Too lame for Stardust?

[Maverick]

I tried Stardust yesterday. Nice asteroids variant, but I don't even survive the first six levels.
The shots are not very powerful and there's no space for evasion maneuvers. Even though I think I'm not too bad in maneuvering, there's just too much stuff flying around.
OK, I rarely touched a joystick in the last 5 years but I didn't expect it to be that bad.
So is this game really that hard or am I missing something? What about the extra weapons? When I get one and press the space bar, I can see it there, but I can't select it. What do I need for being able to use it?
Please tell me that I'm not just getting old.

[Captain_ Kal]

Don't worry. I had the same problems 15 years ago. It's too difficult.

[wanderer]

Originally Posted by Maverick

So is this game really that hard or am I missing something? What about the extra weapons? When I get one and press the space bar, I can see it there, but I can't select it. What do I need for being able to use it?

Hmm, I've played the CD32 version and remember that frenetic thrusting won't help at all. Just be calm, cool, silent and as still as possible.Yeah it's a shmup, but slow, delicate movements will get you through in this one. (not in the tunnel sections though ). Can't help you with the extra weapons, try remapping the keyboard controls.

Originally Posted by Maverick

Please tell me that I'm not just getting old.

Nah, I've figured that (retro)gaming is like cycling and love-making. You never completely "forget", even if aeons had passed. It'll get back if you persist. Guaranteed.

[Chuckles]

Originally Posted by wanderer

Nah, I've figured that (retro)gaming is like cycling and love-making. You never completely "forget", even if aeons had passed. It'll get back if you persist. Guaranteed.

Of course, for those of us who sucked at playing the games way back then, it comes back even faster!

[wanderer]

Originally Posted by Chuckles

Of course, for those of us who sucked at playing the games way back then, it comes back even faster!

Yeah, it's the revenge of the blind zombies ! The guys that could never reach the high-score table, even if the last entry scored 000200 points !! Can't forget when a nerd-Pc type guy came over and tried Super Stardust out. This game actually labels you, according to high-score and performance. For the first and last time in my life I saw Super Stardust give justice to his type, returning this when he smashed into every possible asteroid a couple of seconds later: he was a Blind Zombie !!! (he actually looked liked that come to think of it)

[mr_a500]

I couldn't survive the first 6 levels either. It's even harder for me because I have an NTSC Amiga and part of the screen is not visible (running in PAL mode), so I occasionally get blown up by something I can't see.

I just gave up and only play the game once a year to see the nice graphics (especially the ship in the intro!).

[plasmatron]

Destroyed the first boss several times. But after that, but the second zone is hard as hell,

To activate a weapon, you have to press the SPACE bar, to get into the weapon select scren.
After that you have to move the blinking point to the wapon you want, and select / deselect it by keeping the fire button pressed, and move to left or right.

[Maverick]

by keeping the fire button pressed, and move to left or right.

Ah, keeping the button pressed - OK, I'll try that.
In the meanwhile I switched the game to 7 lives and managed to get to the first boss, but he just took my remaining five lives and that was it
Are the extra weapons of any help or is there a trick to defeat this boss?
I read something about missiles, where do I get and how do I use them?

is like cycling and love-making. You never completely "forget",

Since I have a son I completely forgot how love-making works

[Mad-Matt]

The first boss is fairly easy. you just have to keep moving. when hes on one side of the screen. goto the other so hes firing in completely wrong way. use the shields only when you see no way to avoid certain projectiles. Charge up other special weapons before you get to the boss stage and that can help to. (as i recall you only lose the weapon powerup of the weapon thats enabled when you die, any others you hold arnt effected). Also its much easier to play on a joypad as aposed to a joystick

[Maverick]

when hes on one side of the screen. goto the other so hes firing in completely wrong way.

But then I'm also not able to hit him when he has opened it's hull to fire.

[Mad-Matt]

if you have weapons powered up it shouldnt be a problem. If you want the fast and dirty approach, and may take a few goes is to know roughly when hes gonna open up , and then fly in and hold ya shield on while ya in its centre, it will do craploads of damage and will set you up for those last few shots needed.

[plasmatron]

The flame thrower is very powerfull. But it has a very short range.

[gimbal]

For me, I get pretty far in the game by doing the following:

- when in a screen with many enemies / rocks, I use the flamer + shield early on to destroy as many enemies / rocks as possible, then clean up the rest with a longer range weapon. This will require some shield bonus hunting (either that or extra life bonusses...)

- when moving around, I always try to get back to the center when I'm done collecting a bonus, because there the rocks give you the least surprise when appearing from the side of the screen.

- each boss has a specific trick to beat it (the first one is pretty easy, you have to find a spot close to the hull where he can't hit you, but you can hit him AFAICR).

- in the tunnel sequences, I try to stay at the bottom as much as possible, because then your ship is not blocking the view so much. Move up and immediately down again when a rock is flying in low. I never shoot in the tunnel, it seems pointless. The rocks take ages to blow up. When you enter that "MUST... KILL... EVIL... ROCK!" mode you'll only end up crashing into it.

- I tought myself to activate the shield automatically when my brain goes into "OMG! OMG! WHAT DO I DO? WHERE DO I GO?" mode. This is a HUGE help.


I love Stardust, it has a great soundtrack and it can actually nail you to the edge of your seat (or to the ceiling, when your butt keeps getting kicked by rocks).

[Maverick]

you have to find a spot close to the hull where he can't hit you, but you can hit him

This is what I also found out yesterday, but I wasn't able to kill him this way as it's quite hard to reach this position before he starts shooting.

if you have weapons powered up it shouldnt be a problem.

Looks like I always get the wrong stuff. All I got was this bouncer which I found rather useless, at least for the problems I was facing.
I finally managed to defeat the first boss by simply moving close to one of the points where his hull openes up and just shooting inside. I did not perform any evasive maneuvers as his shots cover the whole screen anyway. Instead I used the shield briefly when he fired in my direction. You can do this up to four times before your shield is gone.
Alas, I don't have enough time to make a few games in series, but I'll try again soon.
And after every game the status screen tells me how many shots and missiles I have fired. So what are these missiles? Do I have to collect and use them like the other extra weapons or do I already have them from the start and a special key has to be pressed to use them?

[Maverick]

Made it to the cybercity yesterday and now it's starting to become ridiculous. Is there any way to survive these strange amiga balls or the bombers? They're just rushing through the screen, hitting your ship before you're even able to react.
What a pity, this could have been such a nice shmup game if they had chosen a somewhat reasonable difficulty level. May be I'll try again, but I found the second level so annoying that don't even want to see the third one.

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by Captain_ Kal

Don't worry. I had the same problems 15 years ago. It's too difficult.

It's not, i completed it a few years ago . Quite difficult, but not impossible . Super Stardust is easier .

[Maverick]

It's not, i completed it a few years ago

How long did you practice?

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by Maverick

How long did you practice?

Quite long

[gimbal]

Most Amiga games require huge amounts of practice before you can even make it halfway through the game. Compared to some Psygnosis titels or a certain sideway scrolling shoot em up by Team 17, Stardust is not much of a challenge :s