GAME OF THE MONTH COLLECTION!
GALAGA 90
(Namco, 1989)

Introduction and Story:

Oh yeah, baby! The legendary Galaga was a simple yet an action packed shooting game in 1981 and gamers from around the world loved it and wanted more. If you are not fimilar with Galaga it is a intense shooter where you blast away at a army of alien bugs looking to destroy you. It was truly one of the most influential video games of all time and once I heard there was there was going special upgrade for my Turbografx-16, I had to play it.
Here is Galaga 90 and it not only comes with the same classic shooting chaos from the original but there are tons of new features as well. Oh, and this game is actually Galaga '88 from the arcades and the PC Engine but was renamed for its Turbografx-16 release to help keep up with the times. There isn't much of a story here, you're a space ship, there are bugs, kill em for points and that's pretty much it.

The game play and bottomline:  
The game play is simple like the original. A huge group of bugs and other weird aliens nut jobs rain on the screen and the goal is to wipe them all out to advance further into the game and get that higher score. Some of the bigger bugs can even capture your ship and if manage to get it back you will have double the firepower and it's even possible to do it twice to triple your firepower. The problem is this also makes you a bigger target so it's a bit of a trade off but at least it's there for ya.

Something new to Galaga 90 here is the game also gives you the choice of 4 different areas to go too thanks to these odd blue pills here. The more pills ya grab the more difficult it gets so if you have the guts and you want more points try for these cute little drugs. Anyway this makes the game very non linear so the replay value is there plus it throws a ton of different enemies to fight including bosses now. OK, the game doesn't have the fancy visuals of other Turbo games like Blazing Lazers and Air Zonk and there isn't much background music here either but they still work. This is one of the more sought after games for the Turbografx-16 and with good reason. Galaga 90 is just a great shooter for retro fanatics and weirdoes who like killing bugs.
Here is my 4 minute video review of Galaga 90 too!

Conclusion:

 

*600 points on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
*Uncommon TG-16 game

GALAGA 90
overall rating: 77/10
Find Galaga 90 on eBay here!

For 1 player only
Rated (E) for Everyone

graphics: 6/10
sound: 5/10
gameplay: 6/10
replay: 8/10


-StarSoldier
(Ryan Genno) 2008

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