Space Invaders: Invincible Collection

Space Invaders: The Invincible Collection does a competent job in bringing in over four decades of alien shooting action to your Switch in a comfortable and accessible package. Solo players will relish the challenge of the online leaderboards, while fun multiplayer antics are provided by a couple of the available titles. The fact that there are no real emulation issues proves to be a relief, but there are also a few aspects that feel like missed opportunities: Space Invaders Extreme II is a no show and Arkanoid X Space Invaders is a straight-up mobile port with no Switch specific extras. While this is definitely an import to consider for genre fans, it slightly misses that essential purchase status thanks to the issues we mentioned. However, if you’re going for the complete Switch shmup library, you certainly won’t regret the investment.

The Space Invaders Invincible Collection features a lot of fun packed into a single package - albeit with a lot of similarity between them.

Space Invaders: The Invincible Collection is a good collection of Space Invaders titles that have released over the past forty years with a couple of nice extras. It includes more titles than the recently released Space Invaders Forever but for double the price this is going to be a steep ask for a lot of people. If you have really been wanting to play titles like Space Invaders II or Majestic Twelve and you’re fine paying the asking price then you will find a lot to enjoy here.

I know Space Invaders is an important title and it still holds up extremely well, but I would have hoped Taito and Gotch Technology would put a little more effort into making a museum quality collection like those from M2 rather than just some titles that padded out a release. At least Space Invaders Extreme is still great.

The Space Invaders Invincible Collection provides the classic Space Invaders gameplay in a nicely-wrapped package, but not all of the included games are worthwhile and the price tag is a bit steep.

1978 was a good year for arcades and for anyone that could find room in their business for a Space Invaders machine. The simple machine was an immediate hit and people couldn’t shovel their quarters, ten pence pieces (and every other currency) into them fast enough; creating a global phenomenon that kick started the dominance of video games over the all-conquering pinball tables that now found themselves playing catch up forevermore. The heartbeat-like thud of the invaders as they slowly but inexorably inched down the screen was hypnotic. The joy of wiping the last of a bunch from the playing area unmatched. What I’m saying, is that Space Invaders deserves every plaudit ever heaped on it and I was one of those caught in the game and loving every minute.

The Space Invaders Invincible Collection features a ton of nostalgia in a nice little package – of course with a lot of similarities between.

Space Invaders Invincible Collection certainly isn't the collection it could have been, and definitely isn't a collection for everyone, but it is still a great look back at the Space Invaders franchise for those interested in such a thing.

If you’re curious about the history of arcade games, especially ones like Space Invaders that have been constantly iterated upon over four decades, Space Invaders Invincible Collection is a good place to start. It isn’t completely comprehensive and it’s technically missing one of its games, but it has its own share of unique content you can’t get anywhere else.

An ideal title for retro video game lovers and an important step in the preservation of video games on current consoles. However, its price is indefensible considering that half of its releases are more than forty years old.