Hello! This is Reisuke Ishida, the director and graphic designer for SPACE INVADERS INFINITY GENE.

Only a few short days have passed since the game's release, but the response from around the world has been nothing short of overwhelming.

This game was originally conceived as part of the Space Invaders 30th Anniversary celebration, when the call went out within TAITO to develop a new Space Invaders. As everyone knows, the original Space Invaders was an epoch-making game, one that launched the entire shooter genre. In fact, the Space Invaders characters themselves are some of the most recognized icons in gaming as a whole.

Even within TAITO I'm notorious as a major Space Invaders fan, and being allowed to develop a new version of this classic game was to be a tremendous honor. So it was with absolutely no hesitation that I embarked on this project.

I chose evolution as the game's primary theme for a variety of reasons, but foremost among them was because I wanted to introduce Space Invaders to the younger generation. Despite its historical importance, Space Invaders IS a thirty year old game and therefore only dimly understood by younger gamers. (Although, to tell the truth, I'm too young to have experienced the original Space Invaders boom first-hand, either.) With that goal in mind, I decided to make a game that allowed players to trace the entire evolution of the shooter genre, beginning with the original Space Invaders.

When designing a follow-up to any important game, the two biggest issues are "what to change" and "what not to change." As SPACE INVADERS INFINITY GENE evolves, players are longer limited to horizontal movement, Invaders swoop and soar freely instead of traveling in lock-step formation, and some of the UFOs are so big that the entirety of their mass can't all fit on the screen at once. The game is full of familiar Space Invaders elements taken in different directions, and as a result I'm occasionally told that INFINITY GENE is no longer a Space Invaders game.

At its heart, the original Space Invaders is a game with an incredibly refined and iconic system. One of the most representative elements of this system is the fact that players could only move their laser cannon from side to side. Freeing players from this limitation has long been taboo, seen as an affront to the core concept of Space Invaders. I knew full well that I was risking the wrath of some longtime fans, but in the end I decided to risk it and allow vertical movement anyway.

However, I feel that those who play SPACE INVADERS INFINITY GENE through to the end will realize that, far from an attempt to break down Space Invaders, the game was born out of tremendous respect for the original. More than anything, I'm happy that my homage to the original Space Invaders is being delivered directly to gamers throughout the world.

I'm incredibly grateful that SPACE INVADERS INFINITY GENE is being played and the message behind it is being recognized by so many. Thank you! Thank you all so much!