...the Archive Archives selection of the week is Galaga '88. I'd recently reviewed that over on my blog so I'll just post my observations here.

Where is she, anyway? She's usually more prompt than this. Hope she's okay.

Galaga '88

The Galaga series never fully recovered from Gaplus, but Galaga '88 is a strong step in the right direction toward regaining its former glory. It also puts a little too much on your plate, but at least the presentation on that plate rivals that of an upscale restaurant, with chubby bugs that burst into fireworks, sparkling quartz meteors, and lush blue quasars hanging in the distance. It's clear Namco wanted to bring the Galaga series up to the standards of more visually intense late 1980s arcade games, and brother did they deliver!

Galaga '88 still isn't as immediately accessible as Galaga, but the gameplay hooks work better than they had in Gaplus. There are scrolling segments now, and bosses! Of course there are bosses, it was 1988! It's not very original, but at least it fits in the context of a top-down shooter like this.