Sinistar Joystick
Sinistar's character's speech is one of the most exciting aspects of the gameplay. Sinistar was also the first to use the 49-way, custom-designed optical joystick that Williams had produced specifically for this game. The addition of Sinistar to your Collection is a Must! Only 5,000 were made. Maybe under 1,000 still remain.
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Sinistar
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| Name: Sinistar Manufacturer: Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) Year: 1982 Type: Videogame True skate custom grip tape. Class: Wide Release
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel) Cabinet Styles:
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Sinistar DescriptionSinistar was produced by Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) in 1982. Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) released 216 different machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1959. Other machines made by Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) during the time period Sinistar was produced include Reflex, Thunderball, Robotron: 2084, Spellbinder, Varkon, Cyclone (1981), Defender, Make Trax, Barracora, and Furie. Sinistar - KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.62 (14 votes)
Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, 'Like' carries a little more weight than the other factors. Log in to rate this game! Cabinet InformationThe cockpit cabinet has a unique design where the front plastic section opens up like a car hood. The small openers ('shocks') are about as effective as those found on most car hoods.Cabinet Style Weights and Measures
Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter EggsThere is a very risky maneuver that can lead to either disaster or a powerful comeback. When Sinistar has you in its grasp, a spare shot that is floating in space can kill you, of course taking a life. The unfortunate thing is that when Sinistar's mouth closes, another life is taken, resulting in the loss of two lives. Bear in mind that the Warrior ships will not fire at you when you are in Sinistar's grasp, so a floating shot is the only thing that can make this occur. However, if this happens to you when you are down to your last life, the loss of two lives will reduce your number of lives to -1. This will give you 255 lives.Game IntroductionThe player must blast Sinisite crystals out of the planetoids, by firing repeatedly at them, and then collect the crystals to fill the ship's bomb bay with Sinibombs as you battle enemy ships including the Warriors (gray ships) as well as the Workers (red ships). All the while, the Workers are constructing a Sinistar, a huge red and silver evil face with devil-like horns, which eventually comes to life and begins pursuing the player's ship to devour it. Only with enough Sinibombs can the Sinistar be destroyed. The Sinistar speaks in a haunting voice, taunting the player with phrases like 'Beware, I Live!', 'Beware, Coward!', 'I Hunger!', 'Run Coward!', 'Run, Run, Run!', 'I Am Sinistar!', among others.Game PlayThe single aspect this game's play that makes it so difficult is the fact that the enemy ships can move much faster than you. Do not try to outrun them; you cannot. Outmaneuver them instead.During play, the background scrolls past while the ship itself stays in the center of the screen. There are many things to keep track of during play. At the top of the screen there is a small, zoomed-out view of the area in space. Planetoids, Workers, Warriors and the Sinistar himself all appear inside this radar window. In the upper left corner of the screen, news and warning messages will appear, informing you of important developments. A beeping sound will alert you when a new message appears. Just above the player's score, two rows of small circles will form to indicate how many Sinibombs (crystals) have been collected. To mine crystals, you must shoot the Plantetoids. Each shot imparts a certain amount of energy to the Planetoid, making it shake vigorously. Once a Planetoid has absorbed enough energy from your shots, it will start to emit crystals and then continue emitting crystals as long as you keep the total energy of the Planetoid above a certain threshold. The number of crystals that can be mined from a single Planetoid is absolutely unlimited, but the Planetoid can be destroyed if it is fired into too rapidly; it will simply absorb too much energy and explode. Five points are awarded for destroying a Planetoid except it is usually better to save them to mine for crystals. Workers will try to steal the crystals after you have mined them. To prevent this, you can either destroy the Workers for 150 points each or just push them out of the way (your ship will not explode by running into them). Even if a Worker steals a crystal, you can still recover it; just shoot the Worker while it is flying away with the crystal, and the crystal will be left behind after he is destroyed. Your ship can also bounce harmlessly off Warriors but they can shoot at you with fairly good aim. They will fire more and more as the game progresses, so shoot them as soon as possible before they appear on the screen. They do not start firing for up to one second and you can often destroy them for 500 ponts each before they get a shot off. The Sinistar is built one piece at a time by the Workers. Each time a piece is added to it, you will hear a clanking sound. After 20 pieces have been assembled, the Sinistar is completed and warns 'Beware, I Live!'