a Force aside

More Spectrum Stars Wars – official and unofficial

3d Starstrike Realtime Games, 1984

■ Coded by 3D wireframe expert Realtime Games, 3D Starstrike is the ultimate homage to the 1983 Star Wars arcade game, replicating perfectly its exhilarating trench run and space battles. We told the story of this classic space shooter and its sequel back in issue 154.

death Star Rabbit Software, 1984

■ a simplistic shoot-’em-up, this game by booty programmer John f Cain focuses on the trench run from the end of Star Wars. that’s no X-wing though, that’s… actually, what is the player controlling? even in 1984, Death Star was not very impressive, despite its iconic inspiration.

Star WARS: the Adventure SP enterprises, 1984

■ not commercially released, except perhaps by mail order, and created by Stephen Preston. it’s a short game, and misses out the action-heavy climactic Death Star battle, but nevertheless is entertaining enough for fans of the genre.

death Star interceptor System 3, 1985

■ Published by System 3, this is a port of the

C64 original. While not a clone of the Star Wars arcade game from 1983, its origins are plain, and the famous John Williams score adds a sheen of respectability to what is a tough shooter.

Star WARS Domark, 1987

■ finally, ten years after the release of the film, and four years after the arcade game first saw action, Domark brought a conversion of Star Wars to the Spectrum. it’s a decent conversion, unfortunately lacking sound, and to be frank, 3D Starstrike had got there three years earlier.