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Gameplay[]

The player controls a Star Cruiser with high maneuverability and speed. Their objective is to destroy the Energy Cannon which is surrounded by castle walls. The walls are comprised of three revolving layers in an octagonal configuration. The player can destroy sections of the wall and make a path to fire directly upon the Energy Cannon; however, this also leaves their ship to be fired on as well. If the player destroys all the sections of a layer, then the layer below it becomes the outer layer and a new inner layer generates. In addition, the castle walls release energy bombs which will seek out the player's ship. If an energy bomb or fire from the Energy Cannon hits the player's ship, they will lose a life.

Controls[]

Main Menu

  • Choose between one or two players-button one
  • Choose level of difficulty-button two

In-game

  • Rotate ship left or right-joystick or D-pad
  • Rotate ship left-button one
  • Rotate ship right-button two
  • Thrust-button three
  • Fire-button four

Scoring[]

  • Outer Wall Section-10 points
  • Middle Wall Section-20 points
  • Inner Wall Section-30 points
  • Energy Cannon-A bonus Star Cruiser

Trivia[]

  • While Star Castle was ported to the Vectrex in 1983, the arcade version was released in 1980.
  • On January 2, 2012, VectorGamer live streamed a score of 1,005,310 points. He was the first to do so on the Vectrex.

Review[]

Click on the tabber below for a review.

Way back in 1980 Cinematronics released Star Castle as a vector arcade game requiring a colour overlay so as to give the impression the vectors were in fact colour. Designed by genius game maker Tim Skelly ,and programmed by Scott Boden, arcade Star Castle was also featured in the beginning of the movie 'Maximum Overdrive' which incidentally featured music from Australian hardrock band AC/DC (Butler 2003).

The release of arcade Star Castle was shrouded in controversy as Cinematronics nearly had to recall the machine as the stars which are featured in the background of the game formed an outline of the centrefold from February 1980 'Oui' pornographic magazine. This has got to be one of the most colourful Vectrex overlays and I remember the excitement I felt when I received my first Vectrex Star Castle. Again the game was only released in the U.S. therefore it gets auctioned on ebay for around $US80 -$US90

A small handheld version of Star Castle was also released in the 80's which was called 'Tiger - Star Castle'. The ship in Star Castle is very similar to the Asteroids ship and the object of the game is to manoeuvre it and take shots at a cannon positioned in the centre of the playfield and eventually destroy it. The cannon is surrounded by a fortress composed of 3 spinning force fields which look like rings and occasionally sparks fly from the rings and head straight at your ship. Once the force field is destroyed the cannon takes a shot at your spaceship and more often than not this destroys your ship. It can get quite frustrating at times.

Nevertheless Star Castle is an enjoyable, if not difficult, game which was one of the last GCE releases for the Vectrex.

Score 7/10

Review written by Daniel Foot

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