“Hey dad,” I called. “You wanna play Space Invaders?”

“Sure,” my dad replied.

When I was five, Space Invaders was one of the best games I owned. It was actually the remake for the Nintendo 64 that I was talking about. My dad and I used to play it all the time, beating the levels and fighting the bosses. We battled countless aliens and gathered many power-ups; but we could never get far in the game. One problem with the game, though, was that controlling the ship was hard. On this fateful day, we selected two-player and started the game. After about 30 minutes, we finally reached a personal best: Saturn, world four. We had never made it there before because the third boss kept killing us. When I saw the very detailed background I got excited. It looked like we were on a metal platform outside of the planet Saturn.

“Cool!” I exclaimed, regarding the background. I was impressed by a lot of things. I wasn’t very good at video games, though.

“These levels are hard,” I said as my dad and I fought. The lasers from our ships were flying everywhere, same as the alien lasers.

“Yeah, but we’re pretty far in the game. It’s going to be tough,” said my dad.

UFOs kept flying from the sides of the screens, so we shot at them, collecting the power-ups they dropped. We died multiple times and even got the “GAME OVER” screen a couple times, making us constantly start over. This is so annoying, I thought. Finally, after ten grueling levels, we finally made it to boss #4. With shields and rapid fire, we prepared for our great battle. As a grand entrance, the boss appeared in the back of the screen and began closing in on us. He was a giant, ring-shaped robot, so I named him Ring. He attacked by rotating, shooting energy balls and missiles, and blasting giant lasers. He was going to be tough beyond belief.

“Get ready,” my dad said, ready for action.
The battle started. We started shooting our lasers all over the place. There was a bulging piece of the machine that I assumed to be its “head” where the command center was. I imagined two aliens controlling him with many levers and buttons, with a dial to control its rotating move. My dad and I didn’t realize that it was his weak spot at first, but we soon figured it out after some panicking and screams of, “Where’s the weak spot!?”

We kept hearing a, “Plink!”, meaning we were hitting an invulnerable area of the boss (the ring area) then finally heard a, “Plink,” “Plink,” “POW!!!!” as we hit Ring’s head. From then on, we kept aiming there. We fought hard, our lasers flying all over. I paid close attention to his health meter. Five minutes in and he wasn’t even halfway dead yet. I was worried that we wouldn’t beat him.

“We’re not close yet,” I said, updating my dad.

He kept shooting missiles at us and shot a giant energy ball. My dad was caught by it; he didn’t have a chance. He had one life left.

“Oh no!” I shouted as I was caught in the blast.
Now we were BOTH at one life and no continues. We’re doomed, I thought. We’re never going to beat him.
“I need a 1-up right now,” I said.
“Me too,” my dad replied.

Ring rotated to the left and shot a laser. It was aimed straight for my dad. He didn’t have enough time to dodge. The remains of his last ship scattered everywhere; he was gone. I was forced to fight Ring with no backup whatsoever. I started to panic. I had never had to fight any bosses alone before. I was usually the first one to lose all of my lives. He looked at me encouragingly.

“It’s all up to you, D,” said my dad, calling me by one of my many nicknames. “You can do it.”
Yeah, I thought. I CAN do this! I dodged left and right, outmaneuvering Ring’s fast attacks. He kept rotating left and right faster and faster, making it harder to dodge his attacks. I was shooting my lasers as fast as I could; it was hard since I lost my rapid fire power-up when I died and I couldn’t get another one since UFOs don’t appear in boss fights. I also wanted a shield, even though it only protected me from one attack. Tiny explosions came from the impact points from my lasers. He was taking a lot of damage. I checked his health; he was almost down. I could almost picture him sparking, flaming, then eventually exploding. I can’t believe it! I thought. I’m finally going to beat one of the bosses on my first try! I was so happy I was literally bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Easy there bud,” said my dad, laughing. “It’s not over yet. Also, you’re shaking the entire house.”

I barely dodged a few missiles and small energy balls. He launched a large one at me which I also dodged. I was so excited that I was about to beat the boss that I didn’t notice the laser he had shot. I could only stare at the screen as my tiny ship exploded, its pieces scattering across the galaxy. I had just lost my last life. My hands started to tremble. I stared in disbelief. Then, I heard a voice. It was my own.

“NOOO!” I cried.
The all too familiar “GAME OVER” screen flashed across the T.V. I had come so far, just to lose. I hung my head in sadness. I was close to tears.

“It’s okay, buddy,” said my dad reassuringly. “We’ll get him next time.”

“Okay,” I said glumly.

I looked back at the screen. It was at the main menu with “1P GAME“ highlighted. I thought about my loss for a little bit, and realized that there would be another chance, another day to beat him. I could learn from my mistakes and try again.

“Let’s try again tomorrow,” I called. “Maybe we can win next time.” I looked back at the screen once more, this time with confidence in my eyes. I knew we would beat Saturn. I knew we would someday see what levels lurk behind its rings. It was all in a matter of time.