Space Invaders was programmed and designed by
Toshihiro Nishikado for
Taito in
1978, but was actually licensed and released in the
US by
Midway.
At the time of its release SI was the cause of a yen shortage in Japan due to its immense and insane popularity. Many stores liquidated their stock and converted into SI arcades, containing little except the games and huge sound systems to broadcast the ominous thumping of the invaders.
Space Invaders was also the first arcade game to move out of seedy arcades and pool halls, and into pizza parlors and other "family" establishments. It was not always well received, however, and residents of Mesquite, Texas actually fought all the way to the Supreme Court attempting to ban the machines from their town.
SI was often bootlegged, re-vamped, or re-named by other manufacturers or distributors, and can be found going by the following names:
Alien Invasion II
Super Earth Invasion
Cosmic Monsters
Jatre Spectre
Space Attack II
Space War part III
Space King
Moon Base