MY KINGDOM FOR A CURATOR.
In December 2020 a collection from publisher ININ titled Space Invaders Forever came out for both Switch and PS4. Less than a year later ININ is publishing an expanded collection called Space Invaders Invincible Collection on the Switch. This review is significantly late, but I’ve been struggling with how I wanted to tackle this release because there are some really consumer unfriendly aspects to Space Invaders Invincible Collection.
Firstly, I want to say that in Japan this collection was released by Taito, the company that owns the Space Invaders license and is a subsidiary of Square Enix. This is a problem that I have seen multiple times from big publishers who have more than enough money to publish their own games worldwide but choose not to, like Ubisoft having Limited Run do the physical releases of their Scott Pilgrim reissue. It makes it seem as if ININ has decided to charge $60 for this collection but Taito charges this same amount in Japan.
PLATFORMS: SWITCH
MSRP: $59.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $29.99
It also allowed United Games to sell this collection as two releases: Space Invaders Invincible Collection and the budget Space Invaders Forever which includes only 3 of the 11 titles for half the price. Not familiar with United Games? Well, they own game storefronts McGame and Games Rocket as well as ININ and Strictly Limited Games. Strictly Limited put up the preorder for Space Invaders Invincible Collection in June 2020 while sister company ININ released Space Invaders Forever on the eShop in December 2020. Even if not said, the gap in release and failure to mention a future digital release implies that the Invincible Collection was going to be available in English only through Strictly Limited. I can’t tell if this was a major oversight or an attempt to get digital purchasers to double dip. This isn’t just me pondering either because they actually made it so the Turrican release on the eShop and on cart in most retailers via ININ is subpar while the Turrican on Strictly Limited is far more encompassing of the series, but only if you buy both volumes at around $40 USD before shipping (Strictly Limited is based in Europe).
Now I can’t tell if Taito is the one that made Forever or if it was ININ, but even in Japan this release was more frustrating than it needed to be and ININ had zero hand in the release over there. My point however is that I hope United Games/ININ/Strictly Limited make it a bit clearer on what label handles what games and that they no longer sell lesser digital versions of titles (even if they are not necessarily to blame for them). It’s just more consumer friendly that way because even now there is a listing for the Invincible Collection and Forever on the eShop.
Now as for this collection…
It’s not a lot for $60. It’s 11 games (although my review code didn’t include Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders so I had 10) and it’s not even the complete history of Space Invaders. Sure, most Space Invaders titles are very much the same loop of gameplay but why not include Return of the Invaders? Why is Space Invaders 90 a Japanese only Amazon preorder bonus? I think the biggest travesty is that it doesn’t include Infinity Gene which is one of the best Space Invaders titles. It does include some neat spin offs that were built on the same boards as Space Invaders and the multiplayer focused Gigamax 4 SE which is nice for parties, but in a world of retro games being ported to newer consoles this offers neither the options nor the content to justify a $60 price tag. I know Space Invaders is an important title and it still holds up extremely well, but I would have hoped Taito and Gotch Technology would put a little more effort into making a museum quality collection like those from M2 rather than just some titles that padded out a release. At least Space Invaders Extreme is still great.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
