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Star Raiders (1980)

Atari

Atari 5200 · Atari 8-bit · Atari ST/STE

2.65 from 17 ratings

75 members have it in their collection · 1 playing now · 26 backlogged · 8 wish listed

Star Raiders is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in 1979. The game is considered the platform's killer app. It was later ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST. The game simulates 3D space combat … Read more
Star Raiders is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in 1979. The game is considered the platform's killer app. It was later ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST. The game simulates 3D space combat between the player's ship and an invading fleet of alien "Zylon" vessels. Star Raiders was distinctive for its graphics, which, in addition to various map and long range scan views, provided forward and aft first-person views, with movement conveyed by a streaming 3D starfield as the player engaged enemy spacecraft. While there had already been target-shooting games using the first person perspective (including 1978's Cosmic Conflict), Star Raiders had considerably higher quality visuals and more complex gameplay. It inspired imitators throughout the 1980s as well as later-generation space combat simulation games including Elite, Wing Commander, and Star Wars: X-Wing. In 2007, Star Raiders was included in a list of the 10 most important video games of all time, as compiled by Stanford University's History of Science and Technology Collections. Read less

Details

Developers
Atari
Publishers
Atari, Atari Corporation
Genres
Shooter, Simulator
Themes
Action, Science fiction
Series
Star Raiders

Release dates

  • Mar 1980 (Full Release) (North_America) Atari 8-bit
  • 1982 (Full Release) (North_America) Atari 5200
  • 1986 (Full Release) (North_America) Atari ST/STE
  • 1987 (Full Release) (Europe) Atari 8-bit
  • 1988 (Full Release) (Europe) Atari ST/STE

Related

Bundled in

Ports

Rating distribution

5 stars
1
4 stars
4
3 stars
3
2 stars
6
1 star
3

Community All Reviews Statuses

scoopings

Review scoopings 2/5 · Jan 29, 2022

Quality Early 3D Space Sim/Space Combat Game - If You're Into That Sort of Thing

Look: 8/10 Impressive for its time, and undeniably innovative. I loved the radar/minimap feature, tho I struggled to understand it. Definitely the best-looking space sim so far in my chronology project

Play: 6/10 The gameplay is elaborate but simple enough that if I could get a hang of it, I think I would enjoy it, and it's better executed than …

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Look: 8/10 Impressive for its time, and undeniably innovative. I loved the radar/minimap feature, tho I struggled to understand it. Definitely the best-looking space sim so far in my chronology project

Play: 6/10 The gameplay is elaborate but simple enough that if I could get a hang of it, I think I would enjoy it, and it's better executed than any space sim I've tried so far. Nonetheless, I can't claim to have gotten into it.

Feel: 7/10 I just couldnt quite get the gameplay down but the graphics are top notch for its time. If it didnt focus so much on the Star Trek-esque sim aspects with the minimap thingy etc (that early Star Trek game sure had a lot of influence!), and instead just on first person target shooting in space, I think I would enjoy it more. At least it's a bit more action than the earlier space sim games, so I have a lot of respect for it--and I could somewhat vaguely understand what I was doing lol gosh I suck at videogames.

Attachment: 6/10 I have a lot of respect for this game, but it just isn't for me. If you are a space sim or space combat game fan, definitely check it out!

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