Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
The list price of Namco's own table cabinet was 580,000 yen, and that of the upright cabinet was 640,000 yen.
Released in 1980, priced at 8800 yen.
Released in 1981, priced at 8800 yen.
Released in 1981, priced at 400 yen.
Galaxian had sold 40,000 arcade units in the United States by 1981, and 50,000 units in the US .
Whelan held the world record with 1,114,550 points, until beaten by newcomer Aart van Vliet, of the Netherlands, who scored 1,653,270 points on 27 May 2009 at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, US.
The record has since been raised to 2,010,000 points, set on May 20, 2016 by David Lyne and verified by Twin Galaxies on May 28, 2016.
To help capitalize on the game's success, Namco president Masaya Nakamura ordered Sawano to make the best "post-Invaders" game they could, which put pressure on the development team.
The April 5, 1980 issue of Cashbox noted of the game's colorful and attractive cabinet design, while the April 26 issue called it an "earthshaking hit", referring to it as a true followup to Space Invaders.
In a 2007 retrospective review, Sir Clive of Eurogamer labeled it a masterpiece, praising its "beautifully drawn" game graphics, intense gameplay, and for being a historically important game for the industry.
Video magazine in 1982 reviewed the Astrocade version of Galaxian (named Galactic Invasion), noting that the graphics were inferior to the coin-op and PC versions, but praising the play-action as "magnificent" compared to other console versions.
Softline in 1983 criticized the Atari 8-bit version of the game, stating that "this game becomes tedious very quickly".
Galaxian, along with Galaga, Gaplus, and Galaga '88, was "redesigned and modernized" for an iPhone app compilation called the Galaga 30th Anniversary Collection, released in commemoration of the event by Namco Bandai.
Galaxian was Namco's first major arcade video game hit.
The game was Namco's first arcade game to be composed with a synthesizer.
Ports from other companies were sold for MSX (Europe and Japan only), NEC PC-8801, Famicom (Japan only), and Sharp X1.
The first of these, Galaga, was released in 1981, usurping the original in popularity as one of the greatest video games of all time, becoming a popular game during the golden age of arcade video games in North America.
A Japan-only medal game spin-off, Galaxian Fever, was released in 2000 as part of Namco's Shooting Medal series.
Damages suits were brought over Galaxy X by Nishinihon Hanbai and Cosmic Alien by Universal, which produced imitations without obtaining a licence, and over Moon Alien by Nichibutsu, which obtained a licence but produced an imitation in breach of the manufacturing agreement.
It was sued by Namco for copyright infringement.
Moon Alien became the subject of litigation when Nichibutsu created more boards than contractually permitted; Nichibutsu paid Namco the excess of the license fee as compensation.
The April 5, 1980 issue of Cashbox noted of the game's colorful and attractive cabinet design, while the April 26 issue called it an "earthshaking hit", referring to it as a true followup to Space Invaders.
It was the second highest-grossing arcade video game of 1979 and 1980 in Japan and the second highest-grossing of 1980 in the United States, where it became one of the best-selling arcade games of all time with 50,000 arcade units sold by 1982.
Softline in 1983 criticized the Atari 8-bit version of the game, stating that "this game becomes tedious very quickly".
According to Nintendo R&D2 lead engineer Masayuki Uemura, Galaxian replaced the more intensive bitmap rendering system of Space Invaders with a hardware sprite rendering system that animated sprites over a scrolling background, allowing more detailed graphics, faster gameplay and a scrolling animated starfield background.
This game was later ported to iOS devices in 2009, renamed Galaga Remix.
Namco complained to Family Computer Magazine (Tokuma Shoten, 1985-10 issue), which had printed this trick, saying that "it published screens for which no permission to publish had been given". The music from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, however, had been included in the game without the permission of Tokuma Shoten, the copyright holder, so the tables were turned and the matter was dropped.
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