Genre: Shoot ’em up
Developer: Mattel Electronics
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Year: 1981
Platform: Intellivision
Star Strike is a shoot ’em up video game released by Mattel Electronics for the Intellivision in 1981. The game was inspired by the attack on the Death Star in the 1977 film Star Wars. Players control a spacecraft tasked with destroying alien weapons silos before Earth moves into range of the enemy’s super-weapon.
The gameplay involves navigating a trench while avoiding enemy fire and bombing red “Hot Targets.” Missing a target when Earth is directly over the trench results in a missile being launched at the planet. The game features a countdown timer that starts at 8000 points and decreases as time passes. Destroying enemy fighters adds points to the timer, providing additional time to complete the mission.
Star Strike was heavily promoted and became the top-selling Intellivision game of 1982, with nearly 800,000 units shipped that year. The game was also released for the Atari 2600 under Mattel’s M Network label in 1983.
The Intellivision version of Star Strike was notable for its use of sequencing GRAM to create the illusion of a 3D trench, providing a visual effect not seen before in home video games. Despite its simplicity, the game’s graphics were considered stunning for its time, and it remains a significant title in the history of video gaming.
