Galaga: Destination Earth (2000). Play online

Summary

Galaga: Destination Earth (often just called Galaga on the Game Boy Color) revamps the classic 1981 arcade shooter with nine fresh worlds and full 3D graphics. I still love how the ship glides horizontally at the bottom while the game throws you a mix of over‑the‑shoulder, top‑down and side‑scroller viewpoints, each marked as ALPHA, DELTA or GAMMA. You can fire two shots at once, and bonus power‑ups let you boost that to three, while captured enemies become wing‑men that double your firepower—a neat nod to Gaplus. The stages span places like an Egyptian‑themed Mars, metropolitan Earth, Saturn and even the sun, culminating on a mysterious planetoid.
Challenge waves keep the pace lively, letting you rake in points without danger, and occasional tractor‑beam cubes add a temporary capture ability. Reviews were mixed; NextGen warned that despite the nostalgia it feels more like a mass‑market title than a hardcore shoot‑'em‑up. Still, the variety of views and the retro‑flavored power‑ups make it a decent homage for anyone who grew up on Galaga.