. That is your last warning to stock up on Sinibombs. The next time the Sinstar speaks, he will attack and try to eat your ship. He can fly even faster than your ship, so it will not do any good to try to fly away and avoid him. You must collect enough crystals (these are automatically converted to Sinibombs) to destroy the Sinistar. Whenever you drop a Sinibomb from your ship, it will head straight for the Sinistar. If the Sinistar is off the scanner or or a Sinibomb hits a Planetoid, Worker, or Warrior, a 'Sinibomb Intercepted' message will appear in the message area, letting you know that the Sinibomb did not hit its target. Workers and Warriors will try to move themselves into the range of a Sinibomb, and the Warriors will even shoot at the Sinibombs, so long shots are often intercepted. Whenever a Sinibomb makes a direct hit upon the Sinistar, one section will be destoyed for 500 points each. The Sinistar has 13 sections (12 pieces and the face), so it will take at least 13 Sinibombs to destroy him. However, when the Sinistar is being built, he is assembled from 20 pieces; after he is completed, the seven pieces that make his face combine into one section. The face section will be the last one to be destroyed, and it will be worth 15000 points. If you run out of Sinibombs before you can destroy the Sinistar, the Workers will rebuild him while you collect crystals, except in the first wave where the Sinistar is only built once. After you have destroyed the Sinistar, your ship will warp to another Zone where another Sinistar will be built. When you arrive at the next Zone, you will need to collect more crystals for Sinbombs and attempt to destroy the next Sinistar after he has come to life. When you first appear in a new Zone, the Sinistar will be straight ahead, about two scanner widths away. After the first Zone, the Zones repeat in a group of four: Worker Zone, Warrior Zone, Planetoid Zone, and Void Zone. The Worker, Warrior, and Planetoid Zones have extra Workers, Warriors, and Planetoids, respectively. The Void Zone has very few Planetoids and is the most difficult. MiscellaneousPlay the game on-line (requires Shockwave) at http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/sinistarThe cockpit version of the game allows only single player games, employs a panning sound feature, and displays different diagnostic codes on the ROM board's 7-segment LED. VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Sinistar CensusThere are 10,985 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 8,807 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 147,174 machines (6,418 unique titles).Very Common - There are 269 known instances of this machine owned by Sinistar collectors who are active members. Of these, 247 of them are original dedicated machines, 2 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 20 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired. For Sale - There are 6 active VAPS members with Sinistar machines for sale. Wanted - Very Popular - There are 61 active VAPS members currently looking for Sinistar. There are 2 active VAPS members looking for Sinistar board sets. This game ranks a 72 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records. This game ranks a 84 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often wanted, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.
TriviaThe game was originally going to be called 'DarkStar' (only a few prototype marquees exist). The game play was not supposed to be quite so difficult, but just before production started, the upper-management decided to make the game harder. In May of 1998, an alternate ROM set believed to have been burned for the 1983 AMOA Trade Show in Las Vegas was discovered. This set offers slightly different game play and has ROM chip serial numbers ranging from 16-3004-12 through 16-3004-22. The programmers of Sinistar believe this set may have the coveted easier difficulty settings.John Newcomer's original idea for this game was titled Juggernaut. The code name for this game was 'Opie-Star.' Why? The joke inside Williams was that it sounded like Sinistar was saying 'Ron Howard' (Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show or Richie Cunningham on Happy Days) instead of 'Run Coward!' FixesThe 49-position optical joystick has a rubber centering 'X' that often breaks. There are (were?) available from WICO, but rubber bands can be used as well.Manuals
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eBay ListingsClick to search eBay for Sinistar Videogame machines and related items.Click to search eBay for machines and parts made by Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985). Check out the IAM/KLOV report of the hottest coin-op machine auctions, powered by Ace.com.
