Stargunner
| Stargunner | |
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| Developer(s) | Independent Australian Developers |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Engine | Custom |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Windows (Windows XP and later via DOSBox) |
| Release | November 19, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Stargunner is a 1996 horizontal scrolling shooter computer game published by Apogee Software and released for MS-DOS and Windows.
Stargunner was one of the earliest shoot-em-up games to use pre-rendering for enabling 3D graphics, similarly to games like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct.
Its three registered episodes each followed a specific setting with complementary enemies (space, land, and underwater); the introductory (shareware) episode providing a sampling from all three themes.
Stargunner uses a credit system similar to that of Raptor: Call of the Shadows, with little emphasis on power-ups.
On June 22, 2005, Stargunner was released as freeware.
In total there are 33 levels, known as Stages, to play in Stargunner, divided into four separate parts or episodes:
The following is the system specifications as transcribed in the playing manual:
The game has two separate storylines; those being the one described in the official playing manual included with the CD-ROM copy and the one which is found on the 3D Realms/Apogee website and portrayed in the game itself.
The huge carrier ships of Barak entered Amdara space with signs of friendship and cooperation. The peaceful Amdarans welcomed them and helped them colonize a nearby planet. But soon after, the masked Barakians revealed themselves as a warring race with conquest in their blood. Now two thousand years have passed.
Locked and beaten down in a staggering war, the Amdarans have one final hope before surrendering to the overwhelming Barakian forces. The Amdarans have trained an elite squad for an offensive strike design to cripple three strongholds on Barak, where the majority of Barak's space fleets are amassed. If the offensive strike team can surprise the Barakians on their own planet and destroy most of their fleet, then hope is not lost for the Amdarans.
The people of Amdara have nicknamed their elite force the "StarGunners".
In the far distant future, an epic war for survival takes place...
Deep within the Andromeda galaxy, the people of Zile grow restless--and greedy. The Zilions secretly prepare for a massive strike against the nearby planet Ytima. Fearing such an attack the Ytimians train an elite squad of "Stargunners." Their mission: To strike the planet Zile first, and cripple the Zilions three strongholds, where the Zilion war fleets await the launch order. If the Stargunners can surprise the Zilions on their own planet, and destroy most of their fleet, then good will triumph at least one more time.
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Wikipedia