This year, is the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders' original Japanese release, and Taito has marked it with the release of Space Invaders Extreme on the DS and PSP, a significant upgrade to the original game with new powerups, music, and a beautiful new techno-rave sheen. It's not the first time Taito has departed from the base Invaders formula. In 1995 (the less auspicious 17th anniversary of Space Invaders), Taito put out an arcade sequel to the primordial shmup that is every bit as visually divergent as Extreme, but in a totally different direction. Whereas the new handheld game goes for (and achieves) cool, Space Invaders '95 (known in Japan as Akkanvader) went in the wacky direction.
