Galaga '88

The gameplay of Galaga '88 is based on the same premise as that of the original Galaga game, but is in many ways more complex and difficult. The game is divided into a series of 29 stages spread over eight worlds. The Galaga spaceship accelerates between stages and worlds, and even to higher dimensions (more on this in the section on dimensional travel below). With the exception of the third and eighth worlds, each world culminates in a challenge stage. In a full game, there are six such stages, and each begins with the on-screen announcement "That's Galactic Dancin'!" and has its own YM2151-generated song to which the enemy formations dance. In each challenge level, both the design of the enemies and their dance formations vary depending on the player's current dimension. As in Galaga, the objective is to destroy all forty enemies before they fly off the screen. However, if you don't touch the controls for the duration of a challenge level, you'll receive a "secret bonus" worth between 10000 and 25000 points, equal to the "special bonus" you would have received for destroying all forty enemy aliens. Galaga '88 introduces a variety of new enemies and behaviors. Most of these special enemies are worth varying amounts of bonus points when destroyed. Some enemies can coalesce into larger enemies that require multiple hits to destroy, while others arrive in eggs, explode in fireworks, grow on multiple hits, or wear armor that makes them invincible when standing in formation. Some enemies drop small formations of tiny creatures that snake across the screen, and still others can serve as escorts for incoming groups of enemies and then quickly pounce on the player before leaving the game. In most stages there are also various obstacles that appear once the enemy formation is formed. These can be destroyed with one or more shots, and the first one on each stage leaves a "warp capsule". At the beginning of the game, the player can choose how many Galaga spaceships he/she wants to start with (one or two), which affects the number of lives left. The game ends when the final boss is defeated (or when the player's last ship is destroyed or captured) - in the latter case, the player can continue the game for an additional credit. The Game Over screen displays the player's hit rate and a visual representation of their progress. When the player reaches level 27, the game also shows an image of the final boss (damaged if defeated, but silhouetted if not). If the arcade operator has set the "Continue" option to "on", the player will also not be able to continue if he is defeated at levels 27-29.