Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

Galaxian

Title	Galaxian
First release	1979
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco
Platforms	Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, DOS, Famicom Disk System, Game Boy Color, MSX, NES / Famicom, ZX Spectrum, Arcade ADB
Genre	shoot 'em up
Also known as	ギャラクシアン
Players	1–2 players
Co-op	No
ESRB rating	E Everyone
Releases	Atari 5200: 1982-01-01 (NTSC) DOS: 1983-01-01 (Other) Atari 2600: 1983-06-05 (NTSC-U) MSX: 1984-01-01 ColecoVision: 1984-05-01 Commodore VIC-20: 1984-06-01 Commodore 64: 1984-07-01 NES / Famicom: 1984-09-07
Wikidata ID	Q1192514

Pilot the Galaxip to shoot down waves of attacking aliens across nine skill levels. Players must dodge kamikaze-style dives from Drones, Emissaries, Hornets, and Commanders to survive. Destroying higher-ranking enemies positioned at the top of the screen yields more points, while managing incoming bombers requires precise movement to avoid being overwhelmed by enemy fire.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q1192514) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (atari2600/galaxian) · last updated 2026-10-30 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (c64/galaxian) · last updated 2026-09-30 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (nes/galaxian) · last updated 2026-10-25 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (zxspectrum/galaxian) · last updated 2026-10-05 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (5158) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (111343) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (5305) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (10280) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (81554) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (25378) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (36496) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (24599) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

Arcade Database (ADB) (galaxian) · last updated 2026-10-02 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`galaxian`
Title at ADB	Galaxian (Namco set 1)
Manufacturer	Namco
Year	1979
Genre	Shooter / Gallery
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Namco); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-02 16:16 UTC · filled here: platform

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Namco · internal use only

1 / 27 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (20): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Namco · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art (1): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded, NTSC release) · © Namco · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Box art (1): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © Namco · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Screenshots (3): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Namco · internal use only.

Image: User:Piotrus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Midway (USA) Galaxian arcade machine.jpg”)

Logo: midway /bally, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (“Galaxian logo.svg”)

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

ZX Spectrum Longplay [218] Galaxian (EU)

World-of-Longplays · ZX Spectrum version · longplay · 15:05auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

Galaxian Longplay (Commodore 64 Version)

RetroGamingLoft · Commodore 64 version · longplay · 18:09auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:search, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.