Is it just me or is Sinistar really freakin' hard??

[courtesi96]

My nephew/niece bought me Williams Collection for the Gameboy Advance over the holiday. And although I enjoy most of them, I really love Sinistar. But damn! It's brutal! I don't know if a Joystick would help but I have a hard time grabbing onto the crystals.

Any advice?

[NE146]

Well considering the game had a 49 direction joystick, converting it to 8 directions just doesnt cut it for moving around too well.

But yes. Sinistar is indeed a hard game. Too hard in my opinion, and not masterable. (i.e. you can never get "good" at it to a point no matter how much you practice). That's why I think it's one of the weakest in the Williams classic catalog... although definitely one of the coolest vibed ones.

[Technosis]

Well considering the game had a 49 direction joystick, converting it to 8 directions just doesnt cut it for moving around too well.

But yes. Sinistar is indeed a hard game. Too hard in my opinion, and not masterable. (i.e. you can never get "good" at it to a point no matter how much you practice). That's why I think it's one of the weakest in the Williams classic catalog... although definitely one of the coolest vibed ones.

I don't think I ever seen this one in the arcades.......I wouldn't necessarily call it one of the weakest...as I'd rate it ahead of say Bubbles and Blaster (but that's just my opinion.....)

[Neo Rasa]

RUN COWARD!

I had a friend who never played it before that finally got to try it when Midway Arcade Treasures came out. He knew absolutely nothing about the game and since it he was tired and it was very late when he was trying it, he really did jump out of his seat when Sinistar first entered the scene.

That little animation of your ship getting sucked into his mechanical maw and blown apart, priceless.

I did play this in the arcades quite a bit, I can say it's just as brutally difficult with the real deal as it is with a directional pad. You can play more efficiently but the enemies get real aggressive real fast once you actually start destroying Sinistar successfully.

[Technosis]

RUN COWARD!

I had a friend who never played it before that finally got to try it when Midway Arcade Treasures came out. He knew absolutely nothing about the game and since it he was tired and it was very late when he was trying it, he really did jump out of his seat when Sinistar first entered the scene.

Sinistar freaks out young childen too

[Ze_ro]

The game play was not supposed to be quite so difficult, but just before production started, the upper-management decided to make the game harder.

I think I remember something like this being mentioned in one of the interviews on Midway Arcade Treasures too... I don't remember the details or the reasoning though.

--Zero

[skaar]

Sinistar Wants Your Quarters For His Beef Min.

[GarrettCRW]

Sinistar is so bad, he makes Joe's Evil Otto avatar run away while screaming like a little girl.

[NE146]

I don't think I ever seen this one in the arcades.......I wouldn't necessarily call it one of the weakest...as I'd rate it ahead of say Bubbles and Blaster (but that's just my opinion.....)

Well, the group I was thinking about is pretty much the Williams most famous core 4. i.e.

Defender/Stargate
Robotron
Joust
Sinistar

And although in the rest you can have elegent gameplay where you can tell someone is amazing in the game, you'll just never see that kind of thing happening in Sinistar Sinistar basically is shoving a joystick around firing as much as you can. Not really any chance of gameplay finesse or skill building unlike in the other games. BUT.. it does have the atmosphere and cool factor, so that makes it popular. Heck, I wouldn't mind having one myself

[Zing]

I played the hell out of this game on the PS1 arcade treasure disc. The best I could do was reach the third level, and I only did that once. It is insane.

[theshizzle3000]

My nephew/niece bought me Williams Collection for the Gameboy Advance over the holiday. And although I enjoy most of them, I really love Sinistar. But damn! It's brutal! I don't know if a Joystick would help but I have a hard time grabbing onto the crystals.

Any advice?

Is it harder than Battletoads that games just cruelty.

[98PaceCar]

A buddy of mine has a nice cockpit cab in his collection and I always manage to just beat out whatever high score he has on it. It's gotten to be a bit of a running joke with him. It was really sad when I beat my old high score (somewhere around 180,000 or so) at his halloween party... while wearing a straitjacket (I was unstrapped, but still didn't have my hands free)!

