Neon Invaders
a neon alien shooter that plays itself

What you see on every new tab

Neon Invaders turns the New Tab page into an endless fixed shooter in glowing hard-edged pixels. Left alone it plays itself. Move your mouse and the fighter is yours. Every alien, ship and letter was drawn for this theme.

• The aliens: four species, Skullion, Zorb, Krawler and Blobber, worth 40, 30, 20 and 10 points. Red fighters attack in squadrons of three, and a purple mothership worth 300 takes three hits.
• The waves: ten formation shapes, from a plain block to a ring, a diamond and a pair of wings. Each wave is a little faster than the last and never uses the same shape twice running. Aliens peel off and dive at you, and the four green bunkers wear away shot by shot.
• Power-ups: capsules drop Wingmen, Bounce Beam, Pierce Laser and Shield.
• No game over: the fighter comes back after a moment and the score carries on.

Nothing is a video. The game runs live in your browser with WebGL, with random dives, squadrons and formations, so no two sessions match.

What it reacts to

• Mouse: move it and the fighter follows your cursor and fires. Leave it still for three seconds and the autopilot takes over again. The fighter's trim turns from cyan to pink while you are flying.
• Click: fires an extra shot.
• Music: with music sync on, bass swells the neon glow, and each kick makes the formation twitch and the stars flash.
• Night: the nebula dims after dusk.

Free or Pro?Pro

Ambient New Tab is free to install, with three free themes. Neon Invaders is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, and it unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as we release it. You can preview Neon Invaders full screen before you buy: open the Themes panel and rest your mouse on it. Changed your mind? 14-day refund, no questions.

How to get it

1. Add Ambient New Tab to Chrome (or Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Opera).
2. Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
3. Pick Neon Invaders. Done.

Questions

Can I actually play it?

Yes. Move your mouse and the fighter follows it and fires; click for an extra shot. Stop moving for three seconds and it goes back to playing itself.

Is Neon Invaders free?

It is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year. It unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as it is released. Cancel anytime.

Does it ever end?

No. There are no lives and no game over, only faster waves. The score is not saved: it starts again when you open a new tab.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome and Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.

More themes

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