Star Ship

Star Ship is a first-person space combat simulator video game programmed by Bob Whitehead and published by Atari, Inc. for its Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600).[1] The game was one of the nine launch titles offered when the Atari VCS was released on September 11, 1977. Based on the Atari arcade game Starship 1, it was the first space-related game developed for the Atari VCS. The re-branded Sears TeleGames version is titled Outer Space.

This article is about the 1977 Atari 2600 videogame. For the vehicle for interstellar travel, see Starship. For 1977 Atari videogame, see Starship 1. For other uses, see Starship (disambiguation).
Star Ship
Developer(s)Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s)Atari, Inc.
Programmer(s)Bob Whitehead[1]
Platform(s)Atari 2600
Release
  • NA: September 11, 1977[2]
Genre(s)Space combat simulator
Mode(s)Single-player

Star Ship was removed from Atari's catalog in 1980.[3]

Gameplay

The player(s) use the joystick controller to achieve one of the following objectives:

  • Destroying as many spacecraft and robots as possible within a time limit, all while dodging asteroids.
  • Alternating between avoiding enemy fire from spacecraft and firing at the opponent-controlled craft (human or computer).
  • Avoiding asteroids and other varied space objects to cover the greatest distance possible.
  • Landing the space module on a lunar landing pad. The moon can either be stationary or be computer- or human opponent-controlled.

Reception

Star Ship was reviewed in Video magazine as part of a general review of the Atari VCS where it was given a review score of 4 out of 10, and its individual games were described as "look[ing] nice but [being] hard to get a handle on".[4]:33

gollark: Yes, a horrible bodge which doesn't fix the first problem.
gollark: Except you filter the empty ones out, bodging it without solving anything.
gollark: I'm pretty sure that whichever strings will go in will just be blank, and also after every string will be another blank one.
gollark: I think tokenize is broken, although parse probably is too.
gollark: Because using find and replace on existing code is so hard.

References
  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. Star ship, video computer system, game program: 17 video games: No. CX2603, U.S. Copyright VA 15-816 (Registered Oct. 27, 1978).
  3. "Atari 2600 catalogs". AtariAge.
  4. Kaplan, Deeny, ed. (Winter 1979). "VideoTest Report Number 18: Atari Video Computer". Video. Reese Communications. 1 (5): 30–34. ISSN 0147-8907.
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