Credit is due to the developers of this game, as originality seemed to be such a difficult thing to attain in the first and second generation of gaming especially given such things as limited graphics and the then generally primitive nature of the industry.
Though ultimately a modification of two already existing ideas at the time, this game takes elements from both Asteroids and Galaxian and presents players with a very different experience entirely. Otherwise, there was and is very little need for any further development in terms of story. As with Space Invaders and Titan Attacks, the basic premise is to stop an alien invasion. Though the story in video games has become a pivotal factor in the industry by today’s standards, back then, stories in video games were unheard of long before they were ever considered by the general consensus to be a valid art form. Though there was no system in the place at the time telling consumers what was good and what was bad, one of a few things they could rest assured of was that it was up to them how long a game lasted.Īnother thing gamers of the time could rest assured of was that they could play a game without having to worry too much about story progression. I think any arcade game that can encourage exploration from these earlier gaming generations has to be commended since linearity was one of the biggest constants back then.Īs the game’s general formula had already been developed on with games such as Asteroids, there should never have been a problem with the controls scheme, and nor is there one in Bosconian, I’m happy to point out.Īs with all the greats of the era, Bosconian is a game that can simply be picked up and played by anyone as and when and doesn’t have a fixed lifespan. But as I alluded to earlier, what I like most about this game is that to an extent, it encourages exploration, as the green bases can be spread out into several different places on the in-game map. The objective is to destroy the green bases to progress, whilst shooting down as many additional spaceships for the highest possible score. In lieu of arcade gaming tradition, Bosconian provides a very high level of challenge and addiction. Though very similar to Asteroids in terms of gameplay, there’s much more to look at in this title. A lot of the enemy and ship designs stand out to me, including the green bases, which must be cleared from every stage to advance further. Though laughable by today’s ever-increasing standards in visuals, I find the graphics in Bosconian are fairly well done for the time, and they still hold up moderately well too, in terms of concept. Over the years, I’ve been very much used to playing linear shooters like Space Invaders and Galaxian, but I’ve rarely played arcade shooters, which require players to do some exploring, and the way I see it, players at the time must have looked at this game as a breath of fresh air a very positive change from the norm.
The History of How We Play is a blog dedicated to the examination of video games, run by Ethan Johnson.Developer(s) – Namco Publisher(s) – Namco & Midway Rating – N/Aīosconian is a multi-directional, multi-scrolling, and free-roaming arcade shooter and for me, it stands out as one of the best retro arcade shooters I’ve ever played if I’m being very honest. Usually the improvement would be small, such as adding a dedicated soundchip (which Namco was also soon to do with their 1980 line-up, including Pac-Man). Theme waves appear and platforms disappear in the same order they do in the arcade, and the behavior of the enemies is pretty close to spot-on (although you can. Nichibitsu had Moon Cresta, Konami had The End, and Taito would release Phoenix, all minor upgrades to the concept and hardware. Nichibitsu’s Moon Alien Part 2 and Irem’s Uniwars were more or less simple palette swaps, but steadily these licensees began to explore their own takes with this new hardware. Immediately after the first Galaxian sublicenses appeared, games which built on the Z80-based sprite system used in that game quickly followed. While there was no particular indication that they could use the basic hardware in their own creations, imitation of the Galaxian board would become a cornerstone of the Japanese video game industry from that point forward. All of these companies had started in video games making Breakout style games and all of them would take their experience manufacturing Galaxian to heart. Among them were Nichibitsu, Irem, and Konami. These companies included the bigwigs, Taito and Sega, but they too went to the smaller manufacturers. Irem poster featuring an official clone of Galaxian.
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