Gameplay
The gameplay in Galaga '88 is built upon the same premise as that of the original Galaga, but is in many ways more complex and more difficult. The game is divided into a series of 29 Stages distributed through eight Worlds. The starship Galaga accelerates between Stages and Worlds and even to higher dimensions (see Dimensional Travel below).
With the exception of the third and eighth, each World culminates in a Challenging Stage. There are six such Stages to engage in any full game, and each begins with the on-screen announcement "That's Galactic Dancin'!" and has its own music to which the enemy formations dance. In any given Challenging Stage, both the design of the enemies and their formations vary according to the player's current Dimension. As in Galaga, the objective is to destroy all forty enemies before they exit the screen. However, refraining completely from touching any controls for the duration of a Challenging Stage awards a "secret bonus" ranging in value from 10,000 to 25,000 points and equal to the "special bonus" which would have been awarded for destroying all forty enemy ships instead.
Galaga '88 introduces a variety of new enemies and behaviors. Most special enemies score varying amounts of bonus points when destroyed. Some enemies can combine into larger enemies that take multiple hits to destroy, while others arrive in eggs, explode in a shower of fireworks, grow with multiple hits, or sport armor that makes them invincible while in formation. Certain enemies drop small formations of tiny creatures that wiggle their way down the screen, and still others act as escorts to incoming groups of enemies and then quickly dive at the player before leaving the playfield. Most stages also include various obstacles that appear once the enemy formation has been assembled.
At the start of the game, the player can select how many Galaga starships to start with (one or two), affecting the number of remaining lives. The game ends after the final boss is defeated, or when the last player ship is destroyed or captured — in the latter case, the player can continue the game for an additional credit. The Game Over screen shows the player's hit-miss ratio and a visual representation of their progress. If the player reaches Stage 27, the game also shows a picture of the final boss (damaged if defeated, silhouetted if not).
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