Here it is, round two as promised. If lucky you can indeed become a hero for her, that is of course if you can fly and shoot.

Star Jacker was the first “auto” scrolling space-shooter with this unique way of controlling your ship and lives. It reminded me of Galaga with your ships being connected and with the opportunity of allowing your third to be captured, freeing it and then combining all three into the overpowered mega ship. Although with SJ you control all of your ships at once, in the home version this means having four ships in a line as you start and then when you die one disappears — 3 — 2 and so on.

However this also meant that as you lose lives your firepower got weaker and weaker. Not nice but it made sense too. The arsenal itself was pretty basic (we are talking ’83) as straight on lasers and then bombs for larger items/bases. It was a direct arcade port with the only difference being a downgrade in graphics, this meant fewer variations in backgrounds and enemies. This came from the technical limitations on home consoles at the time.

While it has to give respect to Xevious (yes another that will be a star!), as most any early game of the genre does and really any after does as well, the game has its own flair that it can be proud of. By keeping all of your team alive you can take on anything that Dester army wants to throw at you and come out victorious. This is especially true when you time your firing as the line of ships stagger after the lead and could allow for up to 4 shots sprayed across the line of fire. kill. kill. kill.

The distribution was to occur, the licensing was taken up by Stern Electronics (best known for their Berzerk title and their part in the formation of Data East Pinball) for the US market. This was primarily due to SEGA’s temporary withdrawing from the American market in 1983, a story that will be due its own post and entire episode coming soon. It was a dark period for arcades and gaming alike.

But 1983 – 1985 was a sad, large scale recession in the world of gaming.

Space Invaders? Galaga? Xevious? Say yes to any of those and I’m sure you will love this title too..if you don’t already.