Sinistar

Shockman

appropriate at this time
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I have changed my mind and decided I am going to build a Sinistar table, because I have given it a lot of thought in the past and do have the resources collected already for my arcade game.

Time will be split between the table and the arcade game, finishing up helping of others and my other arcade games.

I have not started on the Pin, but as I said have kicked the ideas around for a long time, and once started on it on an older computer.

The concept is that Sinistar's minions will work on building him, and the player will work towards destroying the effort, and if completed, the monster. Basically a trail of lights will represent the minions supply line and another the players sinibombs, and the player will try to keep his/her line of lights streaming towards Sinistar faster than the supply stream. The pops will be as rocks and hitting them will release the crystals. Hitting targets will harvest the crystals and give you bombs which will emit from the ball and go towards the monster when kickers are hit.

In the mean time I will attach the arcade version I am working on. It is a very early wip that is going to make Sinistar a rotate and thrust game instead of a 360 direction control system, plus wide screen.

arrow keys rotate
z-thrust
c-fire
 

Attachments

  • Sinistar_wip.zip
    1.3 MB · Views: 557
I never heard of Sinistar until just now, but the pin table sounds like it could be lots of fun, with bumpers, targets, and kickers, instead of just repeated ramp loops like some modern pins seem to have.
 
1983 Williams

It is a nice classic game. Voice samples, and a frantic mission. It is just not the same with MAME. MAME says it is 8 way joystick control but that is not true. I don't know if it was 360 but that's the way the control acted. Analog, you go in the direction you push (or pull) the stick and speed is determined by how much you move it. I have always like rotate and thrust, and always wanted to make a rotate and thrust Sinistar remake.

The Sinistar monster is built piece by piece while you are harvesting material from asteroids to build bombs which are the only thing to effect it. You bomb the progress, but if it gets built you have got to run, and if you have no more bombs you have to harvest asteroids while running from it. Not easy.
 
I always thought it was kind of funny how the voice of Sinistar sounds like George H.W. Bush, at that time the Vice President under President Reagan.

Do you suppose...???
 
OH GOD YES. I can't wait for this table now :D
BTW, on an unrelated note, ya know where I can request VP tables?
 
What's this about?? never heard it before!
 
SINISTAR!!!! Wow that's a blast from the past! Man I was Addicted - the adrenaline rush was unparalleled in the arcade - there was always a Queue behind it.

Yes - the controls were analog - and mastering them was a great big chunk of the skillset required to beat it, then on top of that you had to feedback into the controls the momentum your last frantic thrust had generated in order to turn (like asteroids).

I was always a quivering mess as I stepped out of the sit-down booth the one I used to play was installed in.......

Plus Sinistar himself was a scary looking dude!
sleepy said:
I always thought it was kind of funny how the voice of Sinistar sounds like George H.W. Bush, at that time the Vice President under President Reagan.

Do you suppose...???

*LMAO*
Seem to remember his voice sending shivers up my spine too.
 
Last edited:
SINISTAR!!!! Wow that's a blast from the past! Man I was Addicted - the adrenaline rush was unparalleled in the arcade - there was always a Queue behind it.

Yes - the controls were analog - and mastering them was a great big chunk of the skillset required to beat it, then on top of that you had to feedback into the controls the momentum your last frantic thrust had generated in order to turn (like asteroids).

I was always a quivering mess as I stepped out of the sit-down booth the one I used to play was installed in.......

Plus Sinistar himself was a scary looking dude!


*LMAO*
Seem to remember his voice sending shivers up my spine too.

"Sinistar's taunt, "Run, coward!" sounded like "Ron, Howard!" This led to the game being jokingly referred to as "Opie-Star" within Williams' offices."
 
You can try requesting tables here, start a New Thread under this subforum, but no guarantee one will be made.
You could also try designing a table and ask for help or for someone to do the scripting
or whatever is left to be done.
If you can do the layout or the artwork, someone *might* do the script coding or visa-versa, but ask for help first.
 
a few years ago when i was updating my atari 2600 collection, i noticed that atari ported over sinistar of all games back in 1984, but it was never actually released due to the great video game crash.

i tried it out of curiosity on emulator, and it is AMAZING.

the graphics are obviously very basic, and there was no way they could have done the speech on a little 8K cart, but the game play, atmosphere and fast pacing is pretty much all there. there's even a kind of perk due to the limitations of only having one fire button-- instead of the usual arrangements, you are given autofire for shooting, and the button is used to release the smart bombs.

this is arguably the greatest arcade port ever done for the 2600, right there with stargate defender and perhaps one or two others i can't remember right now.
http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=812
 
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