Star Strike
Encyclopedia
Star Strike is a single-player video game, released by Mattel
for its Intellivision
video game system in 1981. The Intellivision's best-selling game in 1982, with over 800,000 copies sold, Star Strike was inspired by the famous "trench run" sequence in the 1977 film Star Wars
, as the player must drop bombs on alien weapons silos before Earth moves into range.
The player's spaceship is equipped with lasers and bombs, both in unlimited supply. The bombs will be dropped on the weapons silos, while the lasers can destroy enemy spacecraft sent to intercept the player. While the player has only one spaceship per game, the spaceship is well-armored and can take multiple hits, but each hit will cause some form of temporary damage affecting the player's control of the ship, such as decreasing its maneuverability or causing sporadic faults in the weapons systems. If the player's ship collides with the trench or an alien fighter, the game ends and Earth is destroyed.
The game's scoring takes the form of a countdown timer. Starting at 8000 points, the timer counts down to zero, at which point Earth is in range of the enemy weapon. When the player destroys the fifth silo, the alien vessel is destroyed and the timer stops, thus representing the player's score for that game. Points are added to the timer for each destroyed alien fighter, giving the player additional time to complete the mission.
At higher difficulty levels, each silo must be hit on its first pass. One game variation starts with zero score and points awarded for each silo and alien fighter destroyed; any missed silo ends the game.
console in 1982. Star Strike also appeared as part of the Intellivision Lives! collection for computers and other video game consoles, like the PlayStation 2
and Nintendo GameCube
. In June 2010, Star Strike was made available on Microsoft's
Game Room
service for its Xbox 360
console and for Games for Windows Live.
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
for its Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
video game system in 1981. The Intellivision's best-selling game in 1982, with over 800,000 copies sold, Star Strike was inspired by the famous "trench run" sequence in the 1977 film Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, as the player must drop bombs on alien weapons silos before Earth moves into range.
Gameplay
In Star Strike, invading aliens have targeted a super-weapon on planet Earth. As soon as Earth moves into range, the weapon will be fired and destroy the planet. The player controls a spaceship launched at the invaders in an attempt to destroy the weapon before it can be fired. To do so, the player must bomb five red weapons silos in a narrow trench. If even one of the silos remains when Earth is in range, the planet is doomed.The player's spaceship is equipped with lasers and bombs, both in unlimited supply. The bombs will be dropped on the weapons silos, while the lasers can destroy enemy spacecraft sent to intercept the player. While the player has only one spaceship per game, the spaceship is well-armored and can take multiple hits, but each hit will cause some form of temporary damage affecting the player's control of the ship, such as decreasing its maneuverability or causing sporadic faults in the weapons systems. If the player's ship collides with the trench or an alien fighter, the game ends and Earth is destroyed.
The game's scoring takes the form of a countdown timer. Starting at 8000 points, the timer counts down to zero, at which point Earth is in range of the enemy weapon. When the player destroys the fifth silo, the alien vessel is destroyed and the timer stops, thus representing the player's score for that game. Points are added to the timer for each destroyed alien fighter, giving the player additional time to complete the mission.
At higher difficulty levels, each silo must be hit on its first pass. One game variation starts with zero score and points awarded for each silo and alien fighter destroyed; any missed silo ends the game.
Ports
Star Strike was ported by Mattel's "M-Network" brand to the Atari 2600Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
console in 1982. Star Strike also appeared as part of the Intellivision Lives! collection for computers and other video game consoles, like the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. In June 2010, Star Strike was made available on Microsoft's
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Game Room
Game Room
Game Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
service for its Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console and for Games for Windows Live.
External links
- Star Strike at IntellivisionLives
- Star Strike at GameFAQs