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Death Star

Star Wars

This is my $150 Cockpit!!!

Game Statistics

Released:
  • Upright: May 1983
  • Cockpit: May 1983
Notes: Color XY Horizontal Single Player. Used 68B09 instead of 6502 for faster performance (The 6809B has an extended instruction set and hardware division). 2 Software Versions exist. If anyone has the time, there is a "thrust" input on the schematics, does it speed up the approach? (NOTE: Bryan Edewaard checked this out and found that the self-test acknowledged the input when grounded but it makes no difference during game play.)This game can be converted to The Empire Strikes Back without the slapstic chip that was originally required!! See below for instructions!! Upright Cabinet

Game Description

The game of Star Wars has always been one of my favorites, from the dogfight in space to the HUGE explosion of the Death Star. The graphics of this game use an all new mathbox and hardware system to produce all the smooth game action. Star Wars was also the FIRST Atari game to produce speech and although it is slightly mechanical sounding, all the phrases were taken directly from the movie soundtrack. Another first in Star Wars was the use of Four Pokey chips(16 independent voices total) to produce the symphonic soundtrack.
You must survive three phases of play to reach the exhaust port of the Death Star. The first phase of play will engage you in a spectacular battle in space. TWIN-ION ENGINE (T.I.E.) Fighters from the Death Star attack you. Darth Vader's ship appears in theis phase. Your goal is to shoot the T.I.E. Fighters and their shots to protect your shields.
The second phase of play takes the X-Wing down to the surface fo the Death Star which is covered with laser bunkers and laser towers. You must avoid collision with the enemy towers and their shots. A bonus can be earned by destroying all the laser towers.
The third phase of play takes Red-5 down into the Death Star trench. The walls are lined with laser gun turrets that fire as you approach. Trench catwalks also appear in varied shapes and altitudes throughout the trench. Near the end of the trench is the exhaust port. You must shoot a proton torpedo into the exhaust port to destroy the Death Star.
I know everbody already knew this but I copied all that from the Star Wars game manual just for fun. If you succeed in hitting the port the death star explodes in a big bright white flash!!(I still wonder if it is safe to sit in front of the picure tube :-) ). Everything repeats over and over but it gets harder and harder (of course!). Between the gameplay, music and speech, by the time your game is over your heart is racing 100 mph and your hands are sore from gripping the flight controller to tighly!!!!

Downloadables

Matt Gibson is making Empire Strikes Back overlay sets for an extremely good deal. Checkout His website!
Clay Cowgill's amazing Star Wars <-> Empire Strikes Back Multigame Kit
I have HTML'ized the Star Wars Troubleshooting Guide. It is a very extensive document and over 25 pages but every owner should have one.
The Star Wars Schematic Package as 1 big .zip file (10 meg) (Thanks to Paul Swan for the Scans!!)
Star Wars Operators Manual(.pdf 5.8 meg 77 pages)
Star Wars ROM Images Version 1
PROM images for Mathbox
Star Wars Pinouts
Star Wars DIP Switch Settings
Clay Cowgill's even more amazing ESB conversion PCB for Cliff's Hack
Star Wars Gameplay Hints
Analog Vector Generator Error Tones Ingeniously compiled by Clay Cowgill

Stuff

Apparently in the Tie Fighter wave, there is the possibility of gaining 255 extra shields or mucho grande points if you can just hit Darth Vader's ship more than thirty (count 'em..30!) times. I think my record is about 20 but I haven't really tried that hard. Good Luck!!
Using the "Force", i.e. dont fire any shots during the ventilation shaft approach, will give bonus points. 5000 for the first wave, 10000 for the second and 100,000 on every level from 3 up!
If you turn up the intensity on the monitor (just a little) so that you can see the retrace lines....you will see some leftover "Words of Wisdom" as you approach the Death Star. (Connect the dots!)

Picture Gallery

Star Wars Manual Star Wars Flyer: Front Star Wars Flyer: Back

Sound Links

Star Wars Theme(.au 138K)
The Force Will be with you....Always(.au 21K)

Go back to the Atari Vector Page

 
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