THE GAME ARCHIVE
GALAXIAN is Namco's 1979 arcade shooting game. You control the GALAXIP, shoot approaching aliens and dodge the enemy while working to destroy a large formation. The aliens' curving approaches are part of that action, and the scoring description adds two details worth understanding: the double score for aliens during an assault, and the higher score associated with dealing with the RED ALIEN escort before the GALBOSS flagship. Those named enemies and scoring opportunities give the game's brief publisher description several specific rules to unpack.
The GALAXIP and the approaching aliens
The player's craft is named GALAXIP. Its task is described through shooting and evasion: shoot the aliens coming toward it, while dodging the enemy aliens. These actions belong together in the publisher's explanation of the game. The targets are also threats to avoid, rather than merely names in a score table. For someone meeting GALAXIAN for the first time, recognizing the GALAXIP as the controlled craft and the aliens as both shooting targets and approaching enemies establishes the basic relationship between the player and the opposition.
Curving approaches and the larger formation
The publisher specifically describes aliens approaching along curves. That identifies something about their movement, rather than only their appearance or the game's setting. At the same time, the broader objective is to destroy the large formation. Read together, those descriptions give the action both an immediate focus and a larger target: the approaching aliens must be shot or dodged, while the formation is what the player is trying to destroy. Curving approaches are therefore part of how the enemy is encountered during that larger shooting task.
The double-score assault rule
Aliens during an assault award double score, according to the publisher's rules summary. This ties a scoring difference to the assault rather than simply assigning every encounter the same reward. It is a useful distinction when reading about GALAXIAN: shooting an alien and identifying when the assault bonus applies are related parts of the scoring description. The rule is separate from the named flagship-and-escort sequence, although both appear in the same account of how the game offers higher scores.
RED ALIEN before GALBOSS for a higher score
The flagship is named GALBOSS, and its escort is the RED ALIEN. The publisher describes shooting them in sequence, beginning with the escort, for a higher score. The important connection is between the order of the targets and the higher award. This is scoring guidance, rather than a documented claim that the flagship is protected from all shots until an escort has been destroyed. Understanding the names also makes the sequence easier to follow: RED ALIEN identifies the escort, while GALBOSS identifies the flagship whose scoring opportunity is being described.
Two scoring details within one shooting objective
The assault bonus and the escort-first sequence describe different parts of GALAXIAN's scoring. One attaches a doubled award to aliens during their assault; the other identifies an order involving two named enemy roles. Both sit within the larger task of shooting aliens and destroying the formation. Keeping the descriptions separate helps avoid merging them into a single invented rule. The publisher presents a double-score assault and a higher-score flagship sequence, while the player's shooting and dodging remain the basic actions connecting the scoring opportunities to the enemy formation.
The original game and its modern presentation
The year 1979 identifies the original Namco arcade game in the publisher catalogue. The same page also includes a wider overview of the Arcade Archives series, describing conveniences such as difficulty adjustment and online high-score rankings. That overview gives context for the modern presentation of classic games. It should be kept separate from the original GALAXIAN rules explained here: the GALAXIP, the curving alien approaches, the assault scoring and the RED ALIEN-to-GALBOSS order. A modern ranking service is a different layer from the original game's scoring description.
Sources & further reading.
- GALAXIAN — licensed publisher game documentation Retrieved Oct 16, 2026
First published .