[mrev19]

I love this story I would have been so pumped to have seen that. You were a lord.

I had that experience you describe of only seeing certain games randomly, round about 89-90ish I think. 'Sin Star'. I only saw it one arcade on a trip, once, where I played it for 8 hours, it just blew me away. I spent years after that asking around, could never find it again, or anyone who had ever played it.

Another thing that I carry with me from that time is just how mind melting Defender was when it showed up. That game will always be the high water mark for me. I remember just staring at the controls for so long with my friends, just terrified. I remember the day first hearing that someone we knew had actually played it. We didn't believe it, we didn't think it was actually possible. But then of course it became THE game.

Hitting the arcade with $10 in quarters was just like, I can die now thank you very much

[pyrocat]

You're probably thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinistar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-XEINagmaU

[mrev19]

OH HELL YES!!!!

Holy crap the internet is AMAZING!!!!!!

I seriously asked everyone i came within two feet of about that game for freakin years, and NO ONE ever know what I was going on about was like I'd seen a unicorn. Realise now must have been 84-85

I filed that away as some sort of weird delusion I was doomed to forever live the memory of alone until this very moment good god a 30 year reconciliation this is last starfighter-level mind blowing shit over here

[Kronopath]

Sinistar is an arcade classic. I played it a few years ago at a retro arcade event and really liked it. You can download it yourself if you grab the MAME arcade emulator—but in all honesty, I think this is one of those games that works much better in its original arcade incarnation. It even had a custom 49-way joystick…

[joezydeco]

And let's not forget RJ Mical, one of the programmers of Sinistar, who eventually helped design the Amiga computer and the Atari Lynx.

[bethling]

I remember being a kid, and playing that game at a local pizza place. It was the only game that ever gave me nightmares. The voice was just so evil :)

[minikomi]

Only tangentially related, but you just reminded me that I got a bout of nightmares after playing "manhunter" (the sierra game) on a demo PC at a store.. Those flying eyeballs...

edit: Google image search - https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=manhunt&es_sm=91&source=ln... bleh!

[RobotCaleb]

A friend of mine made CheneyStar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_x6-kwvKSE

[ChuckMcM]

I spent way too many hours on Defender (never liked the follow ons) and had one in my family room for years. My wife was always amazed at how much sweat I produced when operating at the higher levels. :-)

[greedo]

I still remember the first time I "beat" Defender. Makes me feel both old and young.