Space Invaders is a 1980 video game based on Taito’s arcade game Space Invaders (1978) for the Atari 2600. It was developed and released by Atari, Inc. and designed and developed by Rick Maurer. The game is based on the arcade game in which a player operates a laser cannon to shoot at incoming enemies from outer space. Maurer’s version has unique graphics and offers some gameplay variations. These include a two-player mode and variations that allow for invisible enemies and moving shields, and for enemies shots to zig zag and potentially hit players.
Prior to working at Atari, Maurer developed games at Fairchild Semiconductor. When joining Atari, he was impressed with the Space Invaders arcade game and began developing it in his own time at the company. The game had little interest from the staff, until Ray Kassar saw how well Space Invaders was doing in arcades, which led him to get the rights to the game for the Atari 2600 and to Maurer completing his code.
Space Invaders would be one of Atari’s biggest hits in 1980, with Electronic Games magazine referring to it as a console seller for the system. It became one of the best-selling games for the Atari 2600. When Maurer was only compensated with an $11,000 bonus for the success of the game, he left the company and never developed another Atari 2600 game. The success of Space Invaders led to Atari seeking out other arcade titles from other companies to publish for home consoles from companies such as Namco and Centuri.
