Date   : Thu, 22 Feb 2001 18:28:53 -0000
From   : "Dave Moore" <davem@...>
Subject: re: Sinistar vs. Deathstar

> I was wondering whether anyone could tell me more about the relation
between
> Sinistar (Atarisoft) and Deathstar (Superior Software). The reason is that
> the games are remarkably similar. They even share some of the same
> deviations from the arcade original Sinistar. Moreover, the author of
> Sinistar is Peter Johnson, who also used to write for Superior.

Sinistar = Deathstar
Deathstar = Sinistar

The same game, by the same author.

Atarisoft, who owned the official Sinistar license, decided to abandon the
Acorn scene whilst certain projects were in mid-production (or even
finished, as was the case with Sini). So the BBC version of Sinistar never
got released - any versions you come across will be 'leaked' versions.

But Peter re-badged the program and sold it on to Superior instead. Have you
tried it on a BBC fitted with Acorn Speech chips? ;-)

There's also an unreleased version of Crystal Castles (also by Peter
Johnson) floating around, complete with 'Atarisoft' headers. The game did
get released eventually (through US Gold) but only after a two year delay.

There's some more information here:
http://www.stairwaytohell.com/authors/pjohnson/PRO-PJohnson.html


Dave.