In 1994, Nintendo released a pair of arcade classics on Game Boy. There was a really great version of Donkey Kong and this kind of meh version of Space Invaders. Like many children in the 90s, I barely left home without my Game Boy. Some games are permanently burned in my memory, and I remember playing them over and over again, like Final Fantasy Adventure. But I found Space Invaders pretty forgettable, even though I’ve kept it all these years. Not sure what I was really expecting when I bought it as a kid. With Donkey Kong, Nintendo added a lot more content, but Space Invaders was seemingly just a straight-up port. I probably never would have played it again, but then I listened to episode 15 of the Nintendo Power Podcast.
One of the guests mentioned a hidden Super Nintendo game on the Space Invaders cartridge that is only accessible via Super Game Boy. How cool is that! So what did I do? I went and grabbed the games and started it up. At that time, many Game Boy games had specific color palettes or borders on Super Game Boy. Space Invaders had to outdo them all and included an entirely different game mode.
I’m genuinely amazed that other developers didn’t wind up including stuff like this in their games after seeing it done. I think it’s such a clever idea, and there are countless very creative things you can probably do with it. So while the game itself isn’t that interesting, I’m happy I have it in my collection. Especially now that I know the secret that it holds within.