"Sinistar" FAQ version 1.0 (02/01/2004) Copyright Martin Dale-Hench 2004 (hockeyfox@ameritech.net) ___ ____ _ _ ____ ___ ____ __ ____ / __)(_ _)( \( )(_ _)/ __)(_ _) /__\ ( _ \ \__ \ _)(_ ) ( _)(_ \__ \ )( /(__)\ ) / (___/(____)(_)\_)(____)(___/ (__)(__)(__)(_)\_) ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 1.0 About the Game 2.0 FAQ 2.1 Controls 2.2 Playing Field 2.3 Scoring 2.4 Game Basics 2.5 Tips 2.6 255 Lives Trick 3.0 Disclaimer/Thanks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.0 ABOUT THE GAME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First of all, I played this game via the collection/compliation disc for Dreamcast, entitled "Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits", which I wrote a FAQ for, so I don't own the real arcade thing nor have played it in the real thing. Therefore, if you have ANYTHING that you want me to add, PLEASE do feel free to contact me. Thanks! Sinistar was regarded as one of the toughest games ever made when it was being released by Williams back in 1982. And the toughness still stands today, even with the introduction of a new dimension, 3-D. It was the first arcade game to utilize a 49-way (!) joystick. This way, you could ACCURATELY point your ship to your desired location. Therefore, this made this game easy and smooth to play. However, the steep curve of learning level offsetted (a word?) the effect. Beacause of the strict difficulty, it gathered some die-hards as followers. Over time, it slowly faded into the world of unknowns. Even with the innovative layout, the meancing laugh of Sinistar couldn't be saved. However, you can still enjoy it! :) If you want some more information, look into those sites: http://www.sinistar.com/ http://www.klov.com/S/Sinistar.html http://epg3.tripod.com/sinistar.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.0 FAQ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------ 2.1 Controls ------------ Control Stick : Move Ship Fire Button : Fire Bomb Button : Bomb ----------------- 2.2 Playing Field ----------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |# OF BOMBS \\\| |/// | | SCORE \\\| |/// | |BONUS AT XXXX \\\| MAP |/// | | LIVES \\\| |/// | | \\| |// | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | GAME SCREEN | | | | | | | | | | /\ | | /\/\ | | YOUR SHIP | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ ----------- 2.3 Scoring ----------- Planetoids : 5 Points Workers : 150 Points Crystals : 200 Points Warriors : 500 Points Sinistar Pieces : 500 Points Sinistar : 15000 Points --------------- 2.4 Game Basics --------------- Objective of the Game - Your heroic mission is to destroy the Sinistar before it can do too much. You have to collect rare Materials stored within the Planetoids to create bombs that will blow the michevious Sinistar away. However, there are Workers and Warriors that will try to avert this fate. Controlling Your Ship - Really simple. You just use the D-Pad to move (WOW!) and use A to fire. Pick up enough Materials and you can use bombs (B button). The world in Sinistar is spherical so there is no borders... if you go one way, you will eventually return to the same position, though you probably won't notice it. Materials - Like I said, the Materials are hidden within the Planetoids (floating boulders). Shoot them with your standard fire and one or two will pop way, shimmering. Fly into it to collect it. You should stock up about 15~20 bombs before facing Sinistar. A Material yields a bomb, which I adamantly believe. Enemies - WORKERS, the red 'miners', will scully around, amongst themselves, and attempt to bump into you. Will they kill your ship? Nah. Instead, they will STEAL your bombs! As long you keep moving and firing, you shouldn't have any trouble with them. WARRIORS, the flying tanks, are drones that fire a single missile at a time. They are the only ones that may destroy your ship other than Sinistar. Handle them at once. Sinistar - Sinistar are constantly on the 'revive' mode, if you know what I mean. His Workers are always repairing him into the behemoth as you see him. At the start of the level, he has zero pieces on him. His workers, as you search among the Planetoids for the bombs, are building him up from zero to 20. There are 13 'sections', so you have to use 13 bombs to destroy him. To those who are wondering, 7 pieces makes a face, which is one section. When his construction is complete, he will head directly for you. He can be seen as the large yellow dot on the map if he's nearby. Waves - There are 4 waves in all and they repeat. They are: WORKER ZONE: Higher population of the workers swarm here. WARRIOR ZONE: Higher population of the warriors swarm here. PLANETOID ZONE: More Planetoids! VOID ZONE: Planetoid are rare here, easily making this the hardest level. -------- 2.5 Tips -------- -Concentrate on collecting the Materials instead of the heavily-populated Workers. Except if there's a Warrior nearby, then you should take care of it first. -Do not fire continously against the plantetoids... Destroying them only gives you 5 points and it won't break loose any Materials. Instead, tap the fire button to release scarce fire so the planetoid won't break open. That way, you will get more Materials out from a Planetoid. -Don't let any of the Workers stick to you. Bumping them out will work, you won't lose any bombs that way. -Listen to this when you're playing as a clue: "BEWARE, I LIVE!". This signals as the completion of Sinistar's production. Therefore, he will begin heading for you. Collect the final Materials and get ready! -You should have at least 13 bombs in all, because that's how many bombs a Sinistar needs to be 'felled'. -The bombs will home itself to Sinistar so there is no need for 'aiming'. However, if a bomb hits something else (Worker/Warrior/Planetoid), it will fail its objective. A message saying "Sinibomb Intercepted" will be on the top left corner, just below your lives and score. To prevent this from happening, release bombs when the Sinistar is in the playing screen. -DO NOT try to out-run Sinistar! It is absolutely useless, because he is way more faster than you are. Instead, use your agility to out-manuever him. Go around him in large ovals and drop off bombs as you pass him. -If you successfully completed a Zone, you will appear in the next Zone with Sinistar resting in just 2 screen widths north of you. You could use this as an advantage and destory him before his Workers revives him completely. -If you run out of bombs, Sinistar will retreat and re-build as you collect more bombs. -Keep moving! Good luck, my friend! ------------------- 2.6 255 Lives Trick ------------------- When you're down to your last life, allow yourself to be sucked into Sinistar with a Warrior (or two or whatever) nearby. Try to draw/time the Warrior so that it would shoot at you when you're getting sucked by Sinistar. Getting sucked by Sinistar equals 1 life, bu so does getting hit by a bullet! Therefore, you would lose TWO lives! Your life bar would become "-1". If this happens, the number resets to the MAXIMUM, which is 255! Whoo! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.0 DISCLAIMER/THANKS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- Disclaimer ---------- I don't mind having my FAQs posted on other sites, but I don't fancy having them posted without my knowledge. Just ask me and I will gladly allow you to do so. my e-mail is hockeyfox@ameritech.net. The following FAQs has my permission: www.gamefaqs.com faqs.ign.com www.neoseeker.com ------ Thanks ------ -Williams for staying true to their games. -Midway for providing me the collection of Williams games. -The mandatory CJayC thanks. OMG I LUV U CEEJ! ;D -War Doc for the inspiration of the format and the FAQ. -You! ________) _____ __ __) (, / (, / (, /| / /___, / / | / ) / ___/__ ) / |/ (_/ (__ / (_/ ' Copyright Martin Dale-Hench 2004