Majestic Twelve: The Space Invaders Part IV

Majestic Twelve: The Space Invaders Part IV, also known as MJ-12 (Japan) and Super Space Invaders ’91 (World), is a fixed shooter arcade game released by Taito Corporation in 1990; it runs on that company’s F2 hardware, and as the name suggests, is the fourth (official) title in their Space Invaders series (Space Invaders II was created by Midway without Taito’s authorization).

The game is an update of the classic alien-zapping arcade game. More than a decade newer than Space Invaders, this version features colourful backdrops, fantastic power-ups such as the Fire Flower and the Buster Laser, weird new sound effects and faster game play. The funniest and most memorable new addition to the game is the cattle mutilation section where you must defend cows from flying saucers that swoop down and carry the cows away. There are however enough references to the original for the game to retain the Space Invaders charm. For example the sound on the first level mimics the continual deep repetitive thud sound from the original game.