There wasn't a cunning piece of coding behind this thrilling game pacing feature.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
(Image credit: Future) One of the most charming bug = feature tales is the story behind the thrilling crescendo of pacing gamers experienced when playing the original Space Invaders arcade machine. This weekend, self-proclaimed C/C++ expert Zuhaitz reminded us that the adrenaline-pumping rising intensity of Taito’s arcade classic was not due to genius-level coding. Rather, it was simply the fact that the underlying Intel 8080 could run the game code faster as aliens were wiped from the screen one by one, by the player dishing out laser missile death.
If you ever played Space Invaders you surely noticed that each time you killed an alien the game went faster.But, if you checked the source code from one of the arcade machines, you would find nothing related to this. That's because this mechanic is a hardware accident.The… pic.twitter.com/UkqTEUvC9I October 25, 2025
Intel’s 8080 processor , launched in 1974, was the successor to the legendary 8008 , enhanced with a more powerful and flexible architecture. However, with its ~5,000 transistors, 8/16-bit bus, and ~2.0 MHz clock speed, powering the original Space Invaders with 224 x 256 mono pixels was probably near the limits of its gaming capabilities. Hence, the impact on gameplay ‘feel’ as the alien horde was eliminated by the player.
The processor-bottlenecked performance slowdown persisted, even though the CPU was aided by a dedicated Fujitsu MB14241 video shifter in this cabinet design. Also, a Texas Instruments SN76477 sound chip was used for the iconic audio .
3D Pinball bug allowed game to run at 5,000 FPS
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/space-invaders-arcade-game-ran-faster-as-enemies-died-due-to-intel-8080-bottleneck-expert-coder-asserts-hardware-accident-to-blame#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- UC Santa Cruz Maps Coastal Flooding With NVIDIA Accelerated Computing
- NVIDIA IGX Thor Robotics Processor Brings Real-Time Physical AI to the Industrial and Medical Edge
- Researchers create world's smallest pixel measuring just 300 nanometers across — could be used to create a 1080p display measuring 1mm across
- Intel's revolutionary 54-year-old 4004 chip was the world's first programmable microchip — 2,300-transistor 10,000nm processor exposed
- Kingston Fury Renegade G5 2TB SSD Review: The Renegade is Back
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.