|
1983-1984
Although it enjoyed a reputation as a leader in innovative
entertainment and educational software in the home computer
market, First Star almost went unnoticed as far as console
gaming was concerned. In fact, their only cartridge based
game was a mildly enjoyable Q*Bert spin-off for the VCS -- hardly
the kind of stuff that legends are made of. Their only other
contribution to home video games was in the licensing and
development of their hit computer game, Astro Chase,
to Parker Brothers for the Atari 5200 and 2600 (the latter was
announced by Parker Brothers and later sold to Atari, but never
saw the light of day).
Boing! was First Star's token entry in the 2600
sweepstakes and it required the gamer to jump onto blocks in order
to change them all to the same color (sound familiar?). You're
being chased by a soap bubble and a pin, and can move around to
use the pin to burst the bubble. The game does suffer from
flickering and the graphics and sound are very simple. But to
its credit, it is rather addicting, and later rounds offer a
decent challenge.
First Star has the distinction of being the first company to have
a home version of a hit game to be later released in Arcade format.
Boulder Dash was released into the arcades 4 different times:
first by Exidy, then Data East, then Arcadia Systems (Mastertronics) and
then by Data East again. In December of 1984, it was announced that Warner
Software, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Publishing, Inc., had acquired a
substantial interest in First Star. The company still exists to this day,
although we are unsure whether they are an independent entity or a subsidiary
of another company. They have either licensed or developed such titles
as Spy vs. Spy, Boulder Dash and
Superman for the NES, Game Boy and Sega Master System.
Astro Chase was redone in the mid-'90s by First Star as
Astro Chase 3D and licensed to Mac Play/Interplay as a very
successful Macintosh title. They also ported Boulder Dash for
the Palm pilot and are in negotiations with no less than two major publishers
for a total revision of this classic. As classic games are taking off again
and Sega's Dreamcast machine is announced they have been approached to
facilitate redesiging Boulder Dash to maximize its addictive
game play utilizing today's vastly more powerful platforms.
|
