Dark Star (1984)

Dark Star is a space shoot-em-up released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum 48K. Published by Design Design Software, the game was created by a team including Simon Brattel, Neil Mottershead, Graham Stafford, and Jon Ritman. The title is based on the film by Jack H. Harris Enterprises.

This single-player arcade game utilizes vector graphics and border effects to create its visual style. Players can customize their experience through redefineable keys.

The game retailed for £7.5 on cassette. Beyond the ZX Spectrum, it was also released for the Amstrad CPC platform. The package included a password-protected utility called Spectacle as a bonus.

The title received an average magazine score of 83.40% across five reviews. It earned the Crash Smash award from Crash, the PCG Hit designation from Personal Computer Games, and the PCN Star Game title from Personal Computer News.

The game did not gain significant popularity in Russia. During the nineties, it was available through TR-DOS versions by groups such as Phantom Ltd and Digital Reality, alongside various cracked cassette releases.