Why It Is Important: Space Invadersdefined arcade games with its multiple lives, high score system, sound design and smart AI. It was the first game to feature the difficulty curve concept that would later be used in every kind of game imaginable. There is quite simply no other game that has done more for the industry than Space Invaders. Released in 1978, the arcade shooter not only invented a genre, but it invented a mechanic that almost every single game that followed it would use (including the ones in this list). We're talking about the difficulty curve: the idea that a game should start off easy and gradually become more challenging. The enemy ships of Space Invaders would first move slowly, but as their numbers started to dwindle they'd gradually pick up the pace until the last ship moved around frenetically like a fly with a death wish. This was down to the hardware simply not being powerful enough to run the software at full speed when the screen was full of ships. Destroying them simply freed up processing power and made the game run a little bit faster. In one of gaming's greatest accidents, Space Invaders designer Tomohiro Nishikado decided not to fix this performance issue because it made it fun and dynamic to play. This tiny decision fundamentally changed how games were made, regardless of their genre. Space Invaders was the first to use music during gameplay. Its soundtrack was simple 4 note melody that increased in tempo as the alien ships made their way down the screen towards the player. It gave the game a spooky, tense atmosphere that was very ahead of its time. Speaking of aliens, those little buggers were pretty smart. They fired back and responded to the player's movements and their sheer numbers posed quite a challenge. The aliens were the first example of a horde of enemies and undoubtedly inspired the popular horde-based games we see today like Left4Dead. Space Invaders was also the first game to save high scores, because sometimes you need physical proof to back up your endless bragging. Becoming the best at something takes dedicated practise (unless you are one of those annoying people that's just naturally good at everything) so it's a good thing that it was the first game to give the player multiple lives as well. While other games in our list pushed their respective genres to new heights, Space Invaders difficulty curve has been used in both 2D and 3D games and every other kind, for that matter. Its influence is so far reaching that its frankly impossible to imagine gaming as we know it today without it. Do you agree with our list? What are some of the games that you think have shaped the industry? Sound off in the comments below.
