Star Raiders vs. Starmaster?

[Tempest]

Ok, I couldn't resist adding one of my own. I'm a Star Raiders fan all the way.

 

Tempest

[kpyrz]

Star Raiders all the way. Am I the only one who thinks that M Network should have capitalized off the keypad controller that came with it and ported the Intellivision games with overlays? Sorry for the tangent

[cvga]

I'm going to go with Starmaster but I'm biased since I owned it as a kid and never played Star Raiders until much much later. Captain Atari, I think your keypad idea was excellent!

[Scooterb23]

My vote is for Starmaster, I didn't like the whole keypad thing. Probably because I got a copy of Star Raiders without an overlay back in the good old days...

[ubersaurus]

Give me Starmaster any day. I OWNED that game as a kid. Star Raiders I couldn't figure out, since I had no overlay, and now I can't find my old keypad controller, but I think it works with the old sesame street kids keypad ones, so that'll have to do.

[Tempest]

I will be releasing a early prototype of Star Raiders that uses the difficulty switches instead of the touch pad. Unfortunetly there's no map, starbase, or hyperdrive, but those things just got in the way anyway

 

Tempest

[Inky]

I always thought Starmaster was the better because of the easier control and the crisper graphics..

[NE146]

I don't know but I guess I was always partial to Imagic's Star Voyager.. sure it didn't have the depth but it was earlier (I think) and was just pure action.. or at least I thought it was when I was 11.. ;D

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I definitely go for Starmaster. It has more strategic elements and I prefer the graphics.

 

And I owned it when I was young, breaking all records...

[GrizzLee]

My preference of the two is Starmaster.

However, Phasor Patrol, was and is a much better game IMHO. Good graphics, no keypad and more strategy involved with the sheilds and weapons. I still play it ocassionally.

[Joel D. Park]

I like Starmaster better. But both Star Raider and Starmaster were great games. The biggest reason for Starmaster is that it was much simpler for a young lad like myself.

[kondre]

Star master. much better graphics more sophisticated. and thats the one i played when i was a kid. ah hell i played it just the other day too.

 

Kevin

[Ze_ro]

Star Raiders is my pick... I didn't like the idea of having to use the difficulty switches in Starmaster and Phaser Patrol (Though Phaser Patrol is a really awesome game it itself), since my VCS is in a difficult to reach spot.

 

I'd also like to add that Solaris beats them all hands down!

 

--Zero

 

(And yes, it's too bad the Keypad wasn't used for more games)

[Nateo]

Star Raiders. I love that little touchpad, and plus, I could never figure out Star Master (maybe it was Activision's Action Pack that made me think that)

[Joel D. Park]

Good Topic Tempest, I counted the votes so far..

 

Starmaster = 8

Star Raiders = 5

Star Voyager = 1 (Late Entry)

 

Hehe.

[ratfink]

STARMASTER!!

 

I remember reading about the game before it came out as a kid and I just drooled over the screenshots (probably just construction paper mock-ups). I didn't own Star Raiders and was really jonezing for a good space combat game so I could fantasize about being in Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars.

 

When I finally got my hands on a copy of Starmaster it was everything I thought it would be and then some! I played the heck out of that game.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

You already know my take on this...

 

Starmaster gets my vote.

 

Basically you have a strategy which does not really exist in Star Raiders. The graphics are better and much more smooth in Starmaster. The difficulty switches at least work better for me since half the time my Keypad doesn't seem to register a press of the buttons (And it is new).

 

The biggest pain about Star Raiders is that it just seems cluttered. I know the 5200 version and 8-bit versions of Star Raiders are much better. But the 2600 version just plain pales to me.

 

Star Voyager? Well...sure it has action...but you don't have a map or any strategy to work with.

 

I don't know...they both have their points but I just much prefer to play StarMaster between the two or 3 if you count Star Voyager.

 

But...Solaris...oh yeah!! That is still the best!

[+Random Terrain]

I had both Starmaster and Star Raiders. Although I loved the idea that Star Raiders had a keypad, I soon found out that plugging and unplugging the stupid thing was more trouble than it was worth, so I ended up playing Starmaster most of the time.

 

I think Activision did a great thing by releasing Starmaster before Atari released Star Raiders. They ripped off Atari's own game and beat them with it. At least it was a good quality rip off.

 

I got to play the real Star Raiders on an Atari computer at Woolco department store, and that was great. Too bad the 2600 version didn't even come close.

[Gunstar]

I know I owned 2600 StarRaiders at one time, because I still have the keypad. God only knows where the cartridge and overlay are now though...Anyway, if we're talking strictly 2600, I'd have to go with Starmaster and Starvoyager, I loved them both and they were better than 2600 StarRaiders. However, I'd play 5200 or 8-bit StarRaiders anyday over 2600 Starmaster/Starvoyager. The thing here is that StarMaster and Starvoyager were both "arcade" space shooters and StarRaiders was MEANT to be a more complicated "simulation." If they were all trying to beat StarRaiders in the simulation department, they failed miserably. I personally never compare them for these reasons, I like them all for what they are, and they are different enough from each other that they don't have to be compared. Although I did really like the one that had the "hypergates" that you had to find and go through, was that StarMaster or StarVoyager? That one was my favorite. Did Starmaster or Starvoyager ever make it to the 8-bit? I'd love to compare them to 8-bit StarRaiders just for the heck of it...

[khryssun]

I only own Star Raiders and I love to play this game.

I played Starmaster on emulators few times only.

Regarding all the post, it seems to be a great game.... so I'll read the doc and play this game more serioulsly

[bcprs1]

Solaris is still king in my opinion. I know it came out much later than the others, but this game still rules. And yes, I still haven't beat it.

[Tempest]

It think it boils down to Starmaster was more complex and had better graphics, but Star Raiders was just more fun to play.

 

Tempest

[Inky]

Ever play the ST version of star raiders? I've heard people say it sucks, but I thouroughly enjoy it better.

[Cousin Vinnie]

Star Raiders

 

Word

[Gr4ph0n]

Just picked up a keypad Friday at the local used comic/video/games store with the Star Raiders overlay for $2. From the posts I have read here the overlay sounds to be hard to find, is it?