Esports of the past: Space Invaders

In our first week of our new series: esports of the past, we look at Space Invaders. The Japanese arcade game is one of the first games to be played competitively. As many as 10,000 people participated in a Space Invaders tournament in 1980. What does this game look like and how did it contribute to the development of esports? That's what we're going to find out today.

Each week in esports of the past, we go back in time to look at the games of yesteryear. First-person shooters, RTS games and sports games, they've all shaped esports history.

What is Space Invaders?

Space Invaders is a 1978 Japanese arcade game. It was designed by Nishikado Tomohiro and published by Taito Corporation, a Japanese computer game developer. The game was originally played on the Atari 2600. In Space Invaders you control a kind of laser cannon with which you must prevent aliens from reaching Earth.

With the laser cannon you move from left to right to avoid the attacks of the aliens. The four shields, which are slowly destroyed by the aliens, you use to hide. While doing this you have to take out all the aliens. By the standards of today's gaming industry, Space Invaders sounds like a particularly boring game. Yet in 1980 it was wildly popular.

Space Invaders launched in the middle of the Star Wars craze, which had a positive impact on its popularity. The fact that the aliens move faster and faster, that the background music increases the tension and that you only have three lives, made the game popular in the early 80s.

A hunt for the high score

It's nice that Space Invaders capitalized on an existing hype and provided the players with some excitement. But, what makes you come back and start up the Atari 2600 again and again? That's the fact that in Space Invaders your score and highscore is tracked.

Everyone in possession of an Atari 2600 and Space Invaders tried to improve their own highscore and that of others. This sparked the competitive spirit in many players.

The Space Invaders tournament in 1980

An important milestone in esports history is the Space Invaders Championship organized by Atari in 1980. This was the first major esports event ever and many would follow in the years that followed.

More than 10,000 participants from the United States took part in the tournament. They did so with one goal: to become the ultimate Space Invaders champion. Within the Space Invaders Championship, four regional competitions were held. From these matches, the top four players were invited to play the grand final in New York.

The event was eventually won by Rebecca Heineman. She received the title of „1980 Atari 2600 Space Invaders National Champion“ for it. Heineman remained active in the gaming industry after that; she was involved in founding organizations such as Interplay Production and Logicware.

Space Invaders through the years

Since 1978, the development of Space Invaders has not stood still. Over the years, Space Invaders Part II (1979) and Super Space Invaders '91 (1991) made their appearance in arcades. Although the game visibly changed and minor modifications were made, the core of the game remained the same.

In the 1980s and 1990s, gaming was increasingly seen as a normal hobby. Games like Pac-Man, Tetris and Super Mario Bros 3 made different consoles popular. On all these consoles Space Invaders, now a classic, was still playable.

At home, one could get started with Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi (1990) and Space Invaders 90 (1990/1991). As of 1999, Space Invaders was playable on the PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color and the Sega Mega Drive. The arcade game thus became accessible to everyone.

Space Invaders anno 2022

More than forty years after the introduction of Space Invaders, people are still trying to improve the high score. Jon Tannahill conquered the world record in 2018. He defeated former record holder Richie Knucklez. Knucklez's score of 184.870 was pulverized by Tannahill. With a score of 218,870, Tannahill went into the history books.

The battle between Knucklez and Tannahill shows how popular Space Invaders still is today. You can still find a machine with Space Invaders on it in the better arcade halls.

Yet, anno 2022, gamers no longer sit down in front of a console or their PC to play this classic. Taito Corporation has now also released the arcade game on iOS devices. With that, the game has become nothing more than a fun pastime.