Underrated Visually Stunning Amiga Shooter Starush

[lionagony]

I was playing through the Amiga exclusive shmup Starush this week and what a stunner. It has some of the best graphics I've seen on OCS/ECS so I thought it deserved a little more love. It was done at the same time as the sadly unreleased Lightquest [ Show youtube player ] by the brilliant French artist Laurent Cluzel.

Some of my favourite and most impressive parts of the game are at 3:03, 14:04, 24:17 and 35:56 here [ Show youtube player ] The game has 12 levels in 4 worlds which you can choose the starting order of kind of like in Thunder Force IV. There are 12 huge end bosses and 12 mid bosses. Some massive firepower and similar to the Reshoot games there are different ships that serve as lives so your player changes shape everytime you get hit. The other unique thing is that when you defeat the mid boss you turn around and scroll through the level in the opposite direction to get to the end boss. There are lots of original enemies too, unlike most games the same enemies aren't recycled over and over. You can also play 2 player simultaneous which is a nice plus.

The intro is amazing, check out how cinematic it is at 1:11 and 2:05 [ Show youtube player ] The game is hard as heck and I think it would have been nigh on impossible for me to beat it without save states, it's a huge challenge even using those.

When I was researching it yesterday I found I wasn't the only one who thought it went unappreciated. There was a funny French (with English subtitles) documentary on it by Lord Paddle here [ Show youtube player ]

[demoniac]

It does look really nice. I have not heard of it before.

[sokolovic]

There is some thalionesque spirit in it. I'm French and I didn't knew of this game. Seems great.

[gimbal]

Never heard of this game. Some of the levels certainly look nice. That is what you get with these kind of games where every level is like you've travelled to a different dimension, only bits and pieces of it really appeal. Just one more parallax layer might have made it pop more, maybe.

[CCCP alert]

Your space ship is waaaaaaaaay too big.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by CCCP alert

Your space ship is waaaaaaaaay too big.

It seems that all of it isn't bullet sensitive thought.

[JudasEZT]

Veeeeery good graphics, and very good use of amiga capabilities in the programming. Very talented people.
A pity the gameplay wasn't planned better. You simply as player doesn´t feel the action.

All levels seem like later levels made to increase the lastability of the playmatch.

I never got into the power-up system not even knew if infact one existed.
If game started with slower pace, and after two levels it increased is speed.. I think the gameplay would have benefitted.

Sound effects listens too muffled.

Also,.. player ship is too big.

[TEG]

Opening screen of Starush and some backgrounds are nightmarish so I don't like the vibe of the game.

The other point is that there's a disconnect between the finesse of the sets and the sprites so it spoil the great effort which was put in those backgrounds. Agony is a model of integration in that respect.

[StevenJGore]

Those OCS/ECS background are very impressive, I could easily believe they were AGA.

[sokolovic]

One of the coder was the Jim Power coder.

[lionagony]

The ultimate ship is big but it sort of makes sense because that's the most powerful ship and to keep it should be tough. The smaller versions of the player are easier to maneuvre but not as powerful.

The integration of the enemies and backgrounds is best imo on the lava level which can be seen around 34:00 [ Show youtube player ]

I don't think it was the same coder as Jim Power, at least according to Lemon. Jim Power was Fernando Velez and his only Amiga game and Starush was David Fernandes, so similar names. He also coded Entity which I really liked. Alain Fernandes is David's brother and was the one working on Lightquest. A real fantasy coup for Commodore would have been to fund the finishing of Lightquest and make it smoother and even more beautiful for an AGA launch title.

The graphics really are the star though in this game, the asteroid level and the winter level for example would look good on a 1994 SNES game and this is a 1991 coded game from a 1985 chipset.

[eXeler0]

Interesting, never heard of it before.
Very nice parallax and good use of palette. Clearly ppl who knew what they were doing. ;-)
Gameplay maybe not at the same level.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by lionagony

The ultimate ship is big but it sort of makes sense because that's the most powerful ship and to keep it should be tough. The smaller versions of the player are easier to maneuvre but not as powerful.

The integration of the enemies and backgrounds is best imo on the lava level which can be seen around 34:00 [ Show youtube player ]

I don't think it was the same coder as Jim Power, at least according to Lemon. Jim Power was Fernando Velez and his only Amiga game and Starush was David Fernandes, so similar names. He also coded Entity which I really liked. Alain Fernandes is David's brother and was the one working on Lightquest. A real fantasy coup for Commodore would have been to fund the finishing of Lightquest and make it smoother and even more beautiful for an AGA launch title.

The graphics really are the star though in this game, the asteroid level and the winter level for example would look good on a 1994 SNES game and this is a 1991 coded game from a 1985 chipset.

Wow sorry you're absolutely right. The "Fernand-" part and the french origin of the game misled me