Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago

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00:31. Stage 1
00:55. Stage 2
01:25. Stage 3 (Galactic Dancing 1)
02:06. Stage 4
02:34. Stage 5
03:00. Stage 6
03:28. Stage 7 (Galactic Dancing 2)
04:13. Stage 8
05:37. Stage 9
06:18. Stage 10 (First Boss)
06:47. Stage 11
07:09. Stage 12
07:29. Stage 13
07:55. Stage 14 (Galactic Dancing 3)
08:51. Stage 15
09:10. Stage 16
09:34. Stage 17
09:57. Stage 18 (Galactic Dancing 4)
10:51. Stage 19
11:14. Stage 20
11:32. Stage 21
12:00. Stage 22 (Galactic Dancing 5)
12:40. Stage 23
13:12. Stage 24
13:41. Stage 25
14:28. Stage 26 (Galactic Dancing 6)
15:19. Stage 27
16:29. Stage 28
17:57. Stage 29
18:15. Final Boss and Ending

Galaga 90 is the American release of the PC Engine/Turbografx 16 port of Namco's Galaga 88, which was originally an arcade game that came out in 1987 in Japan. The Japanese PC Engine port came out the next year while Galaga 90 came out in 1989 in the U.S.

Galaga 90 might start out looking like a Galaga remake in the first few stages, but it does a lot more than the original game. One, you start off with the option to use the double ship at the very beginning if you're willing to sacrifice a spare life. Two, you can get a triple ship if your double ship gets captured by a Boss Galaga, giving you a lot of firepower with about the same hitbox at the double ship. Three, once you get beyond the initial stages, there's a bit of variety in the level design, as this game introduces new enemies as it goes on, has a couple of boss battles, and even some autoscrolling sections.

On top of all that, this game has a rank system based on dimensions. You can hop to another dimension by gathering two blue capsules before you get to a Galactic Dancing stage. Warping to another dimension grants you a nice point bonus but makes the next stages harder. Once you get to the fourth and last dimension, the rank maxes out. You can game this system for survival early on by waiting to gather these capsules until after the first boss, making that fight a lot easier because it gives you an easier boss. One other thing about these capsules is that they have generous invincibility frames when grabbing them. I utilized that to my advantage in later stages whenever I could.

The key to playing this game is mastering misdirecting not just the bullets but also the enemies. Since this is a fixed shooter, you do not have a lot of room to do this so you need to tap dodge pretty carefully to avoid getting stuck in a corner. Also, getting the triple ship is important as you can mow down rows of enemies pretty quickly with it, even later on in the game. You'll even get a red capsule at the end of Stage 25 to get a triple ship so make sure you grab it if you're down to double or single ship.

Also, the last boss is extremely hard if you do not have at least the double shot. You need to be able to do a lot of damage quickly in order to survive him.

This is actually my first Namco shmup 1CC ever. Also, it is only my second PC Engine shmup 1CC, as the only one I've done prior is Blazing Lazers, my first ever shmup 1CC.

#galaga #namco #shmups #pcengine #turbografx #turbografx16 #retrogaming #arcadegames #classicgames