- Space Invaders (allthetropes.org)
The Trope Maker that spawned a thousand other Shoot’Em Ups, Space Invaders debuted in 1978. Although Pong had started the industry, this game revolutionized it, virtually launching The Golden Age of Video Games, establishing or codifying many of the tropes used in later games, such as Video Game Lives, and a separate score counter for high scores.
- Space Invaders (Wikipedia)
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot ’em up arcade video game developed and published by Taito. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. Commonly considered to be one of the most influential video games of all time, Space Invaders was the first fixed shooter and the first video game with endless gameplay (meaning there was no final level or endscreen) and set the template for the genre. The goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.