Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders

Arkanoid vs Space Invaders[lower-alpha 1] is a paid mobile game developed by Taito and published by Taito in Japan and Square Enix worldwide. As the name suggests, it is a crossover between Arkanoid and Space Invaders and has gameplay elements adapted from both games. The game was released without any prior announcement by Square Enix internationally on May 17, 2017.[1]

Arkanoid vs Space Invaders
App store icon
Developer(s)Taito
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Nanoha Hata
Producer(s)Nikkou Yamashita
Designer(s)
  • Taiki Yoneda
  • Nanoha Hata
  • Teppei Moriwaki
Programmer(s)
  • Teppei Moriwaki
  • Taiki Yoneda
Artist(s)
  • Nanoha Hata
  • Ken Ninomiya
  • Tetsuyoshi Yamaji
Writer(s)Daiki Tsutsui
Composer(s)
Series
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Android, iOS
Release
  • WW: May 17, 2017 (2017-05-17)
Genre(s)Block breaker,
Shoot'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game includes elements borrowed from Space Invaders and Arkanoid. The player maneuvers the Vaus spacecraft along the blue region located at the bottom of the screen, and must deflect a ball at a formation of bricks and Space Invaders aliens. The player will need to avoid fire from the enemy aliens, although the player can deflect the shots at them. The goal of each stage is to destroy the formation of bricks as well as the aliens, and the player moves forward to the next stage once this goal has been completed. The player travels through several different worlds, with each world containing four stages. At the final stage, the player must defeat a final boss before moving on. Once a world has been completed, the player will acquire a random power-up in the form of characters representing older Taito properties, such as Bubble Bobble, Darius and Psychic Force.

Taito characters
Year Characters Origin
1982 Soldier Front Line
1983 Spy Elevator Action
Chack'n Chack'n Pop
Monsta
1985 Reika Time Gal
Kage The Legend of Kage
Ptolemy The Fairyland Story
1986 Bub Bubble Bobble
Bob
Drunk
Sayo-chan KiKi KaiKai
1987 Bubby Rainbow Islands
Kunoichi The Ninja Warriors
Ninja
Proco Darius
Great Thing
1988 Nancy Chase H.Q.
Tiki The NewZealand Story
1990 Sonic Blast Man Sonic Blast Man
1991 Zac Pu·Li·Ru·La
1993 Lufia Lufia & the Fortress of Doom
1995 Tetsu-chan Densha de Go!
Burn Griffiths Psychic Force
Emilio Michaelov
Keith Evans
Wendy Ryan
1997 Patra-co Cleopatra Fortune
Kaori Tachibana Kirameki Star Road
C-mond Puchi Carat
2005 Mr. ESC Exit
Nico Spica Adventure
2009 Riga Pratica Dariusburst
Ti2
Iron Fossil
2016 Linka Groove Coaster 3: Link Fever
Nadia Vivie Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders
Niko Kanzaki
2017 Yume Groove Coaster 3EX: Dream Party

Reception

Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders received positive reviews from critics, with reviews praising the amalgamation of Arkanoid and Space Invaders, and ditching the free-to-play model of mobile applications. The game currently has an 85/100 score on Metacritic.[2] Eli Hodapp of TouchArcade states that “the Arkanoid and Space Invaders universes have been duct taped together in a way that actually works quite well” and that it is "A super-solid brick breaker with an interesting twist and no freemium shenanigans".[3] Chris Shilling of Waypoint describes the game as "Crisp and colorful with an energetic EDM soundtrack, Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders is a fizzy, addictive treat—like a bag of cola bottles but with slightly more nutritional value, and all for roughly the price of a London pint".[5] Jennifer Allen of Gamezebo commented by saying that "Arkanoid and Space Invaders is one of those perfectly shrewd moves that you had no idea could work so well until, well, it did. Partly skills based and partly a puzzle game, it's a delightful combination of two iconic classics. Even better, you won't have to suffer the scourge of in-app purchases to enjoy it." However, she did criticise the boss battles by stating that they "are somewhat lackluster, never quite fulfilling their potential".[4] Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer described Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders as "a mash up of two of Taito's old arcade franchises. And it's actually pretty interesting. There's bouncing, there are blocks, there are waves of alien invaders trying to destroy the cosmos. While that might sound like a silly mish mash, there's actually a decent amount of cohesion here".[6] CJ Andrissen of Destructoid praised the game by stating that it is "One of the best mobile games of the year" and that "there is just so much game here to enjoy and with no ads, no microtransactions, and no need to always be connected to the internet, Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders is missing most of the red flags people wave when dismissing the mobile marketplace. It isn’t the best version of Space Invaders out there but it is the best version of Arkanoid currently available".[7]

Notes
  1. Japanese: アルカノイド vs スペースインベーダー, Hepburn: Arukanoido Basasu Supēsu Inbēdā

References
  1. Scrivens, Scott (May 18, 2017). "Square Enix releases classic games mash-up Arkanoid vs Space Invaders". Android Police. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  2. "Arkanoid vs Space Invaders for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  3. Hodapp, Eli (May 18, 2017). "'Arkanoid vs Space Invaders' Review – After Seeing the Movie "Pixels," I Guess This Mash-Up Makes Sense?". TouchArcade. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  4. http://www.gamezebo.com/2017/05/25/arkanoid-vs-space-invaders-review-beautiful-pairing/
  5. https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/arkanoid-vs-space-invaders-is-an-arcade-crossover-for-the-ages
  6. http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Arkanoid+vs+Space+Invaders/review.asp?c=74102
  7. https://www.destructoid.com/review-arkanoid-vs-space-invaders-437741.phtml
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