A bare-bones but admirably faithful rendition of the arcade classic. While Taito made some compromises in order to squeeze the game into the tiny handheld, they did so intelligently, preserving the essence and pacing of the original remarkably well.
Space Invaders
Japanese title: Space Invaders • スペースインベーダー
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Release date: 3.30.1990 [JP]
Genre: Shooter
Super Game Boy: No enhancements
Previous in series: Return of the Invaders [Arcade, 1985]
Next in series: Majestic 12: The Space Invaders Part IV [Arcade, 1990]
Similar titles: Space Invaders [Taito/Nintendo, 1994], Solar Striker [Nintendo, 1990]
Gallery
Mr. Sensible
Oh my god, that’s an amazing hidden (?) feature! Now I’ve got to track a copy of GB Space Invaders down just for the novelty factor.
G.B. World
Thankfully you can get a complete copy for between $10-15. You’d think it would be more valuable, but no!
modern chic (@woofbro)
It’s interesting knowing that they did the GB version before the SNES one. I was always under the impression it was the other way around.
Recently I bought the GB copy and a Super Game Boy because they were only just a little more than the price of a SNES copy alone. It just seems like such a nifty function and genuine effort for a remaster of a 20 year old title. It feels like it took probably until the 00’s for remasters to become a much more present force.
FJ
It actually shocked me to hear the original GB cart was Japan only. This game, alongside Tetris, Alleyway and Super Mario Land, were mainstays on so many of those pirate multi-game cartridges that were so common in tourist trap stores in southern Europe in the early 90s that basically everyone that owned a Gameboy back in those days either owned a cart that had this thing on it or knew someone that did: In those days, everyodythat went on vacation to southern Europe and owned a Game Boy always came back with one of those multi-game carts that at least doubled their collection of Gameboy games, even if most of those cats had the tendency to share a lot of the same games and most people didn’t bother buying too many of them.