GD: Galaga

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
Post Reply
User avatar
diOdesu
Posts: 52
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:58 pm
Location: south san francisco

GD: Galaga

Post by diOdesu »

i work at a biotech company and we just recently purchased a galaga machine! im not as l33t as i thought since i am more accustomed to modern shmups. the top score right now is 400k and i can only get up to 200k. any tips on doubling my score besides obviously not getting hit?
gamestop: looking for anything in particular?
me: im looking for shooters in general.
gamestop: 1st person shooters?
me: no, 2d shoot em ups like gradius and r-type.
gamestop: why would anyone want 2d? stick to 3d, and i recommend ace combat 5!
User avatar
CecilMcW00t
Posts: 329
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 5:12 am
Contact:

Post by CecilMcW00t »

Man.. Galaga is on Xbox Live Arcade and the no. 1 ranked player has over 900k!!! Anyway, my general strategy is to stay away from the corners of the screen cause you will get raped fast like that. And try to get a feel for sniping the enemies that take off from the formations before they fire at you to minimize bullets. Also, this is obvious, memorize and nail those challenging stages. And during the later stages, kill off as many incoming fighters as you can cause it gets rediculous. X_x
"I've always wanted a thing called Tuna Sasimi!"
User avatar
MrQuan
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 3:09 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Post by MrQuan »

Reviving an ooooold thread, but I have a quick tip to add...

Let your ship get captured by a galaga purple/green enemy (only if you have one to spare!) and capture it back. This can be a bit tricky, but wait for the enemy to swoop you again with you captured ship following. When it's really close, shot the enemy ship only (you may need to hit it twice), your previously captured ship will then join you current ship and you will have double the fire power. 8)

This double-ship can be taken to following stages as long as you aren't hit. If you are hit, one will explode, and you will be left with a normal single ship.
microcosm
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:59 am

Re: GD: Galaga

Post by microcosm »

There are never more than seven enemy bombs on-screen at a given time. They aim at your current position, as do the surplus enemies when the formation builds up. It's less common for them to aim for the 16 pixels in either corner of the screen, so single ships sometimes escape, but double ships seldom survive if cornered.

When you sidestep one lot of bombs, and another enemy attacks half a second later, it's tempting to keep moving in the same direction. This gets you cornered. To survive, look for opportunities to double back on yourself.

There are eight different Challenge Stage patterns: challenge stage 35 is identical to challenge stage 3. Once you're somewhere near stage 33, enemy attacks involve 5-7 different ships, which is as many as the game can process. The game's only remaining trick is to double the downward speed of some swooping enemies.

Another trick is to let your ship be captured, then shoot the captor while it's in formation. Your captive ship will eventually swoop down and disappear, reappearing at the back of the entry conga in the next stage. Some players used to use this to save the double ship for the next challenge stage, avoiding the risk of losing it to a late bomb, but you'd need to be careful not to shoot it yourself during the entry conga.

The boss ships have a hit-box 9 pixels wide (or thereabouts), while their sprite is 15 pixels wide. There's a point in the first challenge stage when they swoop vertically downwards; if you aim your double ship in the middle of the conga line, your shots will pass them on either side. This also means you need to be slightly careful when rescuing a captive ship.
User avatar
DEL
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:23 pm
Location: Oort Cloud

Re: GD: Galaga

Post by DEL »

Just kill every enemy on a stage, leaving one beam enemy alive. Let it swoop down the screen more than 255 times then kill it.
Nothing will shoot at you for the rest of the credit. So you can go ahead and Counter Stop the score.
Works on the arcade original.
Post Reply