Space Invaders clone

The tradition began with Grandstand’s Invaders From Space (we’d like to think that the name was the result of a poorly-administered Japanese translation), a bulky white unit that sported a huge “target” screen decoration, only a tiny part of which actually constituted the display.

Possibly the best remembered variation, Astro Wars, had the added excitement of a “docking” bonus round. Featuring a painful joystick operated by the thumb and early use of the magnified display, the unit’s score only went up to 9999 - like so many of these things - but did change to “good” when the bonus round was completed successfully.

The daddy was, however, CGL’s Galaxy Invader 1000, which we recall had a horrible flimsy fire button and the same blister-inducing thin joystick as Astro Wars, but sported a revolutionary phallic shape which meant that it was the only product that could fit easily into a cream-brown Army and Navy satchel (with “The Jam” etched in biro on the flap). Consequently, this was one of the first electronic games of any kind to get confiscated at school.

Grandstand’s Firefox F-7 stood out amongst its peers for two reasons. Firstly, it featured a crazy 3-D screen and secondly, it appeared to be an attempt at cashing in on the latest (and crappiest ever) Clint Eastwood film. It didn’t in any way capture the thrills of piloting a gadget-filled supersonic jet fighter, nor did it make you feel like a granite-jawed hero, but it looked bloody great.

The many web sites devoted to table-top and hand-held console games tell us that neither Grandstand nor CGL were, as you might expect, off-shoots of huge Japanese corporations but in fact trading names for two very humdrum-sounding UK importers - the Adam Leisure Group PLC (based in Harrogate) and Dennis Baylin Trading Ltd (based in London) respectively. Another illusion shattered.