Space Shooter
Fly your starfighter, blast enemy waves and beat the boss.
How to play Space Shooter
Space Shooter is a vertical arcade shooter for one player. Your starfighter flies up through space while waves of enemy ships swoop, dive and hover in its way. Your guns fire on their own, so you can focus on moving and dodging.
Goal
Survive as many waves as you can and score as many points as possible. Small darts are worth 100 points, swoopers 150, saucers 300 and heavy gunships 600. Every fifth wave a huge boss arrives. Beat it for a big bonus.
Controls
- Mouse: move the pointer over the play field and the ship follows it.
- Touch: drag anywhere on the field. The ship moves with your finger but stays in view above it. The arrow buttons under the field also move it.
- Keyboard: arrow keys or W, A, S, D. Press X or B to drop a bomb.
- Press Space or P to pause. The game also pauses when you switch tabs.
Power-ups
Some enemies drop a glowing hexagon. Fly into it to collect it. The pink arrow adds firepower, up to four levels of wider and stronger shots. The blue shield blocks one hit for ten seconds. The gold bomb gives you one more bomb. A bomb wipes out every enemy bullet on screen and hurts all enemies, so save it for tight spots.
End of the game
Only the middle of your ship can be hit, so near misses are safe. When a bullet or an enemy hits you, you lose a ship and one level of firepower. Lose all your ships and the game is over. Your best score for each difficulty is saved in this browser. For more space action, try Alien Invasion or Space Rocks.
Strategy tips
- Stay low and move a little. Keep near the bottom so you have time to see bullets coming. Small moves dodge better than big ones.
- Kill saucers first. Saucers aim at you. Take them out quickly before they fill the screen with bullets.
- Chase power-ups with care. Firepower matters, but never fly into a wall of bullets for it.
- Save a bomb for the boss. When the boss fires a ring of bullets, a bomb clears it and deals extra damage.
- Learn the boss pattern. It repeats rings, aimed bursts and dart swarms. Know the order and you will know when to move.
Space Shooter FAQ
Do I need to press a button to shoot?
No. Your ship fires all the time while the game runs. You only steer, dodge and use bombs.
Why did my firepower go down?
Each time you lose a ship you also lose one level of firepower. Pick up pink power-ups to build it back up.
What does the difficulty change?
Easy gives you four ships and slower, rarer enemy bullets. Hard makes enemies tougher and makes them shoot faster and more often. Each difficulty keeps its own best score.
Is this game like Galaga?
It is an original vertical shooter in the classic arcade style. The ships, waves and bosses are all designed for this site.
