Starfighter
Title: Starfighter
Author: Sparky Starks
Publisher: Adventure International
Released: 1980
Compatibility: Model I and III, tape and disk
Starfighter, written by Sparky Starks, falls somewhere between an arcade game and a simulation. Far more than a shoot-em-up game, Starfighter’s incredibly detailed scenario lends itself to a game that can be played for hours. Although a unique game, Starfighter has some similarities to Star Raiders, a 1979 game for the Atari 800 that was written by Doug Neubauer.
Sparky Starks later wrote a version of Starfighter for the Atari 400/800 named Destiny: The Cruiser. A new name was required because Adventure International had already sold the rights to the name Starfighter to be used by the movie The Last Starfighter.
The goal in Starfighter is to pilot a spacecraft, the SC-78503 Starfighter, and destroy hostile enemy spacecraft. From a description in an Adventure International catalog:
The Starfighter player begins his tour of duty as a new pilot. At this embryonic stage, he or she must prepare for the mission ahead—a mission which will consist of the identification and destruction of enemy craft. Perhaps in time (but only perhaps) the coveted rank of Star Lord can be attained. But for now, one need only concern oneself with basic survival.
Starfighter was supplied on one self-booting disk or two tapes, one containing the SC-78503 Training Simulator and other containing the Main Mission. Both the tape and disk versions can save games in progress, with up to ten saved games possible using the disk version.
Starfighter came with an official looking 32 page manual, supposedly written by the S.G.A. Military Central Command. The manual outlines the nature of the conflict and also more advanced topics, such as hypercharge theory, technical details about the spacecraft, and instructions about how to operate it. There are also details about rules and regulations, such as combat and towing procedures. Here is the description of the SC-78503 from the manual:
The SC-78503 is a drive-capable light chase-attack fighter with advanced Hypercharge weaponry. Some other features of the SC-78503 include extremely long drive range and two independent gravity sensing systems. The craft boasts 3 nose jet control systems; manual control, target lock tracking system, and an advanced automatic long range drive alignment system just introduced. The most advanced feature implemented in the SC-78503 is the newly introduced target positive identification system, which is capable of determining not only target craft type but also port of call.
Destroying enemy spacecraft is only one part of Starfighter. Another important responsibility is to maintain the SC-78503 spacecraft and keep it in good condition. Damage can be repaired at a Landbase, but repairs cost money. Destroying certain enemy spacecraft is the only way to earn credits.
The player is continually evaluated as the game progresses. Every player starts at the rank of New Pilot, but promotions can increase this to Ensign, Inspector, Captain, and the top rank of Star Lord.
The ultimate goal in Starfighter is to reach the rank of Star Lord. This is extremely difficult, as was stated in the manual:
Only the most intrepid STARFIGHTER pilot reaches Star Lord rank and even fewer exceed it! If you are one of the dauntless few, a special password will appear on your companel. Contact Adventure International via landgram (U.S. Postal letter will also be fine) of this password and you will receive a special Gift.
Written by Matthew Reed | Filed Under Arcade Games · Adventure International · Sparky Starks
Comments
Comment by Geepig:
What is left out is the excitement, and the terminology such as ‘cluster chucks’. What did one feel when one rotated to face the target after freshly arriving in a new system, to see a small cross in the middle of the screen… A quick glance to see distance – was it 3000 units or 30000 units away? If the former then one could heave a sigh of relief, but if the latter you knew it was a death star and for the next few moments you were banging at the keyboard requesting a hyperjump, desperately looking for a new system to jump to because otherwise you would shortly be dead.
Comment by Dadosara:
Oh, the many hours spent fighting Cluster Chucks and Rogue Starfighters, and having it all go for naught as you are blown away in seconds by a Death Star. I long to play this game again, can anyone assist in finding a copy?
Comment by Steve:
Was there a way to kill one of those death casters? Anyway, your post brought back old memories. I remember the crash drive and waiting for the cone shift to count down so that you could escape in time when you accidentally warped into an area with a death caster.
Comment by Sparky Starks:
I’m the author of Starfighter. The Atari 800 version of it was called Destiny: The Cruiser. If you can find that version, keep it, Scott only released 50 copies on EPROM, because that was the year that the video arcade industry collapsed.
Re: Killing BTG’s and Deathcasters. Yes, that was possible but only at a terrible financial loss and only with 4 or 5 fields around you. The Deathcaster actually had very poor defense: the trick was getting into your own weapon range without dying. Incidentally, the top level was mostly Deathcasters and BTGs and was not intended to be survivable. We had a couple of people send in the ’secret word’ (which was “greetings”) but all confessed later that they had hacked the code to get it (smile).
About playing Starfighter today. There are TRS-80 emulators out there and images of the Starfighter program. If you like the Clusterchucks, stick to the Tandy version. I cut them out of the Atari version because the Iran hostage crisis was old news by then, and substituted an armed version of the Scout, the TAC (I think) or Tactical Assault Craft, and one other thing that I forget. The TAC was a larger but slower version of the Starfighter craft.
Nice to see that I’m not entirely forgotten. Incidentally, the LAST game I did (and only on IBM compatible) was Visions of Aftermath: The Boomtown, published by Mindscape and developed as Chivalry Software, Inc. (by this time, publishers wouldn’t believe that a single author could write a good game, so…).
Comment by Chris Keane:
Just found this site. Brought back good memories. I think more than a couple of people sent in the “secret word”, my certificate is numbered 123. I have a scanned jpeg if you would like me to send it to you. And, no, I didn’t ‘hack’ it, it was endless nights and remembering to save, save, save.
Thanks Sparky for a great game.
Comment by Rob:
This was one of the best games for the TRS-80 in my opinion. Thanks so much Sparky for making it, well done sir! Considering the capabilities of the TRS-80 at the time, the features and detail that were part of this game were incredible. One of the things that was quite cool was requesting a tow when you were pretty well spent. Overall 100% great!
I did managed to get within weapons range of a Death caster ONCE. I remember blasting away at it and hitting it several times but ultimately the result was the same DEATH!
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