is a 1979

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

Nintendo R&D2 commonly abbreviated as Nintendo R&D2, was a Japanese team within Nintendo that developed software and peripherals. While usually occupied in system operating software and technical support, the team would come back to early development in the ...

. Some sources claim that

Ikegami Tsushinki () is a Japanese manufacturer of professional and broadcast television equipment, especially professional video cameras, both for electronic news gathering and studio use. The company was founded in 1946. History Ikegami introduced the first ...

also did programming work on ''Space Fever''. It was released in both

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...

and

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

versions. The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...

is similar to ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and set ...

'', which had been released by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

in 1978. In America, the game was distributed by Far East Video.

Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Space Fever'' is reminiscent of ''

'' (1978), where the player controls a

laser cannon A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers. After decades of R&D, directed-energy weapons including lasers are still at the experimental stage and it remains to be seen if or when they will be deployed as practical, high-perfo ...

situated at the bottom of the screen and must defeat waves of enemy aliens. The aliens are arranged in rows and slowly move to the edge of the screen, before descending and continuing in the opposite direction. As more aliens are defeated, they increase in speed. A

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

will occasionally appear towards the top of the screen, which can be shot down for bonus points. There are three game modes that change the way the aliens move; the first presents two formations of enemies that move in opposite directions, the second continuously adds additional rows of aliens, and the third is functionally identical to ''Space Invaders''.

Development

In the late 1970s, Nintendo Co., Ltd began shifting its focus away from its roots as a toy and playing card company towards the coin-operated entertainment market. Its decision was largely based on the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

increasing the manufacturing costs for toys, and its need to diversify itself if it wanted to remain profitable. Nintendo had previously designed several electro-mechanical shooting gallery machines, such as the ''

Laser Clay Shooting System The Laser Clay Shooting System (レーザークレー射撃システム) is a light gun shooting simulation game created by Nintendo in 1973. The game consisted of an overhead projector which displayed moving targets behind a background; players ...

'' and ''

Wild Gunman is a light gun shooter game developed and published by Nintendo. Originally created as an electro-mechanical arcade game in 1974 by Gunpei Yokoi, it was adapted to a video game format for the Famicom console in 1984. It was released in 1985 a ...

''. The company released its first video arcade game, ''Computer Othello'', in June 1978. In the same month,

released ''

'', which triggered a nationwide resurgence in its video game market. This led to several manufacturers, including Nintendo, creating similar "Invader-type" games to try and capitalize on its popularity. ''Space Fever'' was one of its attempts, and was developed by Nintendo's Research & Development 2 (R&D2) division. Masayuki Uemura, the head of R&D2, led the development of the game. The programming and circuit design was contracted out to

, as were most of Nintendo's arcade games at the time. ''Space Fever'' was released in Japan in February 1979. It was released as a tabletop arcade cabinet with a black and white

raster Raster may refer to: * Raster graphics, graphical techniques using arrays of pixel values * Raster graphics editor, a computer program * Raster scan, the pattern of image readout, transmission, storage, and reconstruction in television and compu ...

monitor; a version featuring single-color graphics was released later in the year.

Legacy

A special version of ''Space Fever'' called was released the same year and features aliens that are double the width of the standard variety, which can either be destroyed completely or split into two smaller aliens depending on where they are shot. This version is in color, and the shelter blocks are visually distinct from the monochrome version. Like with the original Space Fever, SF-Hisplitter was also distributed in America by Far East Video. A sequel to ''Space Fever'', titled is a minigame in the

Game Boy Camera The Game Boy Camera (GBC), released as in Japan, is a Nintendo accessory for the handheld Game Boy game console. It was released on February 21, 1998, in Japan, and manufacturing was ceased in late 2002. As a toy for user-generated content, it ...

cartridge. The game also acts as a menu for selecting the other built-in minigames. It deviates from the ''Space Invaders'' formula, featuring instead smaller waves of individual aliens and bosses based on faces of Nintendo staff as well as the "game face" photo taken by the player.

Notes

References

External links

* (black & white version) *{{KLOV game, id=9651 (color version) 1979 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Nintendo arcade games Nintendo franchises Nintendo games Nintendo Research & Development 2 games Video game clones Video games developed in Japan ja:スペースインベーダー#亜流ゲーム