Hold the line against the alien armada — then take down the mothership.

The tension of the fixed-screen shooter

Fixed-screen shooters were arcade gold in the late seventies: one cannon, one screen, and an enemy that never stops advancing. Taito's Space Invaders (1978) set the template, and its most famous quirk — the formation speeding up as you destroy it — started life as a side effect of how little the hardware could draw, then became the genre's signature source of tension. Alien Assault keeps that rule on purpose: the fewer aliens remain, the faster they march.

Stage one rewards patience. Pick off the outer columns first so the formation's turning points shift and it takes longer to reach the ground, and shoot through your own shields only when you have to — they erode from both sides. The red UFO that crosses the top is worth 50 to 300 points and is the quickest way to climb the leaderboard, but it is never worth losing a life.

Stage two changes the question from 'how fast can I clear the screen' to 'how well can I move'. The mothership weaves across the top and its attacks escalate in three phases: single aimed shots, then a three-way spread, then a five-way barrage as its health bar turns red. Stay mobile, use the shields as cover rather than a hiding place, and fire in short bursts — you can have two shots in the air at once against the boss.