Phalanx

A classic fixed-screen shooter: hold the line as a grid of aliens marches down toward you.

How to play

A formation of aliens drifts left and right, dropping a row closer each time it touches the edge. Slide your cannon along the bottom and pick them off before the grid reaches you. The fewer aliens remain, the faster they move — so the final stragglers are the hardest.

Controls

Tips & strategy

Origins

Phalanx revisits the fixed-gun shooter that helped ignite the arcade boom of the late 1970s — a descending grid of aliens, a lone cannon sliding along the bottom, and the rising panic as the ranks speed up and close in. It was among the first true arcade smash hits and the template for the wave of space shooters that followed.

About Phalanx

Phalanx is an original take on the golden-age fixed-screen shooter genre, built in-house and free to play in your browser — no downloads, no installs.

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