Galaga: Destination Earth is a reimagining of Galaga released in 2000 for the PlayStation 1, Game Boy Color, and Windows. It focuses on the sole survivor of an earth defense squad whose comrades were all exterminated when the Galaga invaded Earth and they must pilot a space fighter in order to gun down the invading aliens and will be a long journey where you fight the aliens in various places from the cities of Earth, the moon, the sun, the height of the terran atmosphere, asteroid clusters, and finally the planetoid where the Galgan HQ is located. The survivor can seize weapons from the Galaga to implement in their arsenal, stop missile attacks, and take part in the classic Bonus Stages for a score boost. The mechanic of the Boss Galaga kidnapping your fighter returns along with defeating said "Boss Galaga" to save the captive fighter and form a "dual Fighter".
The game was a Video Game 3D Leap with the foes, world, and space craft taking advantage of the enhanced power of consoles at the time along with the gameplay being 3D similar to Star Fox. The Game Boy Color version on the other hand was reformulated into a traditional shooter with 2D sprites and gameplay as the system was not powerful enough to handle the 3D qualities of the other versions. The game has never seen another release and was later rendered non-canon once Bandai Namco established the United Galaxy Space Force timeline.
Tropes:
- Alien Invasion: This game involves you fighting the Galaga who plot to invade Earth.
- Bittersweet Ending: You've kept Earth safe as the Galaga's planetoid gets nuked, but fail to escape the black hole in the destruction's wake.
- Canon Discontinuity: This game was written off by canon once the UGSF timeline was established, as the former stated that the invasion happened in 1981 while the latter states that it happened in 2279.
- Death by Adaptation: Implied with the protagonist who got sucked into a black hole after destroying the Galaga and their home world. In the canon games, the protagonist was usually still alive, especially in games where they live to the end of the story.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The home planetoid of the Galaga gets blown up to stop their alien invasion.
- It's Up to You: The back cover mentions that all the other space pilots who could intercept the swarm that's en route to Earth are dead, and only you remain.
- No Name Given: The sole surviving pilot is never named.
- One-Man Army: The Player Character fights off the entire invasion on their own after their comrades were slain in battle.
- Player Character: You play as the Sole Survivor of a defense squadron who must destroy the Galaga.
- Reformulated Game: The Game Boy Color version converted the 3D PlayStation original to a 2D one similar to the original Galaga.
- Sole Survivor: The only pilot left to fight the Galaga is you.
- Uncertain Doom: It's unknown if the Player Character survives their ordeal with the black hole.
- Unexpected Genre Change: Some stages have turrets that switch the player's third-person view to first-person view.