Galaxian (version found in the Switch port of “Namco Museum Archives Volume One” played for review)

It’s impossible to process “Galaxian” today without considering what came before it: “Space Invaders”, which “Galaxian” owes its entire existence to, and “Galaga”, the much more popular sequel that occupied sugar-addled children’s attention in arcades, Applebee’s, and your local video store for decades after its release. “Galaga”’s immediate chaos may have done a better job of conveying a unique identity as compared to “Invaders”, but “Galaxian” has a fun loop in its own right, so incrementally ramping its combat that you might not notice the soundtrack shifts from sparse bloops to an Atari-esque doomscape. Surprisingly fun after all these years.

6