Space Invaders II (Midway, cocktail)

Arcade Video game published 45 years ago:

Space Invaders II (c) 1980 Midway.

Space Invaders II allowed for 2-player simultaneous competitive play (although both players could work together). Besides shooting the invaders, one of the goals was to destroy your opponent (either CPU or another player) and gain his ships!

- TECHNICAL -

This game was only available in a cocktail table cabinet. No upright or cabaret model were manufactured.

Game ID : 851

Main CPU : Intel 8080A (@ 1.9968 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (2x) SN76477 (@ 1.9968 Mhz)

Players : 2
Control : 2-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (FIRE)

- TRIVIA -

Space Invaders II was released in March 1980 exclusively in the USA.

This game was a Midway in-house project, done by Joel Kreger. His name can be found in one of the game ROMs using a hex editor. This game runs on modified SI Deluxe hardware, with two sound boards; one for each player. Player 2's sound was a bit higher in pitch than player 1's. The sounds of player 2 are also a bit different, with the enemy explosion and laser base destroyed sounds being different than player 1. The overlay contained many colors, running from red (player 1) to yellow (player 2), with various shades of blue and green in between.

The game used a 8080A processor. Replacing the CPU with a regular 8080 causes the game to play the 'THUMP THUMP' sound during the attract mode.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

Occasionally, a mystery ship will fly by, dropping more invaders!! When 2 players are playing, TWO different mystery ships fly by. The points for shooting them range from 50 pts to 525 pts (!!!).

When playing with 2 players, player 2 has lost all of his or her ships, and still has invaders left on his or her side, they will move back and forth when they 'land' endlessly, until player 1 destroys them.

If 2 players are playing, player 2 has lost all of his or her ships, and player 1 clears player 2's board with ships left, player 2 will gain one of player 1's ships to return to the game!!

- SERIES -

1. Space Invaders (1978, ARC)
2. Space Invaders Deluxe (1979, ARC)
3. Space Invaders II (1980, ARC)
4. Return of the Invaders (1985, ARC)
5. Super Space Invaders '91 (1990, ARC)
6. Space Invaders DX (1994, ARC)
7. Space Invaders '95 - Attack of the Lunar Loonies (1995, ARC)
8. Space Invaders (1999, PS)
9. Space Invaders 25th Silver Anniversary (2003, ARC)
10. Space Invaders Revolution (2005, DS)
11. Space Invaders Evolution (2005, PSP)
12. Space Invaders Extreme (2008, DS/PSP)
13. Space Invaders Extreme 2 (2009, DS)
14. Space Invaders Frenzy (2017, ARC)

- STAFF -

Original game design & programming by : Tomohiro Nishikado
Game changes designed & programmed by : Joel Kreger

- CONTRIBUTE -

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