Game:

Star Castle (1980)

Duration: 0:32

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1

Played on AAE (Another Arcade Emulator)
Star Castle is a 1980 vector arcade game by Cinematronics. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The game was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden. Skelly also created a number of other Cinematronics titles, including Starhawk, Armor Attack and Rip-Off. A port of Star Castle for the Vectrex was released in 1983.

The game is black and white with the colors of the rings and screen provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay.

Star Castle showing the high-resolution vector display and the color overlay that provides the false color for the playfield.

The object of Star Castle is to destroy an enemy cannon which sits in the center of three concentric, rotating energy shield rings while avoiding or destroying 'mines' – enemies that spawn from the core, pass through the energy rings, and then home in on the player's ship. They can stick back to the shield if the player maneuvers in such a way that a ring is between the ship and the mines. The player-controlled spaceship can rotate, thrust forward, and fire small projectiles. The cannon's shields are composed of twelve sections each, and each section takes two hits to destroy. Once a section is breached, rings beneath it are exposed to fire.