Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, and released overseas by Midway Manufacturing later that year. The goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser cannon. Aliens descend faster for every alien destroyed. You have 3 lives. You lose a life when you get hit by one of the laser bullets. It's instant game over if one of the aliens grabs the cannon.