ADG Episode 176 - Stargunner

Channel:

Pixelmusement

Subscribers:

22,900

Published on January 2, 2016 3:15:45 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7NR6maeKs

Game:

Stargunner (1996)

Category:

Show

Duration: 14:09

8,415 views

255

Not a lot of people are aware of this final game to come out of Apogee before they shifted all focus into their 3D Realms brand, which is surprising in one sense because it's actually a fairly decent game, but isn't surprising in the other sense given WHEN it came out. Sometimes, when it comes to game releases, timing is everything. Release a bad game at the right time and you'll get more sales than you deserve. Release a good game at the wrong time and you won't get anywhere near as many sales as you should. :/

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Additional Information and Corrections:

* Here's the page on GOG where you can download the game from: http://www.gog.com/game/stargunner/?pp=91dfde1d6e005e422f64a59776234f1f4c80b5e4

* I noticed some motion blur after doing the final render of this video and went to check something... Turns out this game actually runs 70 FPS, not 60 as quoted by the game's authors. This is normal for 320x200 on most DOS computers but is NOT normal for 320x240, which should top out at 60 FPS on DOS systems. Might be part of the reason why the game is so tricky to get working.

* As seems to be the case with a lot of games using the Gravis Ultrasound (thought not all), the GUS support here sounds MUCH cleaner on real hardware than in DOSBox, by which point it becomes a matter of personal preference which is better, as the GUS internally performs interpolation on the waveforms it mixes, which some people will prefer and some people won't in comparison to what you would get out of a Sound Blaster 16. Anything less than an SB16 though will almost certainly sound inferior to a real GUS. ;)

* I actually skipped mentioning a number of aspects of the gameplay. One of the more important ones is that you can earn extra lives from scoring points, so the more stuff you destroy, the more often you'll get an extra life. End of level bonuses can also be very lucrative if you not only destroy as much as you can but find as many hidden powerups as you can as well.

* Some of the registered space levels actually have people you can rescue for 1,000 points each, but you can accidentally shoot them. Generally speaking, it's safer not to rescue them as there's so few to begin with that the points they give simply aren't worth it.

* While in the store you can swap your dorsal and ventral weapons without having to sell or repurchase them, which is very convenient if you didn't arrange them the way you wanted to originally, or want to adjust where your extra weapons are aiming.

* Although the pulse powerup flips between red and blue when shot, it's not the only one which behaves this way. Shields and Credits also flip between each other, so if you have an opportunity to be careful with your attacks you can go for more shields and more money depending on what you could use.

* You can choose between a male and female voice for your computer system in this game, a feature typically only found in games with a heavy simulation aspect to them.

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