Dec 23, 2010

The retro lovable TI Invaders

I do believe that the first video game I ever played was Berzerk for the Atari 2600, but I frankly can't be absolutely sure about this. What I actually do know though is that TI Invaders for the Texas Instrument TI 99/4A home computer was the first game I could call my own and play at home, provided of course I were a good little gnome. And I absolutely loved it (playing the game, not behaving that is); it did after all look and play so much better than Space Invaders on my cousins' 2600 and was actually better than the eponymous glorious game glimpsed in arcades.

I also remember being rather good at it too, but that was probably the result of spending more hours playing TI Invaders than anyone else in my rather limited social circle. This beautiful cartridge, you see, was constantly replacing boring math and alphabet games, just like nature intended it to:

The game itself, a bold Space Invaders clone, felt totally unique and incredibly high-tech. Little did I know back then that the cheap yet powerful TI 99/4A my father had bought off a colleague was an early 16-bit machine. All I cared for was its one-button joystick, the impressive looking keyboard and its infuriating lack of a pause function, the inclusion of which would make mandatory sleep-breaks a mere temporary stop to my high score beating attempts.

Nowadays, in our era where everything comes with pause buttons and save options and despite the fact that I always keep the old Texas Instruments micro close, I rarely plug the thing in. Connecting it to a modern TV can be quite a problem, you see, but, as I recently re-discovered, a problem worth solving. TI Invaders remains a fantastic game. Possibly the best retro iteration of Space Invaders ever. I mean, really, look at these graphics. How many 1981 game could be this wondrous? 
Then again we all know that graphics aren't everything. TI Invaders might retain a certain retro charm with its blocky aliens and blippy-bloppy sounds, but it's the gameplay that counts and that has aged way more gracefully than you'd expect. 

The game is slightly faster than your average invaders shooting offering, sports a lovely death animation, has a unique scoring system and way more variety than even the arcade it perfectly apes itself. Every three or so levels a new kind of invading alien appears -all of them sporting unique appearances and abilities- two difficulty levels allow you to start off with a less brutal game, an impressive variety of smart little touches enhances the overall experience and then there's the bonus stage that really spices things up. Obviously, constantly improving ones high-score remains as addictive and enjoyable as ever...

You can find out more about TI Invaders here, here and here. To download the game's manual try this link and in order to actually play the thing  I suggest you give the Win994a emulator a try.


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11 comments:

  1. That looks a lot like the version I used to play on my windows 3.1 machine.

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  2. I frankly wouldn't know dear Jonathon. Did it have a bonus stage?

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  3. Nice writeup Gnome. I remember playing around a little on the TI99/4A, although for the life of me I can't recall where since we never owned one. And TI Invaders was one of the rare Space Invaders clones for a system I didn't have that I actually heard of at the time as being pretty good. Thanks for the emulator reference too, I haven't tried that one. I'll throw in a virtual cartridge of TI Invaders and check it out!

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  4. Glad you enjoyed the article oh MadPlanet, as I've been thinking about it ever since I started this very blog. You should probably even look into grabbing a TI 99/4A. They are usually cheap and very compact.

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  5. No bonus stage that I can remember, and I think the colours were different.

    But I guess how different can they make two Space Invader games.

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  6. Yes, well, you do have a point there (but no bonus stage).

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  7. What a beauty! What's with the sprites in the blue rectangle? They look like the player's turret but with bits blown off. Is it some kind of graveyard for lost lives? That would be awesome.

    Great article, Gnomey. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

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  8. Gnome, I loaded it up and played a few times and I agree it is a very nice version of the classic original. The faster bullets and the mothership challenge level (reminded me of the bear on Carnival) were welcome additions. I also like the little animation of your destroyed ships being stored below while a new one is raised up to take their place. I can definitely see how this was well-received back in 1981. Thanks!

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  9. @ Marc: Indeed. A true, beloved beauty and that's exactly what the blue rectangle is for: blown-up turrets. Oh, and thanks Marc.

    @ MadPlanet: So glad you enjoyed it... I knew this is a great little game. Cheers!

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  10. I never was good at any Space Invaders clone, so I didn't like any either. But I agree that this one looks quite fine for something dating back to almost 30yrs ago. Incidentally, I realized I don't remember what was the first game I have ever played, hmm...

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  11. Was it -by chance- Berzerk? That would be lovely!

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