Deluxe Galaga is a game that I haven't heard mentioned very often, and I think there are two main reasons for this -- a> it was an Amiga game, and b> it was a shareware title. Amongst Amiga fans, many consider it to be the cream of the crop of PD titles, and personally I consider it to be superior to any of the system's other shooters in terms of pure gameplay and fun.
Deluxe Galaga's gameplay is basically similar to that of the original, although the author was actually inspired more by an old VIC-20 game called StarBattle than the arcade version of Galaga. Don't let that turn you off, however. The enemy formations (at least for the first several stages) are very similar to those of Galaga, and the game features the same hectic dodge-and-shoot gameplay found in the arcade classic. The game also has a huge number of features that lend a lot of fun and variety, however.
First of all, the powerups. Powerups are a big part of this game, and lend a fair amount of randomness to it -- something some will dislike because it makes the game less able to be played for pure scoring purposes, but I think it works well with the rest of the game. There are a great number of powerups available. The basic ones are similar to those found in most other shooters -- they upgrade the speed and attack power of your craft.
You start out only being able to have a couple of shots onscreen at once, but as you collect more bullet icons, you can fire more continously. Weapon powerups come in a few flavors, from your basic single and doubleshot weapons all the way up to the powerful fireball and laser weapons. This adds some strategy to the game -- sometimes it's better to let a doubleshot pass by when you've upgraded your single shot a number of times, so that you can have a more continous, concentrated shot rather than a more spread out but sporadic one.
One interesting powerup is the tractor beam. Deluxe Galaga puts a spin on the original with this weapon -- instead of allowing the enemy to capture your ship and then reclaiming it for double firepower, with the tractor beam you can actually capture the enemy aliens (up to 2) and have them fight on your side as options. After you've captured two aliens, the tractor acts as a repulsor beam, sending any enemies who come into contact it flying off the screen.
Other powerups include extra lives, a force field, bonus points, rank upgrades (in addition to score, you must earn a rank, between Ensign and Admiral), and coins. The coins are used in the shop, which you will be able to visit after every four levels. Here you can buy weapon upgrades, rank upgrades, speedups and so forth, but you can also purchase secrets -- the game has twenty or more secrets that can be put to good use as you play. I won't give them away here, but several of them are risk-versus-reward things that will have you wondering whether you should grab a certain item or not, for example. These help to make the game interesting.
Deluxe Galaga also features bosses. Every four levels, you will face off against one or more giant versions of the main enemy from that set of levels, and defeating these will allow you to collect rank-ups. Every 25 levels, you will face a 'big boss'. These guys can be pretty vicious, but should you defeat them you will be awarded with a hefty amount of points and several rank-up items.
There are also a few minigames in Deluxe Galaga -- the asteroid field, memory station, and the warp malfunction. The asteroid field is activated by a powerup, and here you must try to get to the end of the field as quickly as possible without colliding with an asteroid. Bonus points aplenty can be had here, both from completing the minigame and from the bonus items that are interspersed with the asteroids. The memory station, also activated with a powerup, is exactly like the old game Memory, or the mushroom huts in Super Mario Bros. 3. Pick a pair of items correctly and you will get that item. Finally, the warp malfunction is something that occurs randomly when you warp from level to level. Here you'll face a random number of 'warp zone' boss creatures which will drop rank-ups when defeated. This part can be a pain or a bonus, depending on the difficulty and number of boss creatures spawned.
A few other notes on the game -- Deluxe Galaga was, to my knowledge, one of the first games to feature a custom soundtrack option. You can put your own MOD files in the game directory and have them played back as the soundtrack, or you can just go with sound effects. You can also toggle each of the Amiga's 4 channels between sound effects and music, to your liking. The game comes in two flavors, ECS and AGA. The two are basically identical, with the AGA version featuring a few more colors and larger enemy explosions. The game also features 1 player, 2 player alternating, and 2 player simultaneous modes -- to my knowledge the only Galaga clone to do so. Also, the author, Edgar Vigdal, has produced a newer PC version of the game called Warblade, (www.warblade.as) which I confess I have not tried yet. I will someday, but I like the original so much I haven't seen a reason to yet.
You can get more info and download the Amiga versions here:
http://deluxegalaga.monroeworld.com/main.htm
Finally, I will leave you with a few screenshots of the game in action to whet your appetite. I hope I've convinced a few of you to give this game a whirl. You won't be disappointed, trust me. I also apologize for the overly long post, but I wanted to spread the love a little bit.
Oh, and if you decide to give the game a try, please ignore that part on the above website about it only working in fellow -- it actually works fine in current versions of e-uae or WinUAE as well.
