaders - Alien beings from a dying planet - destination Earth - Purpose!. To make it there world.......

[Zlagie]

Hey CGR, i would love to see a movie review kind of channel, Like Classic Movie Review! That would be fun to see you're opinion on classics, such as Godzilla, Them!, and Frankenstein.

[johnwx777]

One of best coin-op conversions for the 2600 ever made and the 1st 2600 game i've ever played.Great game,great sounds,great packaging.

[FletcherHabit]

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane

[teddybomber2]

oooh shiit que tiemposss diossss

[97channel]

This is the blueprint for how a 2600 conversion of an arcade game should be. It's perfectly acceptable that it wont match up 100% due to the vast limitiations of the system. But what you have here is an effort which has produced the best possible result. And IMO, I reckon that it actually looks better than the arcade version, which is a rare and phenominal achievement on the 2600.

[GreatLakesDrifta]

Love the simple yet appropriately punctuated ending to your review!

[RubyW00]

How come (even though it's not in this video) you always put pics of random woman in bikinis in the beginning, just before the gameplay and actual review???

[gluserty]

my question is such: how come "Space Invaders" isn't a part of Atari's Plug 'N Play series?

[jcdane]

this is a licensed game from tiato based on their coin op title for the 2600. form what i understand atari (infrogrames) did not want to pay the fee to relicense it for any of their plug and play series

[gluserty]

@jcdane thanks for the info(grames)! wow, cheap bastards.

[deogrou]

:D I just saw a video from you on E3 2010 playing another space invaders :)

[KonChul]

Oh yeah, i remember this from waaaay back in the day. Thnx for uploading.

[jchase1970]

Everybody I knew loved this game, I hate it. Sure graphics where good but I couldn't stand the repetitiveness of it.  I played it alot trying to like it but never did.

[Thematt7890]

Leela: Invaders! possibly from Space! LOL this game is the best of Space shooters

[CescoPisicoli]

Love the sound of when u die! Epic!

[pguest1080]

dude, what is that AWESOME music when you first start playing??

[infringementMAN]

Has anyone actually finished the invisible aliens mode? In today's games they use optical cloaking but here they really are not there. Damn.

[GPOINT4U]

great oldschool shit

[bectonbrainwave]

he's hooked,he's hooked, his brain is cooked

[TBFDITW]

on my game those shield things are houses, i got the one for game boy

[XxJ0b3xX]

Great game.

[Mrpantymelt]

I cant stop watching these vids, its so relaxing to revisit these old games.

[sirbargearse]

I spent an obscene amount of time on this on a mates Atari 2600 back in the 80's. You're so right. One of my favourite memories of this game is the zany amount of options to make the game replayable. CLASSIC doesn't even hit the mark!

[bbombal100]

great game just got it after I got the atari 2600 also the wii has space invaders get even its fun and they gave it a back story.

[HBKanedge818]

Great review as always dude!. My best is 20,750 on the PC version.

[ac5015]

This is is the first game I ever beat if you can call it that. Once you get 9999 points. It starts over. I think they called it flipping the game back then.

[sirbargearse]

We use to call it "clocking" the game. Eg; Have you clocked Donkey Kong yet?

[SteevDragon67]

for the 2600 system, this game was pretty close to the arcade game. had a lot of fun with this game!

[SpaceRook]

It was a very good port of the arcade game. It had excellent controls, tons of game types, good graphics (for the time), and nice multiplayer.

[mikexlong]

man look at those kickass graphics

[TheCastellan]

Love the sound when the cannon's hit or the aliens touching the ground.

[papowyproductions]

you can get two shots at once by turning it off holding the reset button turning it on letting the reset button go and then you can fire two shots at once

[killdoser666]

i have the spce invaders with the text label

[owensed01]

LOL NUKE THEM IN MISSEL COMMAND

[damiannerd]

it's the halo 3 of the atari 2600 ok mabye not

[CCMKBProductions]

yah, maybe not.

[FloorOfTheForest]

Anyone remember the Aliens game that came out in the late 80s? It was a budget title, I think i had it for the C64. The game was pretty shit but during the loading screen you could play Space Invaders. That was quite cool.

[kenny9048]

i did get a million points on this game. it took me 8 hours on a friday night. took a picture of the screen and sent the picture to them. it never ended the game though. i love it!

[mikeusat]

"I'm haven't spent much time thinking what it would really be like if aliens from outer space invaded earth, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look like this".

------------------------------­---------------------

That's exactly what the aliens want you to think.

[TheCastellan]

What if they are friendly aliens?

