Gaming

Fake Gamer Boy Bill Shorten Claims Retro Game ‘Galaga’ Is ‘Space Invaders’

That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did.

by Amanda Yeo  5 May 2019
Bill Shorten playing Galaga instead of Space Invaders

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That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.

On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and aspiring prime minister Bill Shorten engaged in a second leaders’ debate in Brisbane. In a scene reminiscent of Survivor‘s final Tribal Councils, the two men stood before 100 undecided voters to answer their questions for the chance to win their ballot and the $538,460 per annum cash prize.

The debate was largely typical fare, aside from a moment where Morrison physically approached Shorten while they were talking about income tax cuts. In the most engaging exchange of the night, Shorten responded to the apparent attempt to throw him off by calling Morrison a “classic space invader” – a reference to the famous 1978 arcade game.

It was a surprisingly unscripted moment that did a lot to make the Labor leader more personable. The studio audience laughed, the television audience tweeted, and things looked to be coming up Shorten.

Unfortunately, because he is still a politician, Shorten then did what any politician would do and clutched the spark of goodwill so tightly that he smothered it.

Yesterday afternoon, Shorten released a video on his Twitter account of him playing a video game on a tabletop arcade machine, accompanied by the caption, “I’ve been taking on space invaders all my life.” Indeed, the machine clearly has “Space Invaders” written on the bottom left corner of its frame.

But its frame also displays the logos for Frogger, Pac-Man and Galaga, which is the game Shorten was actually playing.

Released in 1981, Galaga is similar to Space Invaders in that you control a spaceship which slides back and forth along the bottom of the screen. The difference is that the aliens in Galaga fly about the screen rather than gradually descend in orderly rows. It’s a very easy mistake to make if you have only a passing knowledge of either game.

It was like seeing your dad attempt to weave “yeet” into his vocabulary. Though he may know some of the vernacular, he doesn’t quite understand it. He just wants his kids to think he’s cool.

Shorten’s incorrect game choice is a relatively minor transgression, especially considering how many politicians are getting done for sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia. It by no means indicates he shouldn’t hold office. Still, the poorly conceived attempt to capitalise on Shorten’s debate moment left some people rolling their eyes.

Tabletop arcade machines such as the one Shorten played on typically contain a large library of retro games. The specific machine he was playing on is loaded with 60 games, including Space Invaders, meaning he could have easily gotten it right.

Even so, it’s a minor mistake. Probably Shorten and his team thought ensuring they chose the correct game for a Twitter bit didn’t really matter, and that nobody would care. If that’s the case, he has a lot more to learn about the internet.