Even years after its debut, Space Invaders is still one of the best video games ever made. The title that ushered in the Golden Age of Video Games, gamers across the globe have spent countless hours and coins blasting away at the iconic invading aliens. BTW, shooting up through your defenses is a bad strategy. But for such a well-known and important hallmark in gaming, many gamers probably don't know much about the history of Space Invaders. To help, we've found some amazing details about this Video Game Hall-Of-Famer. Join us as we check o💝ut some mind-blowing facts about this arcade classic.

Updated on March 28, 2020, by Richard Keller: Life would have been much different without Space Invaders in our lives. We may not have had the technological advancements we enjoy in the 21st century. Hence, there's still plenty of interest in its story. Here are a few more facts.

RELATED: A Space Inv🐭aders Movie Is In The Works Because Hollywood Thinks The Video Game Movie Curse Is Broken

15 Recording Achievements 🍎

It might be surprising, but there was a time when ꦚvideo games did not record high scores of individuals. The microprocessors used to run the gameplay didn't have the storage capacity to keep that information in memor🍸y. Thus, every player started with a clean slate.

Space Invaders corrected this issue. Thanks to the creativity of its creator and increased computing capacity, the game became🔯 the first to record and rank high scores. In turn, numerous quarters were usedဣ to beat the highest point total.

14 🧔 First Shooter Game

When we think about it now, video games prior to Space Invaders were quite banal. For instance, Pong was a form of digital tennis featuring two sticks hitting a square ball. In Breakout the stick was horizont🔯al to the plane of the game as the square ball was used to destroy s🐟maller sticks.

On the other hand, Space Invaders was the first shooter game. In turn, it established the skeleton for other games like Asteroids and Missile Command. It even helped establish early first-person shooter games like Battlezone.

13 I🎉t Revitalized the Industry ♐

Some people believe the video game generation started in 1980. This is not the case. In fact, it started in the mid-1970s with the advent of Pong and other basic games💖. Heck, the A💟tari 2600 home console was introduced in 1977.

However, the industry was going through a slump at the time Space Invaders premiered. Due to the lack of game choices, the uniqueness of the technology started to fade. It wasn't until S.I. introduced its shooter did the industry get an injection of excitement. In reality, Space Invaders ini🤪tiated the nextꦛ generation of video game releases.

12 🐟 It's a Movie Star 🌳

Not only did Space Invaders change the way people viewed video games it also became a star in the movies. Sometimes, it was just there as a showpiece. Other times it played a prominen🦄t role.

The game made the most appearances in the early-1980s movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Terminator 2. In the 21st century, the characters from the video had prominent roles in films like Pixels.

11 It Has Sequels 🎀

On top of its originality, Space Invaders is one of the first video games to feature sequels and updates. As early as 1979, Deluxe Space Invaders was released in the US market. It featured a new color scheme along with a lunar background. A year later, Space Invaders II came out as a table-top, two-player model.

There have been nine sequels to the original game since its inception. One of the latest is Space Invaders Frenzy. Introduced in 201𝓀7, this larger-than-normal update is normally seen in Dave &am💝p; Busters and other new-generation video arcades.

10 The Anonymous Crea🐲tor

via forbes.com

Despite its popularity and longevity, the creator of Space Invaders remained anonymous for decades. That creator was Tomohiro Nishikado, an electronics engine𒐪er at the company Taito. Nishikado initially had no intention of becoming a ga🅰me designer, but approached the challenge with gusto.

His success with Space Invaders earned him a promotion at Taito. Unfortunately, this had a downside. Nishikado's name was kept off Space Invaders and he contractually obligated to not claim it as his creation. It wouldn't be until 2013 thaܫt he assumed the credit he deserved.

9 Land Invaders?ඣ

via regmedia.co.uk

The original plans for Space Invaders were much different. Inspired by the game Breakout, Nishikado envisioned a shooting game where the targets co🧸uld shoot back. The aliens were originally planes and 𝄹tanks, but Taito didn't want to present "an image of war" in their games.

So inspired by the success of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars and the anime Space Battleship Yamato, Nishikado changed the game to have a science-fiction setting. He took it further, taking a cue from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, and designed the enemy aliens after sea life like s💞quids and crabs.

8 𒁃 An✃ Accidental Gameplay Improvement

via cavaverman.bandcamp.com

One of the most iconic aspects of Space Invaders is the aliens' increasing speed. T🌃he more aliens you destroy, the faster they drop down the screen. Itꦺ's a simple trick to add difficulty to the game, and it was completely by accident.

See the game used really weak microprocessors and blasting aliens freed ಌup memory space, making the remaining aliens less of a burden on the system. The developers were going to program this glitch out but play testers liked that the game got 🃏harder as they progressed. Convinced, they left it in the final version.

7 🌠 ไ The Rumored Coin Shortage

via polygon.com

Though initial sales were slow, Space Invaders soon boomed in popularity after its 1978 Japanese debut. People were lining around the block to play it. The game's huge popularity actually led to a long-lived urban legend in Japan. According to rumor, so many people were playing Space Invaders that it led to a nationwide shortage o🙈f ♔100-yen coins.

RELATED:168澳洲幸运5开奖网: K🥃onami's 10 Best Arcade Games, Ranked

Subsequent research has proved this untrue. Fewer 100-yen coins were minted in 1978 and any spent on Space Invaders would have remained in circulation. Still, the legend is a testament to the game's 🍨impact.

6 🀅 The First Video Game Moral Panic 🤪

Moral panics around video games are nothing new, but Space Invaders might have been the first. Soon after the arcade game's release, a story circulated in Japan about a 12-year-old boy robbing up a bank to use its coins on Space Invaders. Similar stories occurred𒁏 in the UK, leading to a ♏backlash.

Parents and teachers believed the game contributed to burglaries and juvenile delinquency, and one politician even drafted a bill to ban the game. The bill failed, but this wouldn'ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ℱᩚᩚᩚt be the last time video games would be blamed for misbehaving kids.