And lo, the Lord came before them and said, “Let us play Space Stranger.”
Space Invaders was a big deal. Like, REALLY big. At its peak, Japanese arcades would be filled with nothing but Space Invaders cabinets, and they made off like bandits. Naturally the game’s popularity brought about imitators, many of them very lazily named, including Alien Invaders, IPM Invader, More Invaders!, Space Attack, Space King, and Chickenvaders, a mode in the Atari 2600 game Pigs in Space.
Yet another one of these imitators is this week’s game, the Japanese exclusive Space Stranger 2. To be honest, though, I feel a bit weird calling this an “imitator,” as it goes beyond just resembling Space Invaders and instead rips it off it entirely. Behold:
Yep, that’s just Space Invaders. Even the typefaces are the same. So what’s the deal with this particular knock-off? What, if anything, makes Space Stranger 2 unique? To tell you the truth, not much – the UFO at the top of the screen can change direction at random, and the alien ships themselves look a bit different (I assume this is so you know they’re strangers). I found it also plays a bit slower than the original Space Invaders, which I didn’t really consider a good thing.
What’s a bit more weird is how Space Stranger 2 differs from other games in its own series, which is – to my mild surprise – not at all. Aside from the style of cabinet they’re placed in and the color of the screen, the releasers Space Stranger, Super Space Stranger, and Space Stranger 2 are completely identical. How could something like this work and still sell? Demand would have to be so unbelievably high that…
Oh, right. Well, good on them, I guess.
I feel like when it comes to iconic retro games that you enjoy, there’s often a good reason to check out the various clones and bootleg versions to see what kind of differences there are. In the case of Space Stranger, however, I honestly can’t recommend this. It’s effectively a slightly worse version of the exact game, and there’s really nothing new or different or interesting to behold. If you’re going to play something from this “series,” I guess that Space Stranger 2 has a slight edge for having color graphics. That’s really all there is, though. Just play Space Invaders, guys.
I’m on vacation next week, but will be back the week after for another (possibly) fun game. This time we’re heading back to the world of unlicensed NES games, which is easily one of my favorite things in gaming (though not, as you’ll see, due to the gameplay). See you then!