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announces "Beware, I live" and
Sinistar chases the player's ship while making threatening remarks: "Run! Run! Run!", "Beware, coward!", "I hunger!", "Run, coward!", and a loud roar. It has no weapons, but it destroys the player's ship on contact, after which it sometimes proclaims "I am Sinistar". A
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Sinistar does not exist at the start of a level, but is constructed by red enemy worker ships. Workers cannot hurt the player, but they compete to collect crystals to build the
Sinistar. Warrior ships directly attack the player's ship, shoot planetoids to mine crystals, and guard the Sinistar while
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is defeated. The unnamed first zone is followed by the Worker Zone, Warrior Zone, Planetoid Zone, and Void Zone, then it cycles back to the Worker Zone. Each zone emphasizes a particular game feature, with the Void Zone having fewer planetoids. In all but the first zone, a completed but damaged
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it is being built. It takes 20 crystals to create the 20 pieces of a completely built
Sinistar, but only 13 Sinibombs to destroy it. The 7 pieces making up the face are considered a single piece once Sinistar is active.
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dedicated button releases a
Sinibomb which automatically targets the Sinistar. A Sinibomb can be intercepted mid-flight by Workers, Warriors, and planetoids. Successfully damaging the Sinistar causes angry roaring.
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is about to eat the player's ship. If a warrior ship shoots and destroys the ship at this moment, it immediately takes the player to zero lives, and the
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sound (in the sit-down version), with two independent front and back sound boards for this purpose. It also uses a 49-way optical
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uses the sound bite "Beware, I live" in its theme tune. The game was featured prominently in the music video for the
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184:), a giant, anthropomorphic spacecraft. The game is known for its use of digitized speech and high difficulty level.
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uses "Beware, I live", "I hunger", "Run, coward", and
Sinistar's roar. Sinistar makes several appearances in the
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72nd on their Top 100 Video Games. They praised the game calling it a "truly harrowing" arcade classic.
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face. A planetoid contains a limited number of crystals; shooting it too rapidly causes it to explode.
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that grants the player many lives (ships). It happens only if the player is down to one life and the
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can be repaired by enemy
Workers, extending its lifespan if the player is unable to kill it quickly.
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The player's ship, left of center, below a
Warrior and partially obscured by a just-released Sinibomb
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eating the player subtracts another life. Since the number of lives is stored in the game as an 8-
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A 3D sequel from a different developer and publisher was released for
Windows in 1999 as
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The game was released in 1983. The in-game copyright notice incorrectly reads 1982.
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Burnham, Van (2003) "Supercade: A Visual
History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984"
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in 1984. It was originally developed as an official port to be released by
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to the largest value representable with 8 bits, which is 255 in decimal.
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239: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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898:"'Beware, I Live': The Voice of Antagonism, The Voice of the Arcade"
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717:'s song "Revenge of The Double-Man" that appears in the 1999 album
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CD-ROM for DOS and
Microsoft Windows, Williams Entertainment, 1996
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was included in various arcade compilations. A sequel entitled
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receives a large reference in chapters 30 and 31 of the book
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Commercial video games with freely available source code
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song "Grand Ol' Party Crash" samples Sinistar. The film
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The voice of Sinistar was recorded by radio personality
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for the PlayStation Portable in late 2005; and part of
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was commercially available in the mid-1990s as part of
952:"System 16 - Williams/Midway Y Unit Hardware (Midway)"
422:, the subtraction from zero will cause the integer to
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project
750:
626:is referenced in various non-video-game media. The
386:that Williams produced specifically for this game.
187:Although not ported individually to home consoles,
611:(1989) is a clone for the Tandy Color Computer 3.
339:, Sinistar, an animated spacecraft with a demonic
1313:
615:(1994) is a public domain clone for the Amiga.
840:"Noah Falstein on the development of Sinistar"
168:. It was created by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger,
1342:Cancelled BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games
896:Williams, G. Christopher (26 January 2021).
439:https://github.com/historicalsource/sinistar
327:at the top of the screen. Shooting drifting
1178:: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
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1377:Video games developed in the United States
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531:in 2003, and for Windows in 2004; part of
30:
1362:Multiplayer and single-player video games
992:(4). Harris Publications: 31. April 1995.
879:"The Most Difficult Arcade Games – Ever!"
358:The player warps to a new zone each time
299:Learn how and when to remove this message
1220:"Sheena easton - Almost over you - 1983"
1052:
895:
780:
310:
1304:RJ Mical talks about the easter egg in
1314:
1091:"Acorn User Review Archive: DEATHSTAR"
783:"Reflections on the Birth of Sinistar"
534:Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play
1053:Claiborn, Samuel (13 November 2012).
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479:were in progress, but not completed.
1337:Cancelled Atari 8-bit computer games
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467:There were no contemporary ports of
237:adding citations to reliable sources
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350:When the Sinistar is complete, its
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1139:"Aminet - game/Shoot/Xenostar.lha"
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513:. It is also available as part of
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1285:information page at sinistar.com
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1226:from the original on 2021-12-13
1218:lolymaslol (9 September 2010).
