Starship 1
Encyclopedia
Starship 1 is an arcade game
developed, manufactured, and released by Atari in 1977
.
The game uses a first person perspective on a black-and-white monitor. The player's ship is controlled with a control yoke that is connected to two potentiometers. There is also a lever that controls whether the ship is moving "fast" or "slow". Compared to common arcade games of the time, Starship 1 was comparatively advanced, but used quite a bit of analog technology that would become less common in arcade games in following years.
As enemies appear onscreen, the player tries to center the enemy in the crosshairs and shoot it with his "phasors" by pulling a trigger on the control yoke. Alternatively, the player has 5 "proton torpedoes" per game that can be fired by pressing a large white button on the dashboard. This will destroy any enemy ship on screen, regardless of whether it is in the crosshairs (which are painted directly on the screen).
The enemy ships are roughly patterned after ships from the Star Trek: The Original Series
and the title device from the 1967 episode "The Doomsday Machine".
The player does not view the game monitor directly; the monitor is recessed in the cabinet, and the player views a reflected image of the monitor in a half-silvered mirror with a space background.
as Star Ship
.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed, manufactured, and released by Atari in 1977
1977 in video gaming
-Events:*Agnes Kim opens the first Electronics Boutique, a kiosk at the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania selling transistor radios and calculators....
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Gameplay
The object of Starship 1 is to destroy alien spacecraft while maneuvering through star and asteroid fields.The game uses a first person perspective on a black-and-white monitor. The player's ship is controlled with a control yoke that is connected to two potentiometers. There is also a lever that controls whether the ship is moving "fast" or "slow". Compared to common arcade games of the time, Starship 1 was comparatively advanced, but used quite a bit of analog technology that would become less common in arcade games in following years.
As enemies appear onscreen, the player tries to center the enemy in the crosshairs and shoot it with his "phasors" by pulling a trigger on the control yoke. Alternatively, the player has 5 "proton torpedoes" per game that can be fired by pressing a large white button on the dashboard. This will destroy any enemy ship on screen, regardless of whether it is in the crosshairs (which are painted directly on the screen).
The enemy ships are roughly patterned after ships from the Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
and the title device from the 1967 episode "The Doomsday Machine".
The player does not view the game monitor directly; the monitor is recessed in the cabinet, and the player views a reflected image of the monitor in a half-silvered mirror with a space background.
Legacy
3500 units of the game were shipped. Starship 1 was later ported to the Atari VCS by Bob WhiteheadBob Whitehead
Bob Whitehead is a game designer and programmer. He is a renowned pioneer and entrepreneur of the video game industry, having been instrumental in forming two video game developers. One, Activision, was the first third-party video game developer.-Career:...
as Star Ship
Star Ship
Star Ship is a video game cartridge developed by Atari for its Video Computer System . The game was one of the nine launch titles offered when the Atari 2600 went on sale in January of 1978. It was designed and programmed by Bob Whitehead...
.