Space Invaders
Blast 5 waves of descending aliens before they reach Earth.
Space Invaders
About Space Invaders
Space Invaders is the 1978 arcade legend that more or less invented the shooter, and this Lite version keeps its soul intact on a compact canvas battlefield. A single cannon — your ship — slides along the bottom while a formation of alien invaders marches sideways above you, stepping down a row every time it reaches the edge of the field. They are coming for the ground, they shoot back, and you have three lives to stop five waves of them.
The details honour the original. Scoring rewards altitude: the top row of the formation pays 50 points a ship, with each lower row worth 10 less, down to 10 for the bottom row — the safest aliens to kill are worth the least, and the most valuable ones sit behind the whole formation. The formation also accelerates as it thins out, a behaviour born from a 1978 hardware quirk that became the genre's signature difficulty curve: the fewer invaders remain, the faster the survivors march, and the last lone alien positively sprints.
Each wave is a sterner test than the last. Wave 1 fields four rows of eight invaders; by the later waves the formation grows to five rows, marches faster and returns fire more often. Clearing all five waves wins the game and saves Earth; letting a single invader touch the ground, or losing your third ship to return fire, ends it on the spot. There are no shields and no power-ups — just you, the cannon, and your aim.
How to Play Space Invaders
Press Start and your ship appears at the bottom of the field, facing the first wave: four rows of eight invaders marching side to side.
Move with the Left and Right arrow keys (or A and D) and fire with Space. Your shots travel straight up; a new wave of invaders is faster and shoots more often than the last.
Hit invaders to destroy them — the top row pays 50 points, and each row below pays 10 fewer. Invaders hit by your fire are removed from the formation, which then marches faster.
Dodge return fire: invaders shoot bolts downward at you. One hit costs one of your three lives.
Clear every invader in the wave to advance to the next. If any invader reaches the ground, the invasion succeeds and the game ends immediately, whatever lives you have left.
Survive and clear all five waves to win. Your score, lives and current wave are shown above the field throughout.
Controls
Tips & Tricks
- 💡Kill the columns at the edges first. The formation steps down when its outermost invader reaches the field's edge, so removing edge columns makes it travel further between drops and buys you time.
- 💡Shoot out the column directly above you. With no invaders overhead, return fire has to come from an angle, and you gain a safe shaft to fire up through.
- 💡Never stop moving for long. Invader bolts are aimed at where you are when fired; a ship in constant motion is hit far less often than one camping under a target.
- 💡Prioritise the bottom rows when the formation gets low. A 10-point invader one step from the ground is a bigger threat than a 50-point one at the top — the landing, not your lives, is usually what ends a run.
Space Invaders — Frequently Asked Questions
How many invaders are there per wave?+
Waves field eight columns. Wave 1 has four rows (32 invaders), and the formation grows as the waves progress, reaching five rows (40 invaders) — check the wave counter above the field, which runs from 1 to 5.
Why does the formation speed up near the end of a wave?+
Just like the 1978 original, the march speed rises as the number of surviving invaders falls, with a smaller boost from the wave number itself. The final invader of a wave moves dramatically faster than the full formation did — finish waves decisively rather than sniping one ship at a time.
What is each invader worth?+
Scoring is by row: 50 points for the top row, then 40, 30, 20 and 10 for the rows beneath. High-value targets are at the back of the formation, so early in a wave you will mostly be clearing cheaper rows to open a path to them.
Can I play Space Invaders on my phone?+
Yes. On-screen touch buttons for left, right and fire appear for touch devices, and the compact field fits a portrait phone screen well.
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