Imagesource: namco, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Hall of Fame of the first really successful Arcade games is not that huge. But one title that will definitely belong to it forever and ever, is Galaga from Namco. 👾

Released in 1981, the game comes from the hands of Shigeru Yokoyama and his small team and definitely made video game history. As the successor to Galaxian, released in 1979, this game has gotten ports for pretty much every platform that was hip at some point. And for a reason.

What's interesting is, that Galaga supposedly comes with a cheat, that allowed you to burn your name into the Arcade box's CRT at the gambling hall of your choice permanently. If you know how, you can turn off all enemy fire and enjoy the walk-through through all remaining levels. Jason W. Eckert - @the_unix_guru on Twitter - wondered, if this was actually a cheat or a bug. The answer required a disassembly of the original sources and is quite interesting in its result.

And if you are interested in Galaga, you might also like to study Galagino by Till Harbaum at home at www.harbaum.org. Galaga, Pac Man and Donkey Kong ported for the ESP32 and brought to life on a breadboard with a small TFT display and push buttons.

The hardware is extremely cool to sit with on the train ... I'd love to see the looks. 👀