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Sinistar

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Sinistar was produced by Williams Electronics, Inc. in 1982, developed by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical and Richard Witt. The player pilots a lone spacecraft, and must create "Sinibombs" by shooting at drifting planetoids and catching the crystals that are thereby released....

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Developer
Williams Electronics

Released on
1982

Size
1–2 Players

Version
Arcade

Requirements
Arcade

Downloads
Shooter

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

Sinistar was produced by Williams Electronics, Inc. in 1982, developed by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical and Richard Witt.

The player pilots a lone spacecraft, and must create “Sinibombs” by shooting at drifting planetoids and catching the crystals that are thereby released. Sinibombs are needed to defeat the game boss, Sinistar, an animated spacecraft with a demonic skull face. Sinistar does not exist at the start of the game, and is continuously under construction by enemy worker ships.

Though time is crucial, attempting to mine too quickly will destroy a planetoid without releasing any crystals. Enemy worker ships are also gathering crystals (often stealing them from the player) which they use to construct the Sinistar. Enemy warrior ships can directly attack the player’s ship. The player is given a head-start before the enemy ships have enough crystals to begin construction.

Game ends when the player’s ships are all destroyed.

Sinistar

Overview & History

Released by Williams Electronics in 1982, Sinistar is a legendary arcade masterpiece designed by Sam Dicker, Noah Falstein, Richard Boon, and John Newcomer. Renowned for its terrifying antagonist and pioneering use of digitized speech—famously warning players, "I hunger!" and "Run, coward!"—the game plunges you into a hostile, scrolling cosmos. The storyline casts you as a solitary fighter pilot tasked with deep-space mining and combat against the relentless, ever-growing metallic terror known as the Sinistar, an unstoppable abomination forged piece by piece by enemy worker ships before it awakens to hunt you down across the stars.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Sinistar operates on a tense, relentless countdown. The gameplay loop demands that players skillfully pilot their ship through asteroid fields, mining hard-to-reach Crystals while dodging enemy Worker and Warrior ships. These enemy Workers tirelessly harvest these very same crystals to construct the dreaded Sinistar segment by segment. Once fully assembled, the Sinistar breaks free, roaring digitized threats and aggressively tracking the player across the wrapping playfield. To defeat this ultimate boss, players must rapidly gather and fire specialized Sinibombs—the only weapon capable of cracking the beast's impenetrable armor before it obliterates the player's craft.