Everybody loves Space Invaders. The Taito cabinet was one of many brave machines bringing the joys of arcade games to people all over the world. How we stood in defiance, as hordes of ever descending aliens bore down upon the planet. How we cowered gratefully, beneath those staunch but destructible barriers. How we cursed, as racing rashly to get a shot off at the bonus point flying saucer, our tank disintegrated into a fizzling cloud of pixellated dust.

We remember the two player table-t ... more >>

Everybody loves Space Invaders. The Taito cabinet was one of many brave machines bringing the joys of arcade games to people all over the world. How we stood in defiance, as hordes of ever descending aliens bore down upon the planet. How we cowered gratefully, beneath those staunch but destructible barriers. How we cursed, as racing rashly to get a shot off at the bonus point flying saucer, our tank disintegrated into a fizzling cloud of pixellated dust.

We remember the two player table-top machines with built in ashtrays especially fondly. Over the years there have been many console conversions of this persistently addictive title. It was an obvious choice for the Atari 2600, but has appeared on home consoles as recent as the N64 and PlayStation. The simple gameplay makes it well suited to handhelds, and to date it has been released on Wonderswan, Gameboy, GBA, PC Engine Turbo Grafx 16 and Game Gear.

Now Space Invaders Revolution gets a European release on the must-have handheld, Nintendo’s DS. Already released as a budget title in Japan, the game features two game modes: Classic and New Age. Classic, as its name suggests, replicates the gameplay of the original on the top DS screen. You can control your laser tank using either the d-pad and buttons, or the touch screen, or a combination of the two. New Age mode adds level progression beyond the original’s stages of slightly increasing difficulty, with many variations on the original’s theme: tank vs. tank battles, for example, or shooting one enormous alien instead of many small ones.

A welcome revisit of an old favourite, Space Invaders Revolution is ideal for those moments on the bus when you feel like single-handedly foiling an alien invasion. << less