Course, it's one of the few games I practice on, just to stay ahead of his score!

[Technosis]

Originally Posted by KLOV
The game play was not supposed to be quite so difficult, but just before production started, the upper-management decided to make the game harder.

I think I remember something like this being mentioned in one of the interviews on Midway Arcade Treasures too... I don't remember the details or the reasoning though.

I prefer a game to be really difficult. That's what keeps it challenging. I'm not sure that the Williams games like Robotron or Defender would have acheived such legendary status if they were cakewalks. :-)

[Mayhem]

Best I've done is level 5 and that was on the real machine a few years back.

[NE146]

I prefer a game to be really difficult. That's what keeps it challenging. I'm not sure that the Williams games like Robotron or Defender would have acheived such legendary status if they were cakewalks. :-)

But see, Robotron and Defender are challenging and difficult. But you can get amazing on them! When you see a good player on those machines, you KNOW they're good

Sinistar is just artifically difficult since all you really can do is push the joystick in a direction and shoot as fast as you can. There's pretty much no room for finesse in the game. Like you aint going to see someone dodging shots and enemies with skill like you see in Defender. Just my opinion

[Damaramu]

I've always found this game to be insanely difficult. I've never gotten far in this game and probably never will.

[blissfulnoise]

But see, Robotron and Defender are challenging and difficult. But you can get amazing on them! When you see a good player on those machines, you KNOW they're good

Sinistar is just artifically difficult since all you really can do is push the joystick in a direction and shoot as fast as you can. There's pretty much no room for finesse in the game. Like you aint going to see someone dodging shots and enemies with skill like you see in Defender. Just my opinion

I've got to disagree there. While a lot of the game focuses on random elements you can use the environment to a large advantage.

Since you can outmaneuver all other ships by turning on a dime, you can use the planetoids around your ship to 'check' your opponents. So the skill element becomes how fast you can break out of position and find cover. This becomes a vital skill by the Warrior Zone.

You can also shoot down enemy shots. While it can be maddeningly hard (maybe even impossible) to do it reliably, it still adds a strong element of skill in being able to make that 180 degree turn and take down incoming fire.

A game like Defender may give you more "wiggle-room" on skilled play, but Sinistar certainly isn't devoid of it, it just is obfuscated behind a wall that looks a lot like luck. Robotron is a closer match due to the "trance" or "zen" style play that both games exhibit.

That said, if you can get to the Void Zone, all bets are off since you're pretty much in open space.

[NE146]

I've got to disagree there. While a lot of the game focuses on random elements you can use the environment to a large advantage.

Since you can outmaneuver all other ships by turning on a dime, you can use the planetoids around your ship to 'check' your opponents. So the skill element becomes how fast you can break out of position and find cover. This becomes a vital skill by the Warrior Zone.

You can also shoot down enemy shots. While it can be maddeningly hard (maybe even impossible) to do it reliably, it still adds a strong element of skill in being able to make that 180 degree turn and take down incoming fire.

A game like Defender may give you more "wiggle-room" on skilled play, but Sinistar certainly isn't devoid of it, it just is obfuscated behind a wall that looks a lot like luck. Robotron is a closer match due to the "trance" or "zen" style play that both games exhibit.

That said, if you can get to the Void Zone, all bets are off since you're pretty much in open space.

Allright man. Let me put it this way. If I could actually see someone get good enough in Sinistar to reach 30 stages or so.. I'll eat my hat

I know it's probably been done, but out of all my arcade life, I have yet to see ANYONE really "good" at the game. Myself included.. I think the highest I've ever gotten was stage 4

[Graham Mitchell]

Has anyone actually seen the 255 lives trick in action?

[JohnnyBlaze]

The first time I played Sinistar was on the PSP version of Midway Arcade Treasures. I basically turned it off after two minutes. I just couldn't figure out what to do. "Get Crystals"....uhhh....yeah...and how am I supposed to do that? Then, when you get in close to get the perfect shot at Sinistar, he sucks you up and that's it.ARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!