The only semblance of context you’re given is a blurb on the back of the box that tells you that Earth is in trouble and you need to defend it; it’s all about the gameplay. It’s got more smart design packed into such a small package than it has any right to. You’re rewarded for killing enemies with the same coloring, shape, or placement in the environment, with power-ups and bonus stages, reminiscent of Galaga’s Challenging Stages, that can get you even bigger power ups. It’s also constantly playing with your expectations, as bosses cross two screens, and enemies go kamikaze, and flip sideways (making them razor thin and very difficult to hit). There ends up being a lot to it; more than most will be able to pick up quickly without reading the manual, but it all works together beautifully.

The presentation is also fantastic, for the most part. Its art style is the hippest of the hip, with neon on top of black everywhere and E’s aren’t even 3’s, but are just backwards. Everything also happens in time with the music, meaning that every sound effect is also in time, leading to Rez-style music you inadvertently make as you play. Unfortunately the background music and sounds you make aren’t as good as the ones in other similar games (specifically Rez and Meteos come to mind), but I’ll support any game that does this; it’s really been underutilized since Rez’s release seven years ago. It makes chomping through enemies feel similar to, and nearly as good as, doing the same to music notes in Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Space Invaders Extreme is a game you want to buy if your DS has been dying for some attention, you love 80’s arcade shooters, or you want to be the coolest hipster fuck wearing headphones on the subway. It’s not everything it could have been, like Pac-Man Championship Edition was, but it’s smart, satisfying, and a lot of fun. Plus it’s budget priced. Hey publishers, this is how we fight piracy.