The price of Galaga Legions DX blasts down to 99 cents for the holidays

Any gamer who has owned an iOS device knows that publishers love to offer their games for significant discounts and even free during the holidays. Here on Windows Phone, we’re used to seeing 3-6 games on sale during special occasions, such as the current Countdown to 2012 sale.

Two games from the same third-party publisher on sale at once though? It just doesn’t happen. At least, it hadn’t happened until Namco Bandai’s Galaga Legions DX (review) dropped to 99 cents on Friday night. Like Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, this title regularly sells for the way too high price of $6.99. But both games are now on sale for 99 cents – truly a killer deal from the good folks at Namco Bandai.

Not your grandpappy’s Galaga

In Galaga Legions DX, players must pilot a single ship accompanied that always points up, just like the original game. But now massive hordes of enemies come from all sides, making for a much more frantic experience. Thankfully a neon line shows the path they’ll take before they come on screen, giving players a moment to prepare for the onslaught.

The player’s ship also has two smaller satellite ships that can point in different directions – a virtual stick of sorts on the right allows you to swap between two primary configurations as well as several unique positions for each configuration. To do well, you’ll need to recognize the enemy patterns and then swap to the best satellite configuration(s) to take the invaders out.

From XBLA to WP7

Just like Pac-Man CE DX, Galaga Legions DX is a Windows Phone-exclusive mobile port of an XBLA game. And this one too has lost much of the console version’s content. You do still get to select from three different visual themes: the ugly 3D-ish one, and classic Galaga and Galaxian themes. The only real complaint I have about Legions DX is it controls quite terribly, with literally the worst virtual d-pad of any WP game. Check out our Achievement Guide if you need tips for overcoming the resulting challenge.

We’re not sure when this sale ends, so it’s best to get the game while the getting’s good. Galaga Legions DX is a 124 MB download and works great on both WP7 and WP8. Grab it here on the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks to Ham Salad for the tip!