IPM Invader

IPM Invader was developed by IPM Corp., Released in 1979

Other Informations:

Main CPU : MOS Technology M6502 (@ 2.5 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 240 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 8

Players : 2
Control : 2-way joystick
Buttons : 1

Released in January 1979. Known as the poor mans version of “Space Invaders”.

Irem was founded in 1974 as ‘IPM Corp.’ in Hakusan, Japan. Like most of their contemporaries, the company’s initial purpose was to produce and rent out electronic leisure machinery to various sections of the entertainment industry. With the advent of arcade videogaming and the hugely popular “Space Invaders” (1978), Irem opted to move into the development and manufacturing of their own titles. They rapidly released their own ‘invader clone’, the aptly named IPM Invader.

IPM Invader was a crude and shameless copycat of Taito’s milestone, but yet the sheer popularity of arcade rooms at the time saw the game do well enough to convince the company that games were a viable business opportunity.
In 1979 they changed their corporate name to Irem Corp., an acronym for ‘International Rental Electronics Machines’. This would stand until the mid-80s, when it would then be changed to ‘Innovations in Recreational Electronic Media’.
For their first few years, Irem’s output was average at best. If anything it could almost be considered poor: random invader clones and poorly produced action games disappeared amongst the numerous other titles of the day.

– UPDATES –

It is like “Space Invaders”, with identical graphics. It uses a color monitor instead of a black and white monitor with a color overlay.

It has the addition of the famous ‘coffee break’. What’s the ‘coffee break’? The ‘coffee break’ is a unique feature in IPM Invaders whereas after every 3rd wave or pattern of invaders, the ‘coffee break’ appears.

Another unique feature in IPM Invader is the ‘capsules’. When dip switch settings are changed to advanced settings, the game becomes more difficult with the introduction of the UFO (mystery score ship) dropping ‘capsules’ that hatch into new invaders. The ‘capsules’ cannot be destroyed until they hatch, and are dropped across the screen to defeat the players ‘narrow column’ strategy.

– SCORING –

Large Invader : 10 points
Medium Invader : 20 points
Small Invader : 30 points
UFO : 50 to 300 points

IPM Invader