The 500th game in the Arcade Archives series is out on Christmas Day, and it’s an iconic one

Retro specialist Hamster Corporation is celebrating a milestone by re-releasing one of the most iconic arcade games of all time.

The company has been releasing classic arcade titles on a weekly basis in its Arcade Archives series (including its ACA Neo Geo spin-off series) for a number of years now, and currently sits on 499 games.

Hamster has announced it will release its 500th game on Christmas Day, and to celebrate the milestone the game will be Taito‘s classic Space Invaders.

Hamster’s releases in recent years have tended to focus more on games that haven’t previously had home releases (such as the original Ridge Racer), so the re-release of Space Invaders – which has been featured on numerous console retro compilations over the years – may be considered an unusually common choice for the company.

It’s clear, however, that such a milestone required a special game, and Space Invaders is considered one of the most important releases in the history of arcade video games, and the medium in general.

Hamster’s version will feature both the black-and-white and colour versions of the game, and the sound “has been reproduced to the limit of how it sounded back then”.

It will also be released as part of both the Arcade Archives series, and Hamster’s newer Arcade Archives 2 series which started when Switch 2 launched.

The Arcade Archives version of the game is available on Switch and PS4. It features Original Mode (the standard game), Hi Score Mode (where you have to score as much as possible with a single credit) and Caravan Mode (where you have a 10-minute limit), with online rankings for each.

The Arcade Archives 2 versions, which are available on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, add more features including split-screen multiplayer, Time Attack Mode (where you have to finish the game as quickly as possible, regardless of score) and VRR support to ensure the game runs as accurately as possible.