Space Invaders was the first fixed shooter and the first video game with endless gameplay (meaning there was no final level or endscreen) and set the template for the genre.

Space Invaders is a fixed shooter in which the player moves a laser cannon horizontally across the bottom of the screen and fires at aliens overhead.

The aliens begin as five rows of eleven that move left and right as a group, shifting downward (advancing on the shooter) each time they reach a screen edge.

[30] Space Invaders also adopted the multi-chip barrel shifter circuit first developed by Midway for Gun Fight, which had been a key part of that game's smoother animation.

[20] In the upright cabinets, the graphics are generated on a hidden CRT monitor and reflected toward the player using a semi-transparent mirror, behind which is mounted a plastic cutout of a moon bolted against a painted starry background.

And its blockbuster success ensured the adoption of those innovations by the industry at large.Next Generation editor Neil West also cited the Space Invaders music as an example of great video game art, commenting on how the simple melody's increasing tempo and synchronization with the enemies' movement chills and excites the player.

[9][42] By June 1979, Taito had manufactured about 200,000–300,000 Space Invaders machines in Japan, with each unit earning an average of ¥10,000 or $46 (equivalent to $193 in 2023) in 100 yen coins per day.

However, this was not enough to meet the high demand, leading to Taito increasing production to 25,000–30,000 units per month and raising projections to 400,000 manufactured in Japan by the end of 1979.

By 1982, versions of Space Invaders were available for handheld electronic game devices, tabletop dedicated consoles, home computers, watches and pocket calculators.

[78] Game developers including Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of the franchises Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda),[79] Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear),[80] Satoshi Tajiri (Pokémon),[81] and John Romero and John Carmack (both Doom) have cited Space Invaders as their introduction to video games.

[79] According to Alexander Smith, by "allowing targets to attack the player and eliminating the timer, Nishikado created a new paradigm in video games.

"[87] Edge attributed the shift of games from bars and amusement arcades to more mainstream locations, such as restaurants and department stores, to Space Invaders.

[93][94] This influence could be said to extend to most shooting games released to the present day,[25] including first-person shooters (FPS) such as Wolfenstein,[95][96] Doom,[97] Halo[98] and Call of Duty.

[100] According to The Observer, home console versions of Space Invaders were popular and encouraged users to learn to program; many became industry leaders.

[74] 1UP.com stated that Space Invaders showed that video games could compete against the major entertainment media at the time: films, music, and television.

For example, Space Invaders Extreme, released on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, integrated musical elements into the standard gameplay.

[110][111] A 2008 spin-off for WiiWare, Space Invaders Get Even, allows players to control the aliens instead of the laser cannon in a reversal of roles.

During the summer of 1985, Return of the Invaders was released with updated color graphics and more complex movements and attack patterns for the aliens.

Soon after its release, hundreds of favorable articles and stories about the emerging video game medium as popularized by Space Invaders aired on television and were printed in newspapers and magazines.

The Space Invaders Tournament, held by Atari in 1980 and won by Rebecca Heineman,[130] was the first electronic sports (eSports) event, and attracted more than 10,000 participants, establishing video gaming as a mainstream hobby.

[132] Within a year of its release, the Japanese PTA unsuccessfully attempted to ban Space Invaders for allegedly inspiring truancy.

Conservative MP Michael Brown defended it as "innocent and harmless pleasure", which he himself had enjoyed that day, and criticized the bill as an example of "Socialist beliefs in restriction and control".

The pioneering Japanese synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra reproduced Space Invaders sounds in its 1978 self-titled album and hit single "Computer Game",[139] the latter selling over 400,000 copies in the United States.

Video Games Live performed audio from Space Invaders as part of a special retro "Classic Arcade Medley" in 2007.

Multiple television series have aired episodes that either reference or parody Space Invaders; for example, Danger Mouse,[149] That '70s Show,[150] Scrubs,[151] Chuck,[152] Robot Chicken,[153] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[154] and The Amazing World of Gumball.

[155] Elements are prominently featured in the "Raiders of the Lost Arcade" segment of "Anthology of Interest II", an episode of Futurama.

[160] On July 12, 2019, Greg Russo was set to write the script for the film, with Goldsman still producing alongside Safehouse Pictures partners Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell.

[168] At the Belluard Bollwerk International 2006 festival in Fribourg, Switzerland, Guillaume Reymond created a three-minute video recreation of a game of Space Invaders as part of the "Gameover" project using humans as pixels.

[170] A bridge in Cáceres, Spain, projected by engineers Pedro Plasencia and Hadrián Arias, features a pavement design based on Space Invaders.

The association is so strong that some platforms, such as GitHub and Discord, use the short code :space_invader: to allow users to easily enter the character.