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Last Starfighter game?


evicknair

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Has anyone ever encountered a game for the 8-bit machines based on the movie "The Last Starfighter"?

 

I have a copy of one that appears to be a beta test or unfinished version. It only has two levels and has some glitches, but was a pretty cool game.

 

Just curious as I never saw one for sale and have never encountered anyone else who has ever heard of it.

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I have one for the Atari 400/800 and I've seen a few for the Atari 5200. It's a fun game, but I'm not sure if it was ever finished. The version I have seems complete, but there are no shields. I'm not sure there were ever shields since no one can tell me where they were suppose to go or what they would have looked like.

 

You can see my version here: http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/Unreleased/tlsf.htm

 

I assumed that my 400/800 version was the only one known to exist but since then I've seen at least 2 others. There are at leat 5 or 6 5200 versions out there (I'd love to get a hold of one).

 

It would be hard to tell if your copy was complete or not. It really doesn't have levels, it has different screens (I've detailed them on my page). If yours has less screens or different screens I'd be interested in buying or trading for it.

 

Tempest

"Master of Prototypes and Big Fan of TLSF"

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I remember the game that you mentioned. It was a prototype for the game that was based on the movie but was not released under the movie title. Instead the game was redone a few months after the prototype was done and released as "Star Raiders II" if I remember correctly.

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  • 18 years later...
On 8/31/2001 at 8:56 PM, AtariDude said:

I remember the game that you mentioned. It was a prototype for the game that was based on the movie but was not released under the movie title. Instead the game was redone a few months after the prototype was done and released as "Star Raiders II" if I remember correctly.

This is my understanding as well.  The prototype was leaked; however later released as Star Raiders II.

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Never should have been renamed, it was the game of the film and Atari is in the credits of the film, cheap stunt to try and make it a follow up to Star Raiders..Especially so when they had another game that was a true follow up although I'm not so sore it was known of at the time?

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There's a reason and story behind it https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-last-starfighter-the-atari-arcade-game-that-never-was/

 

The movie was a box office flop.  The arcade game was 3/4 complete but would have cost $10,000 which was beyond what most arcades would pay.

Pity they didn't shelve it then release later, by the late 80s it would have been much cheaper to build.

 

I guess from the computer standpoint they might have had to pay rights to use the title and game theme so it made sense to just rebrand as SR II.

In a way I prefer TLF though some aspects of the gameplay are just too easy like attacking enemy planets and killing off fleets at the frontier.

 

 

 

Edited by Rybags
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Such a shame about the film, its one of my favourite films of back then as well, got the special edition and all that :)

 

As always with Atari, good intentions gone to shit in so many things..Sure they could not have predicted the film flopping but using it as a follow up to one of their most loved titles...

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Cartridge version of this game has been readily available from B&C ComputerVisions (myatari.com) for quite some time now.

 

Only thing is you have to get it off ebay from them (seller: myatari) since their website has still not been updated/fixed.

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