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YOUR INTERGALACTIC CRYSTAL-MINING MISSION takes you to the antipodes of the known universe. But your parametric DeepSpace scanner faithfully displays the sector of the galaxy you presently occupy (including an area fully 3 parsecs across, no less)!KEEP THE GALAXY SAFE for all it's sinizens! Fiendish Worker ships from the planet Sporg will attempt to fabricate a Sinistar from the remains of derelict planetoids in your very sector. You must not let them do this for two reasons:1) These planetoids contain the life-sustaining crystals that your civilisation requires for its vital technologies.2) With the eminently unstable Sinistar in their possession, the Sprogites can lay waste to any civilization in your sector. You alone stand in their way.YOU MUST MINE THE SINISITE CRYSTALS. Williams has equipped you with the latest heuristic electret cannon technology. All you need to do is aim at a planetoid and shoot.
Now collect your motherlode!IN FACT, ONLY WITH SINISITE CAN YOU MANUFACTURE SINIBOMBS to eradicate the Sinistar. But you must also rebuff the Workers and disintegrate their even more aggressive comrades-at-arms, the evil skelomorphic Warriors! Intelligent beings everywhere depend on your courage, your dedication, your reserve, your shrewd command of tactical invention! It's up to you space cadet!- TECHNICAL -Main CPU: M6809 (@ 1 Mhz)Sound CPU: M6808 (@ 894.75 Khz)Sound Chips: DAC, HC55516 (@ 894.75 Khz)Players: 2Control: 8-way joystickButtons: 2= 1 FIRE, 2 SINIBOMB- TRIVIA -Released in February 1983.Also released as:'Sinistar Cockpit model'Sinistar DuraMold model'This game was originally going to be called 'Juggernaut', then 'Darkstar'. The prototype version called Sinistar is a machine that was displayed at the November 1982 AMOA show in Las Vegas.
The revision 2 was the most common version of the game.The game is jokingly referred to as 'Opie-Star' at Williams' offices, because Sinistar's 'Run, Coward!' SCORING -Planetoid: 5 points.Worker: 150 points.Crystal: 200 points.Warrior: 500 points.Sinistar Piece: 500 points.Destroying Sinistar: 15, 000 points.- TIPS AND TRICKS -. Programming Credits And Williams message:1) Set lives to 1 (this is optional, it merely saves time).2) Insert one credit.3) Bump into a Planetoid (rock).4) Push the fire button 7 times.5) Avoid Planetoids and Workers, don't fire at anything and get shot by a Warrior. If you set lives to 1, the game will now be over. If not, lose all lives in this manner until the game ends.6) Enter initials.7) Press the 2 Player button 3 times, then insert one coin and start a new 1 Player game.8) Don't move or fire, just push the Sinibomb button once.There are now two messages which can be displayed for the credits:9) Insert 3 coins, then push the Sinibomb button again. The 'crossword' credits should now be displayed.
For the Williams Electronics message:10) Simply end the game by getting shot without hitting a Planetoid or firing, then push the 1 Player button to display the message. 255 Lives Trick: This little trick is harder than the game itself, but worth it if you pull it off. On your last man, make sure a warrior fires at you just as Sinistar sucks you in. As the Sinistar sucks you in, you will lose your last man, but when the warrior's bullet hits you, you will have one less than zero ships.Note: The warriors stop shooting as soon as you are 'caught' by Sinistar. The game was programmed this way, to prevent you from dying twice.
Since you are trying to die twice, you have to let a warrior shoot at you, before you get sucked in, then hope that the shot hits you after you have been sucked in. This is very tricky.Note 2: 8-bit processors can only handle values from 0-255, for a total of 256 values.
Therefore, 'one less than zero ships' will roll around to 255.