[DaJaeff]

i think first human reaction would either be killing them or trying to make profit outta them....

[TheCastellan]

Maybe if it's America, which is why I feel disclosure and first contact will be on another country.

[markthe5hark8]

@TheCastellan If they are friendly aliens they would be just as dead.

[TheCastellan]

@markthe5hark8

Hope not

[cshaugh214]

@TheCastellan yeah i guss thats why the like to shoot lasers at you

[Theriot6592]

@TheCastellan Don't you watch movies? If the aliens were friendly, there would only be one of them.

[TheCastellan]

@Theriot6592

Only a fool would use movies as a guidebook to anything. And only one alien would not work, since any religious redneck with a shotgun and a bible, or a paranoid military officer or oil exec would be able to kill said alien easier, so I'd think the alien greeters would need some protection one way or another.

[Theriot6592]

@TheCastellan dude get ur fucking panties unbunched it was just a joke about how the only movies with friendly aliens are like E.T. with only one alien

[EastCoastDude99]

@TheCastellan, Religious Redneck with a shotgun and bible? You sound like that nitwit Obama that you probably voted for. Relax dork, he was making a joke.

[RedWolf3487]

@TheCastellan We come in pea-BOOM!!!!

[KolerikRocks]

I've played this game back in the 80's and 90's this game is Classic!!

[bonnes876]

space invaders came out on psp :)

[MiracleKD18]

I had a game very smialr to this, for the NES.

[Zfinster]

the original 1 hit 1 kill lol

[xBrickmanx]

Anybody knows the cheat for this game?

Hold the reset button, turn on your atari, let go of the reset button.

Now you can shoot two shots at a time.

:)

[chazcov08]

The cool thing about that cheat is that you can even do it on the emulators. Just hold down the F2 key after choosing the game on Stella, and you can get the double shots! Use the Stelladaptor, and you're living in 1980s video game heaven!

[xBrickmanx]

eh...I dont feel very 80's with an emulator.

[chazcov08]

It's a fusion of the new and old. I would have given my 14 year-old left nut to have EVERY 2600 game on a portable gaming machine back then. The Stelladaptor allows you to use the original controllers, so the muscle memory is there. Playing the games with a keyboard is just so wrong.

[xBrickmanx]

Well how about you get yourself the actual system....It's better that way. I have one coming in the mail!

:)

[chazcov08]

I have two of the old systems! One of which I've had since 1981!  It's just easier to be able to play on the road using my laptop and Stelladaptor with controller. Can't really pack up my 2600 with faux woodgrain finish in my laptop bag.

I even have two of the new Atari Flashbacks. I bought them because they came with two new controllers and were only 20 bucks! What a deal!

[xBrickmanx]

seriously can we stop talking about this?

[chazcov08]

Sure, if you're going to be a dick about it!

[xBrickmanx]

My apologies dude.

[Oldskoolkid2k8]

I hate this version. too slow and boring.

[cibermango]

hq no hd

[DamianRproductions]

lol hd would be useless in video from atari game

[Vdeogamer]

I can't get an atari unless I go to eBay. It looks fun for IT'S age, but unless they make a new game, it's not worth it.

4/5

[Snotnarok]

They did make a new Atari 2600 game, it's called Actionauts

[IcarusMoonsight]

Can you play it with the paddles?

[Tryzon]

The ending is ridiculous: there's no way of knowing what the hell is happening!

[krispycrunk]

This was the first game i ever played back in 1983.

[Enygma702]

I miss the old intro. BRING IT BACK!!!

(Keep the evil squirrel)

[harleykman]

People don't realize how amazing this game is (technically). The Atari only has two sprites, and yet here in Space Invaders were see a total of 41 sprites.

And no flicker.

This was absolutely amazing in 1979, and many programmers immediately ripped-apart the code to figure out how it had been done.

By the way my favorite setting is "zig zag bullets" and "invisible invaders" Talk about a challenge!  Even surviving one screen is difficult.

[nephildevil]

lol @invis aliens mode :D

[pfiberoptik]

After dumping untold allowances into an arcade space invaders at the convenience store across the street from my house in 1980, the Atari was a fucking godsend - especially this game - the very first atari game I ever played.

I remember it was such a thrill to simply hit the reset switch and play again, and again, and again....

[Suraht]

When I was four years old, my father was addicted to the arcade version of Space Invaders, so for his birthday, my mother went out and bought him the Atari 2600 and a copy of Space Invaders. While he was disappointed with the game, I was instantly hooked, and have remained so for the last 30 years.

[xg4bx]

those sound effects are awesome.

