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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: gildahl on May 11, 2017, 02:40:53 pm

Title: Star Raiders arcade game?
Post by: gildahl on May 11, 2017, 02:40:53 pm

I have a very vague recollection of seeing the Atari 8-bit classic game Star Raiders running in an arcade cabinet sometime back in the mid 80s.  It was in the lobby of a store, I think.  I never actually played it, but I recall walking past it and finding it a very curious thing to see as Star Raiders was a favorite at home.  I doubt that I would have mistaken another game for it, since I had pretty thorough knowledge of the arcade scene even then.  Anyway, I'm aware that there was an arcade platform called Max-A-Flex that ran a modified Atari 600XL inside and supported some First Star games, but I've never seen Star Raiders listed as one of its official titles.  From what I understand, the platform could technically support any Atari cartridge so I guess someone might have done an unofficial conversion; but it also seems that the rather complex control scheme for Star Raiders would not have worked well on the control panel of these Max-A-Flex machines and I have no recollection of what the CP looked like on the machine I saw.  So, just out of curiosity, has anyone ever come across anything like this out there or might this have been a one-of-a-kind sort of thing?

Title: Re: Star Raiders arcade game?
Post by: Ian on May 11, 2017, 03:41:28 pm

I got all excited someone else likes Space Raiders... but no... you are talking about Star Raiders. I had it for the Atari but I never saw an arcade machine port.

Here is some info though... nothing on an actual Space Raiders arcade game.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4127/the_history_of_star_raiders_.php?print=1 (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4127/the_history_of_star_raiders_.php?print=1)

Title: Re: Star Raiders arcade game?
Post by: ark_ader on May 11, 2017, 04:53:30 pm

I remember playing Star Raiders on the 2600 and using that odd keypad Atari used for the Basic program.  Branching out to the 400/800 cartridge, to Acorn Electron and CBM64's Elite, to present day and Elite Dangerous.

That would be a natural progression to make an arcade port.  Do you have any pictures of this prototype?

Title: Re: Star Raiders arcade game?
Post by: DeLuSioNal29 on May 11, 2017, 05:14:22 pm

At Zapcon 5 there was a StarFighter custom arcade...  And the game felt like playing Star Raiders II (a more modern version though).

Here's some more info on the Last StarFighter and how the game ties into the movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Raiders_II

DeL