A classic Twitter feature of mine, now powered-up by Cohost letting me post as much nonsense as I want to go with it. Excellent. Let's take a look at two of the flyers made for Taito's Space Invaders follow-up to bring the game into the '90s.
via The Arcade Flyer Archive
First, we have the Majestic Twelve: The Space Invaders Part IV flyer from the US, this title also used for the Japanese release (UPL's Return of the Invaders serves as Part III, I suppose). US flyers by Taito around this time had this specific layout style with a grey box at the bottom giving a quick summary of the game, as seen on the flyers for Crime City and Cadash. They often used new artwork too, which is the case here as well- it's roughly the same composition as the Japanese and European flyers but completely redrawn, which is a little strange. They managed to sneak a cow in there, though.
Here's the back of the flyer explaining the game's plot (Majestic Twelve is a committee purported to exist in the US that dealt with extraterrestrial matters, so it's a pretty apt name for a game like this) and a brief explanation of some of the game's extra features. There's also a shot of the 3D bonus stage that isn't seen very often because you need to set the game to have two players alternate play instead of play at the same time, otherwise it won't show up. Rumours it was only included in Space Invaders Pocket on the PSP if you beat the game on one credit as stated by an old issue of Retro Gamer are, in fact, rubbish.
In Europe, the game was retitled Super Space Invaders '90 and...
via The Arcade Flyer Archive
Amazing. Incredible. Superb. No notes.
Ahem. Sharing something in common with Capcom's flyers in the '90s, European Taito flyers were often just direct translations of the Japanese flyers, retaining the same artwork and layout, which means yes, that headline is a translation of the Japanese flyer's headline. I'm guessing it's a reference to Kennedy's speech about the moon, but it's not even my favourite part of the flyer- it's the bit promising that we'll break the spirit of the Invaders. Just wonderful.
The other side explains the plot and features again but has some inaccuracies due to simply translating the Japanese flyer. The European version removes the branching path system shown here, making you play every single round in the game in-order as opposed to a smaller selection you choose between. That makes it a much longer, more gruelling challenge.
