Retro game review: Super Stupid Space Invaders

This was a game I discovered on dosgames.com.  It’s based on the classic Space Invaders arcade game, except it’s text-based and runs on MS-DOS.  I  downloaded it and started playing it in DOSBox.  First, the stats:

Creator: PLBM Games
Year: 1997
Graphics mode: ASCII
Download link: http://www.dosgames.com/dl.php?filename=http://www.dosgames.com/files/sssi.zip

I found this game to be extremely entertaining and fun to play. It’s a fast-paced game with exciting text-mode graphics and good-old 8-bit sounds. This is a game that truly brings me back to the 90’s and my older brother’s Apple ][c.

In this game there are two players. The players take turns fighting waves of aliens. You have multiple ships in this game, so if your ship gets destroyed, the game isn’t automatically over. For a game titled “Super Stupid Space Invaders” and deemed a “not-serious” game by its creators, this game is actually fairly complex, interesting, and well-written.

Here is a screenshot of the first level. This level looks basically like your typical arcade Space Invaders, except without the shields:

Here is a screenshot of the second level, or wave:

In this level, you have one space invader, and when you hit it, it splits into two more, those split into two more, and finally those each split into two more, so in the end you have sixteen invaders to contend with, and they all move very quickly – not just side-to-side but also up and down. This makes for very challenging game play.

All in all, I love this game. In fact I can’t think of anything not to love about it. It’s a fun game to play, and it brings me back to the good old days, and that’s why I love it.