On The Impact Of Armando Gonzalez's World Record Galaga Run

Phil Day is the former Galaga Tournament World Record holder (2009 - 2011). He was one of ten Galaga players in the world chosen compete in at the First International Galaga World Championship, Score Wars, Meow Wolf (2018). He is also the Co-Founder and Administrator of Galaga Forum. Day is currently ranked #4 on the Twin Galaxies leaderboard for Galaga Tournament. The following essay was written by and offered with his permission for publication in full on Twin Galaxies Editorial.

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A friend of mine recently read about Armando Gonzalez’s Galaga world record of over 6 million points. My friend called me to ask, "Are you going to try and beat it?"

I replied, "Have you seen my score?"

To fully appreciate Armando Gonzalez's Galaga Tournament world record of 6,056,490 points, it requires a closer inspection of Stephen Krogman's long lasting Galaga Marathon score from 1989, the Galaga ‘double-up’, Laidlaw's atypical 4 million point single life run, and Andrew Barrow’s Galaga No Double Ships world records.

Stephen Krogman's Long Lasting '89 Galaga Marathon Score

Arguably, Galaga Marathon and Tournament Galaga world records are generally accepted as the most coveted Galaga scores above all other Twin Galaxies Galaga leaderboards. Both set to the hardest difficult setting - Rank D. They differ in starting lives (Galaga Marathon begins with three lives. Galaga Tournament begins with five lives). And they differ on bonus lives. Marathon settings offer a finite bonus of fifteen lives while Tournament settings offers no bonus lives.

Stephen Krogman’s 1989 Galaga Marathon world record score of 15,999,990 points has held the number one ranking for almost three decades. Sustaining an average point score of 888,888 per life for the duration of approximately twelve hours, Krogman’s Marathon game, to many high ranking Galaga players, is ‘The Holy Grail’ of Galaga scores, no buts about it.

But last month, Armando Gonzalez broke the Galaga Tournament world record with a score of 6,056,490 points, averaging 1,211,298 points per life. If Gonzalez had submitted his score to the Twin Galaxies Galaga Marathon leaderboard, it would surpass Brian Sevy’s score of 5,241,920 points, currently at rank 12, and be just below par of Andrew Barrow’s score of 6,673,330 points at rank 11.  Gonzalez is, effectively, marathoning Galaga with only five lives.

But such simple evaluations of high scoring games that require hours of play do not assess fatigue, lapses in concentration or anxiety. Inevitably, a Galaga game will come to an end and there is really only one feature in Galaga that display the player’s fatigue, concentration and anxiety more than anything else - the 'double-up'.

The Double-Up

Like many classic arcade games, arguably any precursor to Galaga, when a ‘life’ is lost, it ‘respawns’ fully formed to the designated starting position on the screen. When the space-canon in Space Invaders is bombed, another space canon respawns and is equally capable as the one it’s replacing; the same is true for Asteroids, Berzerk, Centipede, Defender, Elevator Action and so on, all the way to Zoo Keeper. But this is a half-truth for Galaga, due to the unique quality of the ‘double-up’

The ‘double-up’ is typically taken advantage of as soon as the game begins - Stage 1. For those who have never played Galaga: The double-up requires the player to allow his/her single ship to be captured by the enemy. Once captured, the player begins play on the next spare ship and retrieves the captured ship by shooting the enemy captor in flight. When performed successfully the captured ship returns to its rescuer and the two ships are tethered together forming a 'double-up'. Having doubled-up two ships, the player is now in control of a ship with twice the firepower, offering the player a greater chance at hitting the enemy targets and thus reducing the threat.

Even so, it is just a matter of time before the player loses one (or both) of the tethered ships. Once again, the player must commence the uncertain recovery maneuver of the double-up but this time they will almost certainly be doing so at a higher stage, where the enemy targets move faster, fire a greater volume of projectiles, and fire much faster. The player will also be attempting the double-up without twice the firepower. The player no longer has the same offensive capabilities that allowed them to advance to their current position in the game.

The difficulty of this situation is best illustrated with Andrew Laidlaw's Galaga Tournament world record score of 4,525,150 points.

Laidlaw’s 4 Million Point Run

In 2011, Andrew Laidlaw performed a 4 million point double-run on Galaga Tournament. From stage 1, he played all 256 stages, broke the then current world record, rolled the game to Stage 1, and continued to play on without losing a single life. There really is no such thing as a perfect game of Galaga but Laidlaw’s 4 million point run is the most perfect high-scoring run to date. But alas, all Galaga double-up runs come to an end.

Soon after crossing 4 million points, Laidlaw was unable to take advantage of his ‘perfect’ 4 million point score. After finally losing his first set of dual ships, Laidlaw increased his score by only 13% with his remaining lives, finishing with a score of 4,525,150 points.

Even when the double-up is successfully executed, it can leave the player in a vulnerable position due to an awkward arrangement of the enemy targets from playing with only one ship (much like a 7-10 split in ten-pin bowling). Regardless, the double-up has an inherent risk, but it must be played and it must be respected.

In short, the double-up is a mini game within the game of Galaga. If Stage 1 of Galaga is like teeing off in golf, then a late-game double-up is like hitting out of a sand trap. It demands special attention because, without it, a player must play with a single ship - and no player (to date) can match high-ranking double-up scores on single ships.

The Single Ship

When a double-up fails, or both tethered ships are lost simultaneously, the result is a single ship on the screen and single-ship point scores are comparatively low, at best.

Andrew Barrow - Winner of the First International Galaga Tournament at Score Wars - has the world record on both Galaga Marathon No Double Ships (via M.A.M.E.): 1,426,630 points (averaging 79,257 points per life) and Galaga Tournament No Double Ships: 665,520 points (averaging 133,104 points per life). Both world records were set on Rank D.

Considering the limitation set by ‘no double ships’, Barrow’s 665,520 points is an impressive score (if submitted to Galaga Forum Barrow’s score would be ranked 15 on their Galaga Top 100 Galaga Tournament leaderboard). Nevertheless, the single ship, as a strategy, isn’t employed where double-ships are allowed. 665,520 points is only 11% of Gonzalez’s world record score.

Why Armando’s Score Is Even Bigger Than It Looks 

My own 2009 Galaga Tournament world record score was 3,275,270 points - basically half of Gonzalez’s world record score; therefore, if I'm going to theorize beating it, I’m going to be taking the aspects from the best games ever played by better players than me and frankensteining them into a monster Galaga Tournament game. Here’s what I’d take:

- Laidlaw’s ‘perfect’ double-up run (assuming both tethered ships are lost at the end of the run): 4,000,000 points.

- Two of the three remaining ships to be doubled-up and piloted by Krogman, scoring his Marathon world record average of 888,888 points per ship (assuming both tethered ships are lost at the of the run): 1,777,776 points

- Barrow to fly the last ship scoring his single ship tournament average score: 133,104 points

Having drawn points from some of the greatest Galaga games played in both Marathon and Tournament over the past 29 years, my final combined score would still only be 5,910,880 points. Reminder: Armando's record came to 6,056,490.

Put all of these unique styles and moments together, each with their own professional approach to the game, and it still falls 145,610 points short of breaking the Galaga Tournament world record that Armando Gonzalez set. That’s how good that score is.

Viva, Gonzalez!