Galaga: TEKKEN Edition

 
Despite all of my love for Galaga, Namco can't seem to release it on mobile for me. The closest thing we have available right now is a disappointing micro-transaction-heavy spinoff. However, there used to be two amazing upgraded releases available for people like me that yearn to blow up aliens every once in a while. One of those was actually used to celebrate the anniversary of Namco's signature fighting game series, Tekken. It was odd that they wouldn't release something that was actually related to Tekken, beyond just a sprite-swap, but I was there for the Galaga, so I didn't mind.

The gameplay here is straightforward, especially for those familiar with the original. The controls were streamlined for mobile, allowing you to shoot without pressing an additional button, which is very convenient if accuracy isn't a big deal to you. The actual biggest upgrade here is the ability to choose from six different characters to play as. Each character has their own appearance, strength, and attack frequency, but I found that two characters had significantly better attacks, making the rest of the options just a small novelty. Apparently also in the spirit of Tekken, there are cameos from Namco legends like Pac-Man and Mappy. I wasn't able to encounter them very much, but the sheer destructive power of a yellow disc and a rodent cop were absolutely a joy to experience.

It's unfortunate that this game doesn't work on modern hardware, especially since Galaga is pretty much absent from the mobile market. Those who still have their old phone and downloaded the game when it came out will still have access to it, but everyone else is out of luck. Hopefully Namco will come to there senses someday and give us a real Galaga permanently, but for now, all I have is reminiscing.

Although the game is no longer being distributed, you can learn more about it here (as of 10/9/20): https://tekken.fandom.com/wiki/Galaga:_TEKKEN_Edition

Photos sourced courtesy of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bandainamcoent.GalagaTEKKEN

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