Time Extension has a new interview with Tomohiro Nishikado, the designer known for his long career at Taito and in particular the creation of Space Invaders. The 1978 arcade game has a good case for being the single most famous videogame ever, and upon release became a craze and phenomenon (a popular urban legend claimed it caused a shortage of Japan's 100-yen coin), swiftly becoming the best-selling arcade game of all time and cultural icon.
Nishikado's career began at a Taito subsidiary working on early arcade games, which did have electronic elements but were also mechanical in construction: the first project he worked on, Sky Fighter, used mirrors to reflect model planes at the player and create the illusion of flight. It was a smash hit.
