Galaga ’88 brings a r-r-remix to the Arcade Archives

Take 2 on an all-time classic

This week’s Arcade Archives entry sees us take a look at one of the very earliest instances of a remaster in the gaming sphere — As publisher Hamster offers up Namco’s Galaga ’88 on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Released to Japanese arcades in 1987, before making its way west at the start of the new year, Galaga ’88 is a revamped edition of the legendary Galaxian spin-off, released at the dawn of the golden age of arcade gaming. Galaga ’88, operating as both a remaster of the original Galaga and a sequel to 1984’s Gaplus, players take control of the iconic Blast Fighter vessel for more space-based warfare against the forces of the titular enemy. As one would expect, Galaga ’88 features much-improved audio/visual elements, including more detailed character sprites and a variety of background images.

Check out the action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber World of Longplays.

Despite receiving much acclaim from critics and Japanese arcade goers, Galaga ’88 would receive slight home ports, appearing via the PC Engine as the confusingly renamed Galaga ’90, as well as on the Sharp X68000 home computer. In later years, the shmup would find itself packaged as part of numerous Namco compendiums, while also appearing on the Wii Virtual Console and even Japanese mobile platforms.

Galaga ’88 is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.