Gaplus
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Bally Midway
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Fixed shooter
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Platform(s)	Arcade
Input	8-way Joystick, 1 button
Arcade cabinet	Standard, cocktail, cabaret
Arcade system(s)	Namco Phozon
Arcade display	Raster

Gaplus, far more commonly known as Galaga 3, is a fixed shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1984. It runs on Namco Phozon hardware and was only known as Gaplus in Japan. A modification kit was distributed later that changed the title screen to Galaga 3 to increase recognition among fans of the Galaga series and boost sales. Image File history File links Gaplus_bonus. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Namco is a company based in Japan, best known for developing video games. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) (formerly Midway Manufacturing) is an American video game publisher. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A fixed shooter game, also known as a 2-D shooter or shoot-em-up (shmup for short), is a video game where the player has limited control of their character and the focus is almost entirely on annihilation of their enemies. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Joystick elements: 1. ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... An arcade system board is a standardized printed circuit board or group of printed circuit boards that are used as the basis for multiple arcade games with very similar hardware requirements. ... The Namco 8-bit Phozon arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1983. ... A computer display is an interface between the computer and the operator. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... A fixed shooter game, also known as a 2-D shooter or shoot-em-up (shmup for short), is a video game where the player has limited control of their character and the focus is almost entirely on annihilation of their enemies. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Namco is a company based in Japan, best known for developing video games. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Namco 8-bit Phozon arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1983. ... Galaga is a fixed shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1981 (and also licensed to Midway). ...

Finding this game for home video game consoles is very difficult. It only appears on some multi-game cartridges, which were released long after its arcade release. The reason it didn't have a home conversion for so long is due to the Video Game Crash of 1983. It was released on the PlayStation as one of the games featured in Namco Museum Volume 2, using its original name "Gaplus." The Nintendo GameCube is an example of a popular video game console. ... E.T. for the Atari 2600. ... The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Namco Museum refers to the series of compilations released by Namco for various 32-bit and above consoles, containing releases of their games from the 1980s. ...

Gameplay

Gaplus is a sequel to Galaga and has similar gameplay. However, it has a much steeper learning curve and much deeper gameplay in later levels. The player controls a spaceship, that can now move vertically as well as horizontally, and shoots at swarms of incoming insect-like aliens which fly in formation above it and swoop down to bomb it in a kamikaze-like dive. In this sequel, the level starts over if the player is killed before all the enemies have come in. When all enemies are destroyed, the player moves on to the next level. Galaga is a fixed shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1981 (and also licensed to Midway). ... The fictional starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. ... The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe currently known by humans to support life. ... It has been suggested that Personnel involved in the development of World War II suicide attacks be merged into this article or section. ...

The game differs from its predecessor in several ways:

• By shooting at a shooting star that occasionally appears, the player can get a ship with new graphics that can have three shots on screen instead of two. After this, shooting the star will make a special flag appear from the Namco game Rally-X that awards an extra life when collected.
• There are two special types of stages besides the normal levels called parsecs. These are levels where the starfield reverses and enemies come in waves then leave. After this, a small force comes in like a normal stage. The challenging stages are very different from the original. Enemies are juggled by shots, each hit slowly spelling out "Bonus", "Gaplus", "Double" or "Triple" for a bonus and additional hits scoring 200 points each. It is most effective to use the red and blue powerups to repeatedly hit them.
• The "king" alien on different stages drops several types of powerups when destroyed. The red powerup captures enemies with a tractor beam where each one provides another shot. The blue powerup gives wider and faster shots. The green powerup captures enemies in a tractor beam that can then be shot for bonus points. The purple powerup changes the screen to a vertical orientation. It may also carry a third of a ship that will be kept track of at the lower-right of the screen between games. An extra life is awarded when all three are collected.

Gaplus can be played by a single player or by two players alternating turns. The factory settings start the player out with three lives, a bonus life at 30,000 points, 70,000 points, and every 70,000 thereafter on the easiest level of play. These settings can be changed via DIP switches on the game's motherboard. Shooting star may refer to: a meteor when seen from Earth Shooting Star, a song by Elliott Smith from his album From a Basement on the Hill Shooting Star a song by Bad Company from the album Straight Shooter Shooting Star is a rock band from Kansas City, MO famous... Rally-X is a maze arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... A DIP switch is an electric switch that is packaged in a standard Dual-Inline Package (DIP). ... A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, system board, or logic boards on Apple Computers, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo (generally credited to the magazine Maximum PC) is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ...

Trivia

• It is assumed that the name Gaplus is short for Galaga Plus. Oddly enough, while Gaplus is also known as Galaga 3, there was no official "Galaga 2." While the Galaga 3 modification changed the game's title, one of the challenging stages still spells out "GAPLUS."
• As previously noted, each third of a bonus ship captured is displayed in the bottom right portion of the screen. Intrestingly, as long as the machine is not turned off, any remaining parts will persist between games. This was a somewhat unprecedented feature that could possibly give some repeat players an advantage over those who only played once when competing for the high score.

Easter Egg

An easter egg exists in the game that lets a player obtain the upgraded ship on the first parsec, without resorting to the difficult shooting star method outlined above. This is achieved as follows. When the game begins, the player allows all enemy ships to "form ranks" without destroying any of them. When the shooting star appears, the player immediately shoots the bottom alien second from the left. A flag with the letter "S" appears. The player does not collect the flag immediately (which awards a bonus life). Instead, they must wait for the King (carrying the tractor beam powerup) to attack, then crash their ship into him. (They must crash into the King, and not the powerup.) All remaining ships are immediately upgraded to the "triple shot" version. The player can then collect the flag to restore the lost life. As an additional quirk, in two player mode the second player's ships are also upgraded; that player can then use the same technique (excluding crashing into the King) to obtain an additional life, giving them an advantage in the game. The first easter egg For the decorated eggs given out to celebrate the Easter holiday, see Easter egg. ...

External links

• The KLOV entry on Gaplus
• A site with in-depth details on Gaplus (Japanese)