Star Soldier

Space Invaders

North American cover art

Developer:	Hudson Soft
Release date:	NES: June 13, 1986 MSX: 1986

Star Soldier

Star Soldier is an arcade-style vertical shooter released by Hudson Soft in 1986 for the Famicom and MSX in Japan, and in 1989 for the NES in North America. Building upon other mid-80s shmups, Star Soldier is a fast-paced and agile, yet simple shmup. Being designed specifically with Hudson’s Caravan Festival competition in mind, Star Soldier places heavy emphasis on enemy quantity, variety, and competitive high-scores.

The resulting success of the title would lead to numerous sequels, spinoffs, and crossovers. The continued success of Hudson’s Caravan competition would also give rise to similar shmup tournaments from other publishers, such as Naxat Soft’s Summer Carnival, further expanding the competitive shmup audience in Japan.

Story

“A strange and evil presence is lurking in space. Crushing Everything in its path, destroying spaceships full of innocent people, the fearsome Starbrain is threatening the entire Galactic Empire. Starbrain, a giant computer programmed only for destruction, inhabits an enormous space station, guarded by enemy ships and robot creatures. To penetrate the station is a job for the most skillful and experienced Star Soldier: you! You'll be piloting Caesar, the fastest fighter ship in the Galactic Fleet, with an awesome arsenal of weapons at your fingertips. Only you can end the brutal Starbrain's spree of destruction, and restore peace to the galaxy!” - North American Manual

Gameplay Overview

The gameplay of Star Soldier is relatively simple. Stages scroll vertically and enemy attacks consist primarily of small aimed shots. There is a greater emphasis on large enemy quantities and environmental elements than on-screen bullets. Upgrades are hidden within ground targets marked with a “P” and can be collected after the player has sufficiently damaged them.

Upgrades increase both the rate of fire and directions of fire as the player collects them, totaling to five simultaneous directions when fully upgraded. If the player picks up another upgrade after Caesar has already reached its maximum fire power, the screen will flash and they will become invincible for a brief period.

There are a total of 16 stages with 2 alternating bosses. If the player fails to defeat the boss within a given time-limit, the player is brought back to the midway point of the level and they must clear it once more until they successfully defeat the end-stage boss.

Controls

Star Soldier is a one-button shooter. There is a low-rate negligible auto-fire that greatly increases once as the player collects their first upgrade. Movement is 8-directional and environments scroll vertically. Movement is relatively agile for a shooter of the period.

Trap Zones

A unique feature of levels in Star Soldier are so-called “Trap Zones”. Throughout the levels, the player can dive in the background and become protected against enemy bullets and collisions. During this state, the player is also unable to return fire or collect items.

Strategy

With such a simple premise, the best strategy for Star Soldier is to eliminate enemies as quickly as possible before they progress to a point-blank range. Ground targets can interfere with the player’s range, but can be quickly disbursed.

While trap zones are beneficial for avoiding excessive quantities of enemies or fire, it is relatively easy for a player to accidentally duck under them and risk losing out on points and upgrades.

The best way to avoid unintentionally ducking under trap zones is to avoid moving towards those level-elements from a plan background. Moving onto trap zones while flying above other background elements ensures that Caesar won’t accidentally move underneath them in the middle of combat or while pursuing an upgrade.

Trivia

Star Soldier was created to be a spiritual successor to Tehkan’s arcade title Star Force, following the success of the Hudson-developed port of Star Force to the Famicom both commercially and in the first Caravan Festival.