Galaxian: all version differences
6 documented differences between the releases of Galaxian, each with a source. Back to the main page for names, releases and where to play.
Category × version
| Category | Arcade (Taito) | Arcade (Namco, older set) | Arcade (older sets) | Arcade (newer sets) | Arcade (Midway set 2) | Bally Astrocade | Famicom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Difficulty | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gameplay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Content | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Version differences
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TitleArcade (Taito)Arcade (Namco, older set)
Taito produced an alternate Japanese release that differs from the older Namco board only in the title-screen logo.1
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DifficultyArcade (older sets)Arcade (newer sets)
Older boards let operators choose 3 or 5 starting lives and a bonus ship at 4,000, 5,000 or 7,000 points; newer boards allow only 2 or 3 lives and raise the bonus thresholds to 7,000, 10,000, 12,000 or 20,000 points.1
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DifficultyArcade (Midway set 2)
One Midway US board uses lower bonus-life thresholds of 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 points.1
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GameplayArcade (newer sets)
Newer boards let each alien fire three lasers instead of two and make the lasers flicker by drawing alternate ones on each frame.1
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TitleBally Astrocade
The Bally Astrocade port came out in 1981 as Galaxian and was later renamed Galactic Invasion; its graphics were weaker than the arcade and PC versions, but its gameplay was praised.2
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ContentFamicom
The Famicom version has a hidden music mode reached through a trick with the Reset button.3
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13