Deluxe Galaga (Amiga) - Part 1

Developer:

Edgar M. Vigdal

|

Release Date:

1995

|

Systems:

Amiga, Windows, Mac, iOS

---

I don't play shareware games for Super Adventures as a rule, but I thought I'd make an exception this once, because I'm a sucker for a pretty starfield.

Deluxe Galaga used to be one of my favourite Amiga games back in the day, so I was always going to get around to writing about it eventually. The main thing that was putting me off is that it looks like... well, Galaga. It's not actually a licenced Galaga sequel, it's just inspired by the game, but it still features a lot of tiny alien sprites against black background and that doesn't necessarily make for the most interesting screenshots, or give me much to write about.

But then I learned that the game's creator, Edgar M. Vigdal, had died of cancer a few weeks ago on April 1st, and suddenly I'm feeling that it's been too long since I last gave the game some attention.

---

The thing is, I've always had this in my head as being called Galaga Deluxe, and it turns out that I'm not crazy, because it IS called that! Or was called that anyway, at some point around 1994. Apparently the creator had a change of heart and decided that the words looked better the other way around.

He also changed his mind on the title screen when it came to the enhanced AGA version of the game for more advanced Amigas, giving it a new look I can only describe as being 'rubbish'. He was far from the only developer to go utterly mad with power when given a whole 256 colours to play with though.

The Amiga kind of died out midway through the 90s and you'd think that'd put an end to the game's updates, but almost a decade later the game reappeared on PC with high res 32-bit visuals and a shiny new title.

From 2003 onwards the game would be known as... Babylon 5! Uh, Warblade I mean. The name Galaga is still kind of owned by Namco, so it made sense to rebrand the game as a new IP.

Hang on, I always assumed that the game started with a W, but that's actually more like a triple-u. Well that's one way to avoid trademark issues I suppose, make up a whole new letter.

And this is pretty much the game then.

Enemies pour onto the screen, form into a Galaga-style formation at the top, then start to break off and swoop down in wings. Some of them drop stuff when I blow them up and all of them drop bullets when I don't. Not much more I can add I guess.

Well thanks for reading, remember to check the site in a few days as I'll probably have another game from my Steam backlog to show off for you.

Warblade (PC)

Actually one thing I can do is show how Deluxe Galaga compares to Warblade.

They really do seem to be the same game, with the same enemy formations and the same feel to the gameplay. Though Warblade has got glowing bullets and 3D rendered ships replacing the original pixel art. Honestly I think I prefer the Amiga version of the hero starfighter.

It kinds of reminds me of the starfighter from Xenon 2... along with the player ship from 90% of other shoot 'em ups I suppose. But I thought this was a nice comparison to make, as it shows the kind of visuals that commercial Amiga shooters were putting out for the same hardware a half decade earlier.

Galaga (Arcade)

Here's Namco's original Galaga arcade game on the other hand, looking a little more dated (but not by much). It's got a lot of the same things going on, with the alien space-flies gathering at the top of the screen, then sending attack waves down at me. It's even got a similarly twinkling starfield.

You can see the enemy here using that tractor beam thing to try to turn my ship to their side, which is something I don't think they can ever do in Deluxe Galaga, though I totally just did it to one of their guys.

Then got him killed off. Hah.


LEVEL 3.

Ah, this is going to speed things up a bit, being able to fire two shots at once. I can still only have so many bullets on screen though, and I'm still hammering the trigger myself for each and every shot.

Killing the giant-sized alien got me a yellow rank marker, and if I get all six colours I'll earn a promotion. You think that means moving up to a higher pay grade too, but nope. I have to collect my own cash as I go, and I haven't seen one single coin so far.

Here's a link to the music by the way, if you're curious: YouTube Link. It's actually pretty catchy, but it's one of those music/sfx kind of deals where you can't have both at the same time, well not all the channels anyway. Oh hang on, did I link to an Amiga cracktro tune by mistake there? Nope, that's the right music, I guess it just got around. It's credited to "Unknown" in game, but it's apparently by a composer called Monty, who apparently knows his shit.


