Score: 0
High Score: 0
Lives: 3
Stage: 1
← → move · Space fire · P pause · M mute · R restart
The original: Galaga by Namco (1981). Ours is an independent remake, not affiliated with Namco.
Galaga is a fixed shooter: your fighter slides along the bottom of the screen while a swarm of alien insects flies in on looping curves and settles into a formation above you. Shoot them all to clear the stage. You can already fire during the fly-in. Once the formation is complete the aliens start peeling off to dive-bomb you, firing as they come, and then loop back around the top of the screen to rejoin their ranks. This is a Galaga-style game with its own artwork, sound effects and flight paths, built around the same ideas as the 1981 classic.
| Enemy | In formation | Diving |
|---|---|---|
| Bee (bottom two rows) | 50 | 100 |
| Butterfly (middle two rows) | 80 | 160 |
| Boss Galaga (top row, two hits) | 150 | 400 — 800 or 1,600 with escorts |
A Boss Galaga changes colour after the first hit and dies on the second. When a Boss Galaga dives with one or two Butterfly escorts, shooting it while they are still flying alongside pays 800 or 1,600. Shoot an escort first and the bonus shrinks. You earn extra fighters at 20,000 and 70,000 points, then every 70,000 after that.
Now and then a Boss Galaga dives to the middle of the screen, stops, glows, and switches on a tractor beam. If your fighter is inside the beam when it fires, it is pulled up and captured; you lose that fighter, and it is shown tethered to the Boss Galaga in red. You can dodge: the glow gives you a moment of warning, and stepping out of the beam’s cone keeps you safe.
If you shoot that Boss Galaga while it dives, the captured fighter is freed, spins down the screen and docks beside your ship. You now fly a dual fighter: twin cannons, four shots on screen, and a ship twice as wide. If you kill the Boss Galaga while it is still in the formation, the captive is lost for good and turns on you as a hostile fighter. Clear the stage only after every enemy is gone, including a Boss Galaga that is holding your fighter.
Every fourth stage (3, 7, 11 and so on) is a bonus round. Five waves of eight aliens fly fixed, intricate patterns, never shoot and never dive. Each one you hit is worth 100 points, the screen counts your hits (“Number of hits”), and hitting all 40 pays a 10,000 point “Perfect!” bonus. The paths repeat, so learn them.
Galaga was released by Namco in 1981 as the follow-up to Galaxian, and Midway distributed it in North America. Where Galaxian’s aliens only swooped down in single file, Galaga’s swarm flies in on choreographed paths, attacks in groups, and can steal your ship, which you can win back for double firepower. It also introduced the bonus challenging stages and the end-of-game results screen with shots fired, hits and hit-miss ratio. This Limestone Games version is our own build from scratch: the sprites, sounds, flight paths and numbers are ours, tuned to feel like the classic rather than copy it.
How do I play Galaga? Move your fighter with the left and right arrow keys (or A and D) and press Space to fire. You can have two shots on screen at once. Shoot every Bee, Butterfly and Boss Galaga in the swarm to clear the stage, and dodge the enemies that dive at you and the bullets they fire.
How does the tractor beam work in Galaga? A Boss Galaga can dive to the middle of the screen and switch on a tractor beam. If your fighter is inside the beam when it fires, the fighter is captured and tethered to the Boss Galaga. Move out of the beam to dodge it. Shoot that Boss Galaga while it is diving and the captured fighter is freed and docks beside your ship, giving you a dual fighter with twin cannons.
What is the dual fighter? Two fighters flying side by side. You get four shots on screen instead of two, but the pair is twice as wide, so it is easier to hit. A hit on a dual fighter costs one ship, not a life.
What are the challenging stages? Every fourth stage (3, 7, 11 and so on) is a bonus stage. Five waves of eight aliens fly set patterns and never shoot. Each one you hit is worth 100 points, and hitting all 40 pays a 10,000 point perfect bonus.
Is Galaga free to play here? Yes — no signup, no downloads, no installs. It runs in your browser on a computer, tablet or phone.
Does my high score save? Yes — your best Galaga score saves in your browser and also goes on the public leaderboard under your first name. You can change your name on your profile.