Platform: Arcade
Region: NTSC-U
Country: United States of America
Developer(s): Williams Electronics, Inc.
Publishers(s): Williams Electronic Games, Inc.
ReleaseDate: 1983-02-01
Players: 2
Co-op: No
Sinistar
Sinistar is a 1982 arcade multidirectional shooter video game developed and released by Williams Electronics in the USA on February 1, 1983. The player pilots a lone spacecraft, flying through a large region of space, part of which is shown on the mini-map at the top of the screen. Shooting drifting planetoids releases small, white crystals. When collected, each crystal turns into a "Sinibomb", which is the weapon for defeating the end of level boss, Sinistar, an animated spacecraft with a demonic skull face. A planetoid contains a limited number of crystals; shooting it too rapidly causes it to explode. Sinistar does not exist at the start of a level, but is constructed by red enemy worker ships. Workers cannot hurt the player, but they compete to collect crystals to build the Sinistar. Warrior ships directly attack the player's ship, shoot planetoids to mine crystals, and guard the Sinistar while it is being built. It takes 20 crystals to create the 20 pieces of a completely built Sinistar, but only 13 Sinibombs to destroy it. The 7 pieces making up the face are considered a single piece once Sinistar is active. When the Sinistar is complete, its digitized voice announces "Beware, I live" and Sinistar chases the player's ship while making threatening remarks: "Run! Run! Run!", "Beware, coward!", "I hunger!", "Run, coward!", and a loud roar. It has no weapons, but it destroys the player's ship on contact, after which it sometimes proclaims "I am Sinistar". A dedicated button releases a Sinibomb which automatically targets the Sinistar. A Sinibomb can be intercepted mid-flight by Workers, Warriors, and planetoids. Successfully damaging the Sinistar causes angry roaring. The player warps to a new zone each time Sinistar is defeated. The unnamed first zone is followed by the Worker Zone, Warrior Zone, Planetoid Zone, and Void Zone, then it cycles back to the Worker Zone. Each zone emphasizes a particular game feature, with the Void Zone having fewer planetoids. In all but the first zone, a completed but damaged Sinistar can be repaired by enemy Workers, extending its lifespan if the player is unable to kill it quickly.
ESRB Rating: E - Everyone
Genre(s): Action | Shooter