LEVEL 4: KAMIKAZE.

Shit, I really need to stop collecting those skull tiles, seeing as they take my power ups down a level. Now I'm moving slower and I've lost my double shot. If I grab three different colour skulls I'd get an upgrade from them instead, but I only seem to be running into blue.


LEVEL 5.

Well there goes my first life then. If I still had my double shot that totally wouldn't have happened! Getting my ship wrecked usually takes it down a level as well, downgrading the speed and weapons, but fortunately I don't have to worry about that this time, as collecting that skull has already left me crap as I can be.

Plus I missed the bloody coin.


LEVEL 6.

Got a coin!

The downside about flying a rubbish spacefighter is that it takes longer to get things done. In fact even the enemies are getting annoyed with how long it's taking me to wreck their shit, and they've sent over a UFO to fire a few homing missiles my way for encouragement.

Not a fan of these missiles to be honest, especially when one gets lined up with me and all I can do about it is explode. It'd be fine if I could ever leave the bottom of the screen, but sadly my fighter only comes with lateral thrusters and a warp drive. Bit of a design flaw that.


LEVEL 7.

It seems that certain coloured rank markers fall faster than others. If I wasn't directly under that white one there's no way I would've be able to grab it. I also grabbed a Meteor Storm minigame too, which is cool.

I'm lucky the thing dropped at the end really, as these minigame pick ups cut the stage short, with all other potential power up drops lost forever. I guess all the surviving alien ships are allowed to fly on by and attack Earth, or whatever it is they're all doing out here.


 METEOR STORM.

Always nice to be in the direct path of a few million tones of rock. My trigger's even been replaced with an accelerator for this bit just in case it's not going fast enough for me.

Actually it's more or less impossible for me to make it to the end of this without a few more manoeuvring speed upgrades, but I'm more interested in grabbing these asteroid-coloured space crates anyway. It's taken me 7 stages to raise 150 credits, and after a minute dodging asteroids I've already managed to double it.

This is one part of the game where the AGA version is noticeably different to the standard Amiga game, as the video hardware can put enough colours on screen to make the points and cash look different from the asteroids! Always handy to be able to tell at a glance what you're flying into.

Though if these are meteors, shouldn't they all be glowing? And be travelling through an atmosphere?

Yep, saw that coming.

Well at least I walked away with 300 credits, though it's not quite enough yet.


LEVEL 8: BONUS WAVE.

Another gold coin! Wait, fuck that, A PINK BOMB ICON!

Oh man, I'm so glad I got to that pick money bomb icon before blowing too many ships up. 1450 space credits will do very nicely. Now I just need to live long enough to spend it, which shouldn't be hard as the shop screen should be coming up directly after I warp away from this bonus level.

Well that's a great time for a warp malfunction. I do a lot of warping in this game and this rarely ever happens, but when it does it's a good opportunity for me to fill up on rank markers. Except when they only want to drop white! I'll never become an admiral and get a cushy desk job at this rate.

The spacefleet I'm flying for uses navy ranks by the way, presumably because that's what they use in Star Trek, and it's possible for a skilled pilot to go right to the top in a single mission.

Personally I just want to go right to a shop though.

Yes, finally! The shop screen is actually available every four levels or so, but it only appears if I have money, and for once I actually do.

I'm miles away from getting my hands on the laser beam or mighty War. I. Plasma, but I can afford a game secret at least! But I'm thinking it'll be wiser for me to invest in a 500 credit Super Weapon and then pick up some armour. It's a lot of cash for a single hitpoint, but if it lets me keep hold of my new gun longer than it'll be worth it.

Warblade (PC)

By the way, here's what the shop screen looks like in Warblade, all upgraded with pictures and info. Still the same inventory though. Man, check out the JPEG compression artefacts on that thing. That's not my fault, that's just what the game looks like!


Is anything new likely to happen in the second part of a retro shoot 'em up article? You're going to have to click this link to know for sure: Part two.