6 - Space Invaders (1978)

Played: Since my 6'th birthday.
Played before: Yes
Heard of before: Yes
Time spent: Hours upon hours of hours.
Completed: I don't think you can beat this game.
Mastered (0-100%): 50% I managed to get pretty far in my old VIC-20 version.

Used platform: I had a version of this game for the VIC-20 I got as a kid. This version actually played very very well, and was really challenging. I also emulated this on MAME, and found that the game played out very similar to the VIC-20 version. Finally I also had this for the GAME BOY. In the end I ended up finding it at a local arcade museum and getting to play it there. Unfortunately the machina had seen better days, and ate some of my coins, and even froze on me. The MAME emulated version remains the best.

Brief description: The earth is being attacked by hordes of aliens that slowly make progress towards earth, always staying in formation. You control a turret able to move left and right and fire a single shot at a time directly upwards. That's it. Clear the screen before the aliens touch ground to proceed to next level.

Story: 5/10 None.
Gameplay: 8/10 This is really old school arcade fun for me. The game play is intuitive and the controls are responsive.
Sound: 7/10 The basic dum-dum-dum-dum, that speeds up, as you clear the screen and the enemies become faster really helps push your adrenaline levels.
Graphics: 6/10 The first version was basically a monochromatic game. Only coloured by tinting the glass in various portions of the screen. However the monsters are varied, and wriggle and curl as they move back and forth in their endless assault. Really nice for the time.

Epic win: First time I cleared the first screen.
Epic fail: Getting to level X without dying, then losing three lives in 20 seconds.
Moment of strongest impact: The first time I realized that by shooting the outer columns I would get more time to take out the rest of the aliens. I think it was my first strategy ever for a video game.

Overall: 87%
I remember my first play through, getting beaten so bad I thought to myself that this game was impossibly hard. My uncle almost managed to clear the first stage, and immediately became my hero for being so awesome. Later on I got better, and managed to get to level 5-7 as far as I remember. This was never an easy game for me however. I managed to score 2,7 k on the MAME today. I know that's bad, but I guess I'm just out of shape. I will always be able to enjoy a quick round of this game however, even at 50 probably.