In Taito’s 1978 arcade game Space Invaders, who designed the game?

Taito’s 1978 arcade game Space Invaders was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado.

Nishikado created the game after studying American shooting games, including Atari’s Breakout. He designed the hardware, software, graphics, and sound because suitable Japanese arcade technology was not yet readily available. The game’s rows of descending aliens became one of the defining images of early video games.

Space Invaders was released in Japan in 1978 and became a major commercial success. A common mix-up is crediting the game to Taito alone; Taito published and manufactured it, but Nishikado was its principal creator. The game’s increasing speed was partly an unintended result of having fewer enemies left to draw on screen.