scott stilphen2 Jan 2024
Hands down one of the worst arcade conversions. Programmer Joe Tung completely failed with the sounds, and the erratic movement of the attacking galaxians ruins what made the arcade game so great.
Gildahl9 Jun 2022
This was merely adequate, missing the smooth feeling of the arcade version. On the other hand, the Atarisoft Colecovision version just knocked it out of the park in comparison.
IntoTheVerticalBlank28 Oct 2020
Looks great, but sounds and plays much worse than the 2600 and Colecovision versions. Play Galactic Chase.
Tom20 Oct 2018
I'm going to throw this out there and say this is BETTER than the arcade version! I recently played the arcade version and found it extremely annoying how slowly your spacecraft moves around the screen. The home computer version has much more responsive controls and is just more fun and engaging. I'm still playing this game thirty something years on... One of my favourite games for the Atari.
Level4216 Aug 2018
Totally agree with tkarner, this is rated WAY too high. Arcade conversions are generally very good on the A8, but this is just one of those exceptions. If you know the fluent play of the arcade game, you know that this is WAY off. I tried it again yesterday and I was done with it within 30 seconds. Someone should program a GOOD conversion now...
tkarner31 Oct 2017
Not sure why this version of Galaxian is rated so highly. It looks a lot like the arcade version but the game play is way off. The aliens just fly too erratically. Galactic Chase plays much truer to the original.
rave.N2 Apr 2016
correction Galactic Chase does fit in under 8KB, I had been looking at its OEM cassette image which was more than 8K with tape FMS added to it.
rave.N25 Jul 2015
I never did much Arcade Galaxian (big Galaga fan) but I was under the impression that "Galactic Chase" by Stedek is truer to the original. This Atari version is highly quirky but packs an impressive amount of animation and gameplay into 8 KiloByte. Seriously this is such an achievement I think the sound effects are so pathetically bad so they could maintain an 8KB cartridge for if the sound were any better I bet the cart size would be 16K. Galactic Chase takes up a lot more than 8KB.
I think Atari prior to 1983 deliberately made Arcade conversions with changed albeit uniquely entertaining gameplay. They wouldn't "upstage" games bringing in quarter$ with ones that could be copied. Space Invaders 1980, nothing like the arcade but still fun. Centipede, and Asteroids? What a couple of let downs. Go see "Megalegs" and "Asteroids Emulator" here on Atarimania, can't believe "A.E." it didn't get made until 2012!
Punkydudester12 Dec 2014
One of my first games and still one of my favorites. Level 9 was so hard, each enemy just rain-stormed you with bullets.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes16 Oct 2012
I loved this game and played it endlessly on the Atari 800 back in 1982. Fast and challenging, looks very close to the arcade, and lots of fun with a Wico joystick.
Jonny EOL27 Jan 2008
Ah - the first computer game I ever played! This turned out to be a relatively authetic conversion of the arcade hit - trying to get those 'combination' kills for big points was always a challenge. These days, I take the difficulty up to 9 and see if I can last more than one wave!
