Genre: Shoot ’em up
Developer: Milton Bradley Company
Publisher: Milton Bradley Company
Year: 1979
System: Microvision
Shooting Star (also known as Star Trek: Phaser Strike in the U.S.) is a cartridge-based shoot ’em up for the Milton Bradley Microvision console. In this title, players operate three phaser banks positioned at the bottom of the screen, aiming upward to destroy waves of inbound alien or enemy ships. Gameplay is straightforward: enemies appear in patterns, and pressing the control overlay fires phasers to intercept and eliminate them.
Before each game, players can set difficulty parameters such as ship speed, size, and quantity (up to 90 ships per round). The objective is to clear all targets to receive a final score before optionally starting a new session. The game’s graphics are minimalistic due to the Microvision’s 16×16 pixel display, but each ship is clearly represented by block sprites.
Originally released in November 1979 as one of the console’s seven launch titles, Shooting Star stands out as the first licensed Star Trek video game (under its original title Phaser Strike) before Milton Bradley’s licensing rights changed in 1980. After the license ended, the game was sold under different names—Shooting Star in Europe and Cannon Phaser in Canada and France—but its core gameplay remained consistent across regions.
The cartridge’s title screen overlay reflects the variant name depending on the market, while the game’s logic remains identical worldwide. As part of the Microvision’s limited catalogue, Shooting Star is notable for its role in handheld gaming history and its early licensing link.
