SD Gundam Over Galaxian (SDガンダム オーバーギャラクシアン)
Developer: Lay-Up
Release Date: 1996
Platforms: PlayStation
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SD Gundam Over Galaxian takes Namco’s arcade classic and combines it with visuals and ideas from the SD Gundam subsection of that franchise, creating a strange experiment of a revival. Rather than being developed by Namco, this game was developed by Lay-Up, a company that specializes in producing and selling toys based on popular Japanese media like Ultraman and Saint Seiya. SD Gundam was their earliest success, so they’ve revisited it over the years via additional toy lines and smaller contributions like package design for SD Gundam: G Century.
SD Gundam Over Galaxian makes several tweaks to the Galaxian formula across its story modes. Unless you’re playing on the hard difficulty, your Gundam moves quickly, fires multiple bullets quickly, and can even lock-on to enemies, guaranteeing your shots will land. Power-ups also drop from enemies on the regular, allowing you to get piercing bazooka shots, 1ups, and assistance from Guncannon, Guntank, or the Core Fighter. To attempt to compensate for these changes, enemies are more aggressive and can come in multiple waves per level. Each level also has boss fights with mobile suits capable of taking several hits. Despite this, you can easily get through the game in less than an hour, a far cry from the steep but considered challenge of the original Galaxian.
The SD Gundam story is a greatly truncated retelling of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series that hits all of the essential imagery through its levels. Aside from narration by renowned actor Ichirou Nagai, the story is sparse and the characters are only seen on loading screens between levels. The other story revolves around the G Changer, a short-lived SD Gundam follow-up that features mobile suits with the ability to change into different vehicular forms. This mode only has an initial text crawl and ending, but each level makes you take on a different form and gives you a different special attack. This attack is charged by landing shots and depletes if you miss, continuing the strong emphasis on accuracy started by the original Galaxian. A “Galaxian Remix” mode is also available, which lets you tweak all settings to your liking as you play a more conventional game of Galaxian.
SD Gundam Over Galaxian has a very low budget feel to it and it’s far too easy to hold the attention of those who did their time on the original Galaxian, but as an unusual crossover project, it stands as an interesting curio that intersects with multiple forms of fandom and history.
