How to play Invader Drop well

Almost everyone plays this game backwards: they shoot whatever is easiest, which is the middle of the front row, and the formation is on top of them by the third wave. Here is the order that actually buys you time.

Take the outside columns first

The formation turns and drops when its edge touches a wall. A narrower formation has further to walk before that happens, so every outside column you remove adds seconds to every single crossing for the rest of the wave. Clearing the left and right columns early is worth more than any number of easy kills in the middle — and it is the one habit that separates a wave-three player from a wave-eight one.

One shot is the whole game

You have one shot in the air at a time on Classic, and it travels the height of the screen before you get another. Firing at the back row means a second and a half with nothing to answer a bomb with. Fire when the shot will land, not when you feel like firing — and keep the cannon moving between shots rather than standing where you last fired from.

Your bunkers are ammunition you spend

The four bunkers erode wherever anything hits them, and your own shots wear them through from below just as their bombs wear them from above. A hole you make to take a shot is a hole their bombs fall through for the rest of the wave, and nothing ever repairs. Treat each bunker as three or four safe shots in total, then stop hiding behind it.

Late in a wave the bunkers are usually more useful gone than half-standing, because a ruin you cannot shelter in still blocks your own shots.

Hold fire when the ship appears

The ship that crosses the top is worth more the further it has flown — from 50 just after it enters to 300 near the far side. On the cabinet this was a lookup on how many shots you had fired, so players memorised a count and collected 300 every time; here it pays for the shot actually being difficult. If your shot is already in the air when it appears, you have missed it, so watch the top of the screen when the formation is thin.

Learn the tempo, not the positions

The march speeds up smoothly as you thin the formation, and the sound speeds up with it. By the last half-dozen invaders it is moving faster than you can track by looking — but the four-note march tells you exactly when the next step lands, and the panel shows the tempo climbing. Listen rather than watch, and lead your shots.

Every bomb is announced

A bomb flashes at the invader for a third of a second before it drops. That is your cue and it is always there, so a hit is something you walked into rather than something that arrived from nowhere. If you are being hit often, you are probably standing still while reloading.

Frequently asked questions

Why does it get faster?

Because fewer invaders march faster — that is the rule the game is built on. On the original it was an accident: the hardware redrew the survivors one at a time, so the loop ran quicker as they thinned out. It turned out to be the thing that makes the game tense, so here it is deliberate and the panel shows it climbing.

Should I shoot through my own bunker?

Only when you must. The hole you make is the hole their bombs come through for the rest of the wave, and bunkers never repair. Step out, take the shot from open ground, and step back.

Is Invader Drop the same as the Taito game?

No. It is an original game in the same fixed-shooter style, with its own formation, bunkers, scoring and ship, and is not affiliated with any arcade game's owners.