Space Invaders

About

Space Invaders is Tomohiro Nishikado's 1978 fixed-shooter arcade game for Taito, in which a horizontally moving laser cannon defends against waves of descending aliens -- the first video game with endless gameplay and the first of the fixed-shooter genre. This is a browser-based re-imagining of Space Invaders built in JavaScript with the BabylonJS engine and ViteJS as the build tool. It offers three ways to play: a traditional 2D mode that's faster and smoother than the original, a 3D mode showing the same game from a different perspective, and a CRT-emulation mode with scanlines and a glow layer meant to evoke an 80s television.

How it differs from the original

The classic 2D mode is deliberately faster and smoother than the 1978 original, and the game adds a full 3D perspective mode and a CRT-emulation mode that the arcade original never had.

Getting started

The game runs directly in a browser at the project's hosted page, with no installation needed, and offers a toggle between the 2D, 3D, and CRT-emulation display modes.

Credits & contributing

• Sound effects are from Juhani Junkala's Creative Commons-licensed 'Essential Retro Video Game Sound Effects Collection,' sourced via opengameart.org.