Galaxians by Aardvark - Acorn Atom - Emulated, Atomulator - 4,970 points.

Galaxians is an arcade game for the Acorn Atom released in 1982. It was written by Nick Pelling of Aardvark Software, also known by his nom-de-guerre of Orlando.

Galaxians is, unsurprisingly, a version of the arcade game of the same name. The game starts with a tidy title screen very similar to the arcade machine. On starting, a full array of the enemy stacks up above you and it is not long before they are diving down to attack. They move left and right as they dive and until you get used to them, this is difficult to predict. They are not that smart though, so once you realise how they move, you should be able to avoid them a lot of the time. The corners of the screen, as always, are quite dangerously places to be.

More points are awarded if the enemy is flying down to attack rather than sitting in formation. Waiting for them to fly down really increases your risk though, so it is a bit of a trade-off between points and survival. The motherships and their escorts are particularly tricky to destroy as a block in this version of the game as well. It won't be long before your ship is replaced by an explosion - a static version in this game. Clear all the enemy craft and a new formation appears.

Despite the green background putting me in mind of a Dragon 32 game, this is a good version of Galaxians. It is certainly more like the original than other Galaxian type games on the Atom, such as the classic and well known Astrobirds. Graphics move reasonably smoothly and there is no slowdown noticeable despite all the enemy flying about and shooting. A tricky-at-times, but very good, version of Galaxians for the Atom.

This was Aardvarks first commercial game and I found a copy of an early advert in the back of Your Computer November 1982. Aardvark went on to produce some well known and innovative games for the BBC such as Frak! and Zalaga. Nick also did a stint at Acornsoft, where he rewrote this Atom classic for the BBC Micro - where it became Arcadians. Arcadians is a game that is so evocative of my childhood as it was always being played on the school computer room during lunchtimes - the school had only one BBC so you had to book a slot! It was interesting to play its precursor on the Atom.

This run was made on the 9th November 2025. There are no skill levels and the final score was 4,970 points.

Time Stamps:
00:30 Title screen, based closely on the arcade original.
01:14 Game start.
01:24 First life lost.
02:54 First wave cleared.
03:23 Second life lost.
04:25 Second wave cleared.
05:57 Third wave cleared.
06:20 Third life lost. Game Over! Final score 4,970 points.



Intro Music:
Music by: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Title: Legend
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