The Real Star Raiders II

[MaximumRD]

Caught this post on Facebook so I am sharing here - 

 

Original post by ‎Kevin Savetz‎ 

 

Released for the first time today — a holiday present from Aric Wilmunder: the unreleased, almost-finished sequel to Star Raiders for the Atari 8-bits. He created and developed it while working in the R&D lab of Atari coin-op.

 

(This is not the Last Straighter rebranded game. Aric told me, “When The Last Starfighter didn’t do well in the theaters and marketing re-branded the Atari 800 Last Starfighter game as Star Raiders II, they didn’t take into account that there was already an actual sequel to Star Raiders that was just a few months away from completion. I was the designer and solo engineer who worked for about a year on the project as a member of an R&D team inside Atari Coin-Op.")

My interview with Aric is published on the ANTIC podcast today.

 

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-104-aric-wilmunder-star-raiders-ii-temple-of-apshai

 

Here's video of it in action:

 

 

The ATR File and Documentation:

https://archive.org/details/StarRaidersII_Wilmunder

[RickR]

I second what Lost Dragon said.  It's an amazing discovery! 

 

Star Raiders is one of my favorite games of ALL TIME.  To have found Star Raiders II, and be able to play it -- OMG!  The only disappointment I can possibly think of is that Star Raiders programmer Doug Neubauer wasn't involved.  I wonder why? 

 

Thank you so much for posting this. 

[Bakerman]

I have to repeat Lost Dragon, bloody amazing! Finally a true sequel! How far from completion is this actually, it looks pretty complete to me from the video (though I only watched like 2 min. before having to comment.
I am a fan of the re-branded Star Raiders II, and the actual Star Fighter version that was released some years ago, with the Frontier included and all. But this "3D" Star Raiders II is the best yet! Of love this early "3D" stuff, whether vector like Battlezone and Mercenary, or 3D "dot" style like this. Now I really have to dig my 1200XL out of storage and repair it, just so I can play this!

 

Bloody amazing!

 

Now, where's that unheard of lost copy of Atari 8-bit Elite?
It's stuff like this, popping up 31 years after the fact, out of no where, and the other stuff that Lost Dragon mentioned above, that still makes me believe we are still not finished having "lost" games suddenly show up for every Atari from the 2600 to the Jaguar. And all other vintage consoles too! As I like to say: Never say never. In what can be found, and in what a system is actually capable of in the right programmer's hands. Often beyond what the designers and engineers even thought possible! Any time someone tells me something is impossible, the only thing I think is that they just don't have the imagination or capacity themselves.

 

The best thing to happen to Atari 8-bits in maybe forever, but at least since we got that incredible version of Space Harrier.

[Justin]

This is absolutely.. incredible. Not simply that this game turned up out of no where, but that the visual effects are so stunning.  

[The Professor]

I was waiting for this to be a hoax until I saw it with my own two eyes. That this even exists is amazing.

[LeeJ07]

Makes one wonder what other lost and unknown prototypes are still out there...

[MaximumRD]

My understanding is this was the original sequel as planned for the Atari 8-bit line only.

[The Professor]

Star Raiders was so well known on Atari 2600 it's likely there would have been one developed after this was released. Had things been different and Warner not sold off Atari, we could have seen Star Raiders II come to the 7800!

[Justin]

Willie! posted a wonderful review of this game, I wanted to share it here in the Star Raiders II thread. Enjoy:

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I'm playing this game now and trying to learn how to play it.  So far I like what I see but I orbited a planet and don't know what the h - e - double hockey sticks I'm suppose to do when that happens.  

 

In all fairness, this game reminds me of Star Voyager for the NES with the planet landing and such.  I always did say that Star Voyager was a steroid-enhanced version of Star Raiders.  Star Raiders II official release was not bad, good challenge, but just didn't feel like a Star Raiders game to me.  Now this shows up and it is immediately recognizable as a Star Raiders game of some sort.  I like what it has done to move the "series", if you want to call it that, forward with new and interesting features.

 

My all-time favorite game is Star Raiders on the 5200.  During 2005 I picked up an 800 and bought Star Raiders and Star Raiders II.  I immediately played Star Raiders when they arrived.  So I am giving this game a fair amount of time to learn the do's and don'ts with the game.  I plan to write a review on the game once I learn it.  So far it's good if not a bit more complicated to figure out.