[genesisrocks101]

this was the first game i ever played, its a great one this was my favorite game until the nes cameout. and soon i became a huge genesis fan.now to this day i am a huge shinobi fan.

[plurp7]

this was one of the first games to ever get me hooked. thanks for posting Mark, great review!

[glorp896]

i've always thought this version was better than the original arcade game, the original i think was too sensitive moving left to right as far as your space invader zapper artillery base is concerned, whatever you call it... this version you could master more quickly and make as hard as you want... i was lucky enough to win an ATARI 2600 in a local drawing when they probably were still over $200...

[harleykman]

"tank"

[glorp896]

tank? and all these years i never knew... artillery or some future laser gun? i didn't know... reminds me of how useless tanks were in WAR OF THE WORLDS, tom cruise version...

[Rlotpir1972]

That was my very first video game back in 1980. I had the Sears version.

[TMRProg]

The thing I remember about this game was if you held down the game reset and then powered on, you could play with the ability to fire two shots at a time.

[Grooveraider]

Omg - Space Invaders was like crack in the early 80s ! My parents would put me to bed early for school the next morning. Meanwhile, they'd stay up late and play Space Invaders on the 2600. Too bad they lost interest in other video games as they became too sophisticated for them. I thank you Taito for giving me the glimpse of my folks enjoyng video games. Nowadays, i'm trying to get them into the Nintendo Wii ;)

[domuhoj]

Because of some of the great options the Atari ports of arcade games had, some of them are more fun than more modern, "accurate" ports. Especially the two player options - the Atari ports seemed to have a lot of fun two player options that let two people play at the same time, whereas the newer ports make you take turns and so forth.

[xgamer3000]

my friend has the n64 version

[ThisIsEDX]

How do you start the game on a 7800?... I just got one recently and only have the 7800 controller.

[TenguGuy]

You son of a bitch, what do you have against Space Invaders??

[budahcat123]

no i was talking to thislsedx.....

[glorp896]

galaga was one of the few that i mastered from the original early 80s games, stage 255 and turned over... it is better than space invaders and only an ego boost to me that it is STILL lasting all these years even longer than Ms. Pac Man which lasted along time int the arcades in tandem with galaga - these two were the long term hold outs, yet galaga seems to have outlasted them all, while the original space invaders didn't last nearly as long, yet i'll bet this atari version will last longer...

[TenguGuy]

I think you have to push reset.

[jayMaze5]

just the sounds of that game take me back. The best

[Webins]

Really one of the greats, even though I never cared for it.

Love the "Futurama" parody though.

[InecomCompany]

I got my 2 litre bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix tape....

[NightSprinter]

Let's rock!...

[TANK1671]

@InecomCompany "He's firing upwards through his own sheild! He's a mad man! A MAAAD MAANNN!!"

"Bahahahahaha! you should not have shot at where I was, but instead at where I was going to be!!"

LOL, hey they made a new PS3 version available in the PS store for 10 bucks. i bought it, its pretty cool. its an "evolved" version, check out the demo at least i find it really cool. and you can play it to your own music! Rush! Zeppelin!

[notyoursavior78]

heh I'm pretty sure I have this one in my Atari 2600 pile of games. I should dig those out later. I think I know where they are in my basement. Anyhow I know I do have Space Invaders for the SNES and it is pretty cool because it had four different screen types (Up Right Cabinet, Black & White, B&W with Cellophane and Full Color). It also had a Versus mode which was fun.

[notyoursavior78]

Just to respond to my own comment, I did go looking for my Atari 2600 games and I didn't find them....they have to be in the basement somewhere. I did find some old sports trading cards and in them was......ET for the 2600 *shudders* the only thing worse is that my mom wrote my name on it. UGH!!! My life doesn't neeed to be associated with such a unfun game.

[InecomCompany]

How many of us have Atari games with our names written in silver paint/ink pens or big, fat permanent back markers from back in the 80's? -CGRHD

[kanen100]

@InecomCompany most of my nes games that i have bot has like 15 names on it

[linkeffect82]

Awesome review ^^.

[jtswhip]

You guys are awesome! You know,the one video game that I have never seen a video game review on is one of my all time favorites. A little game for the ps1 called "Tomba". Seriously,to this day if I pop that fucker in,it is STILL crazy fun. Just a thought..

[fatso233]

or perhaps probably street fighter

[mattsamansonfan]

wow there are a bunch of gameroom hd's in little over a week

[SashaNein]

That's The Game Room's work ethic. A whole lot of awesome episodes at a rate faster than you'd expect.

[outatime21]

GAME ROOM GAME ROOM GAME ROOM GAME ROOM