Gaplus
Third Galaxian series entry with unique power-up and capture mechanics.
Gaplus is a 1984 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco, released in North America by Bally Midway. It is the third game in the Galaxian series and a direct sequel to Galaga (1981). In North America, a modification kit later changed its name to Galaga 3, and it is the only game other than Phozon to run on the Namco Phozon hardware.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Namco
- Publisher
- JP/EU
- Namco
- NA
- Bally Midway
- EU
- Mastertronic (ports)
- Series
- Galaxian
- Platform
- Arcade
- PC-98
- Commodore 64
- mobile phone
- Genre
- Fixed shooter
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Arcade system
- Namco Phozon
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Certain enemies can drop upgrades including a tractor beam to capture enemies, a large drill that destroys many enemies at once, powerups that slow enemies or nullify their shots, and parts to create a new ship that awards an extra life when completed. Some stages begin with the star field reversing direction, with harder and faster enemy waves before resuming normal formation. Bonus challenging stages require juggling enemies by hitting them repeatedly; each hit grants a dot in a word or phrase, with extra hits adding horizontal lines. Spelling the entire word or phrase earns a related bonus, and each hit scores bonus points at the round's end.
Legacy
The arcade version was released for mobile phones on January 25, 2007, and appears in Namco Museum Remix (2007) and Namco Museum Megamix (2010) for the Wii under its original title. It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console on March 25, 2009, and for iOS in 2011 as part of Galaga 30th Collection with updated visuals, sound, and achievements. Hamster Corporation released it via Arcade Archives for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2022. A demake version in NES style, developed by M2, was included in Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2 in 2020 and functions on original NES hardware.
More in Shoot 'em Ups of the 1980s
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