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1125:Tandy Color Computer Games List
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665:. The audio version of podcast
486:Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
393:and played through an HC-55516
224:needs additional citations for
1382:Video games set in outer space
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1055:"Midway Arcade Origins Review"
908:
870:
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164:developed and manufactured by
1:
805:. Williams Electronics. 1983.
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558:Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
781:Falstein, Noah (Fall 2009).
444:
7:
802:Sinistar Instruction Manual
204:
10:
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1352:Fictional doomsday devices
1332:Cancelled Atari 2600 games
1152:DKTronics70 (2008-06-19),
1372:Fiction about spaceflight
1367:Multiplayer hotseat games
1357:Multidirectional shooters
1276:Killer List of Videogames
577:
462:
319:The player pilots a lone
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1030:"Sinistar (Atari 8-bit)"
973:Williams Arcade Classics
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378:was the first game with
159:multidirectional shooter
134:Multidirectional shooter
1095:www.acornelectron.co.uk
1005:"Sinistar (Atari 2600)"
927:"MAME 0.36b7 changelog"
915:Internet Movie Database
516:Midway Arcade Treasures
146:, 2 players alternating
698:, a 2011 novel in the
331:releases small, white
316:
986:"Top 100 Video Games"
867:Burnham (2003) p. 320
540:Midway Arcade Origins
477:Atari 8-bit computers
314:
1387:Williams video games
1234:– via YouTube.
1155:Bits Series 1 Part 1
642:Bob the Angry Flower
233:improve this article
166:Williams Electronics
59:Williams Electronics
48:Williams Electronics
720:Monsters and Robots
659:video-game TV show
571:Sinistar: Unleashed
194:Sinistar: Unleashed
1327:Arcade video games
1248:. 27 December 2010
1119:Boyle, L. Curtis.
883:Liberty Games Blog
761:Video games portal
633:We Are the Strange
619:In popular culture
317:
709:Vocal samples of
651:episode trilogy "
601:Superior Software
511:Microsoft Windows
337:end of level boss
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199:Microsoft Windows
197:was released for
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289:February 2022
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250: –
249:
245:
244:Find sources:
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228:
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222:This section
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170:Noah Falstein
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144:Single-player
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123:February 1983
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81:Programmer(s)
78:
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74:John Newcomer
71:
70:Noah Falstein
68:
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52:
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1270:
1250:. Retrieved
1240:
1228:. Retrieved
1213:
1202:. Retrieved
1198:
1193:FM, Player.
1188:
1164:, retrieved
1160:the original
1154:
1147:
1133:
1124:
1114:
1103:. Retrieved
1099:the original
1094:
1085:
1074:
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1048:
1037:. Retrieved
1033:
1023:
1012:. Retrieved
1008:
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946:
935:. Retrieved
931:the original
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852:. Retrieved
848:the original
843:
811:
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713:are used in
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495:Sega Genesis
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391:John Doremus
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231:Please help
226:verification
223:
192:
188:
186:
182:John Doremus
153:
152:
151:
91:Richard Witt
55:Publisher(s)
43:Developer(s)
1199:Game Scoop!
1121:"Sinistaar"
971:interview,
902:Pop Matters
704:Jim Butcher
695:Ghost Story
507:PlayStation
424:wrap around
403:contains a
371:Development
162:arcade game
109:Platform(s)
103:Jack Haeger
65:Designer(s)
1316:Categories
1296:, another
1252:2020-12-07
1204:2018-10-19
1166:2018-10-19
1105:2014-11-24
1039:2011-03-05
1014:2011-03-05
937:2011-10-03
854:2014-11-24
747:References
715:Buckethead
702:series by
670:Game Scoop
648:South Park
473:Atari 2600
329:planetoids
321:spacecraft
259:newspapers
248:"Sinistar"
157:is a 1983
93:Ken Graham
85:Sam Dicker
787:Gamesauce
657:Channel 4
609:Sinistaar
605:Atarisoft
593:BBC Micro
584:Deathstar
503:Dreamcast
491:Super NES
449:In 1995,
445:Reception
397:decoder.
201:in 1999.
99:Artist(s)
1306:Sinistar
1298:Sinistar
1292:Sinistar
1290:Tyler's
1283:SiniStar
1271:Sinistar
1230:12 April
1224:Archived
1174:citation
711:Sinistar
690:Sinistar
638:webcomic
624:Sinistar
613:Xenostar
589:Sinistar
553:Sinistar
549:Xbox 360
543:for the
525:GameCube
519:for the
489:for the
481:Sinistar
475:and the
469:Sinistar
457:Sinistar
435:Sinistar
413:Sinistar
409:Sinistar
401:Sinistar
384:joystick
376:Sinistar
365:Sinistar
360:Sinistar
333:crystals
325:mini-map
205:Gameplay
189:Sinistar
174:RJ Mical
154:Sinistar
129:Genre(s)
88:RJ Mical
25:Sinistar
1274:at the
561:on the
273:scholar
140:Mode(s)
120:Release
819:
676:song "
578:Clones
527:, and
509:, and
499:Saturn
463:Legacy
380:stereo
275:
268:
261:
254:
246:
114:Arcade
727:Notes
587:is a
341:skull
280:JSTOR
266:books
1300:site
1294:Page
1281:The
1232:2018
1180:link
990:Flux
817:ISBN
662:Bits
628:Cage
595:and
547:and
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