Space Instigators vs INV+

[Spector]

Which of these homebrews is best? I think that INV+ is a little better, though it has one small weakness - the response of your firing is too slow. It just doesn't feel as good as the original Space Invaders game or Instigators, where you can fire immediately after the bullet leaves the screen or hits an alien, and that's an important thing in the invaders concept for me. Still, I make INV+ better of the two because of the greater amount of aliens (admittedly blocks) and the bonus ship moves at a proper speed. But what do you think, true believers?

[+Random Terrain]

I like Space Instigators a little better than INV+, but I think they both suck compared to original Space Invaders. I'd rather play a hack of the original game (with the original sounds) that was a real, crap-your-pants improvement than either of those games you mentioned.

[WildBillTX]

Space Instigators is a little rough, it gives me the feeling of a old Commodore Vic-20 game than an Atari 2600.

 

I dont like the blocks (that remind me of Megamania) on INV+ though I realize the programmer had to sacrifice graphics over faster gameplay to get it all to fit in 4K. I wonder if he could have moved it to 8K and improved the graphics. Also the invaders on INV+ look to me like they start a little lower than they do on Atari's orignal 2600 version. I could be really wrong about this, I need to compare.

 

Id rather see someone try a new shoot-em up than redo Space Invaders one more time. I have played it on Commodore Vic-20 and 64, PC (Mame), Trash-80, Timex Sinclair, Atari 800, Amiga 1000 etc -- I guess I'm tired of the game.

[highinfidelity]

Agree, we still don't have the "definitive" edition. Instigators' graphics rock, but the game is too choppy. Inv+ is an incredible technical achievement, but graphics are what they could be, and that problem with firing is very bad. Surprisingly, it has been reported during development but the author stated that "it was intentional".

[BrianC]

I like INV+ better than Space Instigators. BTW, I tried out various versions of the original Space Invaders (SNES, GB, Taito Legends) and they all have that so called "problem with firing". It was intentional becuase the delay is like that in the arcade Space Invaders too (you can't fire right after you hit an alien. You have to wait for the explosion to disappear. If your fire hits the top in the arcade, you actually have to wait slightly longer than when this happens in INV+ since you can't fire until after the explosion on the top of the screen disappears. I tested multiple accurate ports of the arcade and got the same results with each one). Also, the starting position of the invaders in INV+ is true to the original arcade.

Edited May 3, 2006 by BrianC

[Godzilla]

i still prefer the original space invaders to all that have come since. i prefer 2600 space invaders to the arcade game, so really, everything since has been a pointless waste to me, but nice for the collection.

[BrianC]

I prefer the original 2600 version too (I think the game is more fun with a faster rate of firing and less delay), but I also like the arcade one quite a bit. I feel that some of the things said against INV+ are a bit unfair since the arcade version has the same delay that INV+ does. As I said before, there is no "problem with firing" in INV+. The delay comes from the arcade. I don't think INV+ should be knocked for doing what it set out to do, play closer to the arcade. The graphics could have been better than squares, but I don't mind them and it probably would have been hard to get as many invaders as the arcade without them.

 

My favorite version of SI for the 2600 is the Space Invaders Deluxe Hack, though. All of the fun of the original 2600 Space Invaders with more arcade like graphics.

Edited May 3, 2006 by BrianC

[Lord Thag]

I'm liking that new Rainbow Invaders game. Sure, it's different, but it plays pretty good, and I like the power ups.

[Lord Helmet]

Instigators is alot of fun, but it's FAST compared to the other SI clones.

 

My personal favorite is SI Deluxe (Nukey's hack) because you can pause for a beer...er, soda, between levels

[Foxsolo2000]

Both games have their qualities and both have their drawbacks. Space Instigators is a good game save for the fact that the UFO moves too damn fast to nail successfully and INV is a decent clone but the invaders look like blocks. Again to each their own but in my case it would have to be Space Invaders arcade

[Vic George 2K3]

Space Instigators is my favorite of the two.

[jboypacman]

i havent play space instigators but i own inv+and i like it alot.i play it along with my orignal copy of space invaders as well as my plug n play version.inv+ moves abit faster than space invaders does and has more aliens(blocks in inv+)on screen.i like the fact when you hit the mystery ship along the top of the screen it displays how much bonus points your awarded.i will most likely buy space instigators at some point and am sure i will enjoy it as well.

[sandmountainslim]

I will have to say INV+ is my pick of all the SI games for the Atari.

It has all of the invaders from the arcade (even though they look like blocks) and the gameplay and difficulty are more like I remember the arcade game being. It just "feels" more like arcade SI to me than the others although SI Arcade is a great hack and looks really good.

Wp

[mos6507]

I like Space Instigators a little better than INV+, but I think they both suck compared to original Space Invaders. I'd rather play a hack of the original game (with the original sounds) that was a real, crap-your-pants improvement than either of those games you mentioned.

 

I think the original space invaders coinop is pretty stale, actually. It's really the crossover point between bronze age and golden age videogames and contains many bronze-age details like the B&W raster display and the slow screen redrawing of the Midway-derived architecture. It's quaint, but many other shooters improved on that formula, not the least of which was Atari's original port with the color and the variations. While it's nice to go for authenticity, I don't think having 11 aliens per row is necessary to make it play well.

[mos6507]

i still prefer the original space invaders to all that have come since. i prefer 2600 space invaders to the arcade game, so really, everything since has been a pointless waste to me, but nice for the collection.

 

I think INV+ and Space Instigators were mainly technical exercises to see if the 2600 could generate more than 6 invaders per line. The use of playfield in INV+ is very innovative and I was cheerleading that project bigtime on Stellalist, giving suggestions on how to draw with such blocky pixels. So I don't see them as a waste of time in the least.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I think INV+ and Space Instigators were mainly technical exercises to see if the 2600 could generate more than 6 invaders per line.

Agreed. Both push the 2600 further beyond its expected limits.

 

I was working on a 11 invaders version a few years ago. But after I had the kernel running, I lost interest. Note that emulators don't work 100% correctly here.

Tominv5.bin

[maiki]

Space Instigators - I have version public beta 2 06-01-2003 - would be a good game IF: the alien ship travelled at reasonable speed - I mean it is IMPOSSIBLE to hit it since it travels too fast... you can hardly spot it and it is on the other end of the screen already... so the gameplay is completely ruined with this speed "bug"... if there is a different version please let me know...

 

So INV+ wins of course as it is a fully playable Space Invaders variant.

Edited February 16, 2011 by maiki

[ErikM]

Old thread, but I just now thought to visit Atari Age for the first time in a long while.

 

The timing of the shots in INV+ is entirely intentional, to match that of the arcade Space Invaders. I can appreciate that some might not like it. There is an adjustment available with the difficulty switches - A means you have to press the fire button once for each shot, B means you can hold it down and it will autofire (after the intentional delay.)

 

And yes, the invaders are blocky. They are not sprites; they are drawn with the same low-resolution playfield mechanism that makes up the walls in Breakout and mushrooms in Centipede and so on. I was going for the fully accurate arcade gameplay, compromising on the graphics to do it. (Back in 1997 when I started INV, we had no idea how to do the tricky rapid hits on sprite registers to get 7 or 9 or 11 sprites per line.)

 

By the way, now might be an appropriate time to reveal the Easter Egg initials hidden in INV+. Try hitting the saucer with your very _first_ shot of the game!