Third star voyage for the Galaxian franchise.
A lot of video game fans are aware of Namco’s shmup classic Galaxian, more still know of its legendary sequel Galaga, but far fewer people ever reference the space shmup’s second sequel, Gaplus. Well, the renaissance is here, as the formative shmup has joined the ranks of Hamster’s Arcade Archives on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Released to arcades in 1984, and lost in the mire of the Video Game Crash, Gaplus retains the vertically scrolling shmup action of its predecessor but introduces a brand new scoring system as well as a selection of cool power-ups and alternate weapons. As the player guides a plucky vessel and shoots down waves of enemies, they can gather flags for score bonuses and unleash a powerful arsenal of pick-ups, including a tractor beam and a huge, drill-like appendage.
Check out the action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Old Classic Retro Gaming.
While Gaplus was well received by critics and saw some success in Japan, the western release suffered due to the spate of arcade center shutdowns and a general move toward home gaming. In North America, Gaplus was re-titled to Galaga 3 in an effort to draw more eyes to its legacy. Gaplus would not receive a lot of home ports, though a version was released for the Commodore 64. The arcade edition would not receive an official home port until its rerelease on the Wii Virtual Console in 2009.
Gaplus is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.
