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While the Atari 2600 has
some truly crappy arcade ports, Sinistar is amazingly
good, especially considering that it is unfinished. Now, there are two
versions of this ROM that are available - one that has been on the
internet for years that is pretty early along in the development, and then
a recently released, more complete version of the game which is far more
playable.
I was quite surprised the first time I ran the V2 ROM - this game
really is quite close to the arcade version! Now, the graphics are not
quite the same, but they are all recognizable. The control is pretty
tight and the difficulty seems pretty fair. (Except for when Sinistar
starts flying around - more on that later tho) The only limitation of the
2600 that makes a significant difference in gameplay is the fact that the
2600 only has one fire button. However, the programmers have adjusted for
this by making your ship constantly fire, and the fire button cuts loose a
Sinibomb. |
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Please note that both of
these screenshots are from the V2 ROM - the V1 ROM does
not have the graphic flicker implimented yet and this game
relies heavily on this. For all three of you out there
who have not played Sinistar, the game is pretty
simple. You need to shoot the asteroids to collect
crystals, which are needed to make Sinibombs. One crystal
will give you one Sinibomb. The enemy will also be after
you to stop the collection of crystals while they assemble
the Sinistar. Unlike the arcade version of the game, the
drone enemies will not collect floating crystals, but
rather assemble Sinistar in more of a timed
fashion. Sinibombs are the only thing that can hit
Sinistar, and you can either use them to slow
construction, or to destroy him when construction is
complete and he comes after you. |
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Download the Version 1 ROM
Download the Version 2 ROM
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At this time, I have been
unable to destroy the Sinistar in either version of this
ROM. I do not think this part of the code is complete,
because the Sinistar swoops around with insane accuracy,
destroying your ship in mere seconds every time. I've
managed to fire off a full compliment of 20 Sinibombs with
him near without even scratching him. If you manage to
destroy him, be sure to let me know.
The V1 ROM, as I've stated before, is significantly
earlier in production than the V2 ROM. V1 does not have
the graphic flicker, making half of the items on the
screen invisible at any given time. Also, V1 does not
have a title screen like V2 does - V1 begins the moment
the game is turned "on" in the emu. Difficulty seems to
have been tweaked as well - V2 has far fewer of the Gunner
ships, where in V1, you're swarmed by them constantly.
Honestly, V1 isn't really worth the download unless you like seeing how
the game developed from the early version. V2 however is quite fun, and I
wholeheartedly recommend it as one of the better Atari 2600 arcade ports -
even tho it was never released!
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