Retrospective: Stardust

By Martyn Carroll Published 19 February, 2012

Rock blockin' beats.

"It's a gamer's game."

You've heard that one before. A game, made by gamers, for gamers. A proper game.

Sounds perfect. But doesn't this apply to every game? Surely all game developers are gamers at heart, who enjoy playing titles created by their peers? I assumed so, but having interviewed a fair few developers over the years, I'm surprised at how many claim that they don't actually play others people's games. I recently met a well-known coder who's been making games for almost 30 years and he told me that the last game he played to any degree was Tomb Raider, in 1996. He said he had neither the time nor inclination these days.

One developer I interviewed who certainly doesn't follow that trend is Harri Tikkanen. Harri is co-founder of Housemarque, the Finnish development studio best known for the recent Super Stardust games on PlayStation 3, PSP and now PS Vita. Yet the series actually predates the PlayStation brand itself, with the first Stardust game debuting on the Commodore Amiga in 1993.

Harri was Stardust's chief coder and designer, leading a small, talented team that was active in the Amiga demo scene. Given their background, it's hardly surprising that their first commercial offering was a technically brilliant showcase title designed to push the aging Amiga hardware to its limits.

1

One of the early stages and things are already hotting up.

Stardust was Asteroids on steroids. There were already Asteroids clones on the Amiga - the machine's vast PD library was littered with them - yet Stardust looked like a game arriving from the future rather than one dragged from the past. It was among the first titles to make full use of ray-tracing, resulting in animated graphics that simply popped off the screen. The asteroids, in particular, looked brilliant as they slowly spun into view before being blasted into smaller and smaller chunks by your tiny ship.

The production and presentation was top notch throughout. And of course everything was accompanied by that requisite of 90's shooters - a ravey "let's av it!" dance soundtrack that thumped away as you played. Stardust's music was familiar but better than most, becoming faster and more frantic as the on-screen action escalated to frankly ridiculous levels.

In addition to the main shooting stages, the game boasted a couple of extra sections designed to show off some technical tricks. The first was a parallax-scrolling underwater section where you used Thrust-style controls to guide your ship through a series of tricky caverns in search of useful upgrades. It was the second one, however, that really dropped jaws. The famous warp sequence saw you hurtling along a 3D tunnel with obstacles and enemies whizzing towards you. It was a stunning effect and instantly became something Amiga owners used to demonstrate the graphical grunt of their computer. Even console kids were impressed.

2

Given the detailed backdrops, the graphics needed to be big and bold.

Such is the sequence's impact, Harri reveals that he still gets emails from people asking how he managed it. He's tight-lipped when answering though, referring to it as merely a 'simple trick'. Even developers of the day were baffled. Graftgold's Andrew Braybrook took a look at the code and determined that it was indeed a fairly straightforward technique involving a series of animated screens that were twice as large as the Amiga's display. But like all the good tricks, perhaps we shouldn't strip away the magic by revealing the secret.

Despite the hocus-pocus on show, Stardust was much more than fancy tech demo. It took the classic gameplay of Asteroids and enhanced it by adding pick-ups, multiple weapons, dozens of different alien craft and big, silly end-of-level bosses. It was undeniably fun to play and the only thing that really spoilt it was the difficulty level.

The game was just too hard, even in the early stages. The team clearly fell into that common trap of ramping up the difficulty, as they'd been playing it for hours every day during development and assumed it was too easy. Your ship did have invincibility shields and smart bombs which were useful for escaping tight spots, yet the chief adversary in many stages was not the on-screen hazards but the ticking clock of doom in the corner. Each stage had to be cleared within a time limit that was sometimes horribly tight. You couldn't afford to be cautious - you had to attack from the get-go.

3

The famous warp sequence. A static screenshot really doesn't do it justice.

If you did somehow manage to complete all 33 stages, the end credits revealed a rather sweet surprise. No, not 'greetz' to fellow sceners, but rather a list of the team's favourite Amiga games and the programmers who made them, including Another World (Eric Chahi), Frontier: Elite II (David Braben) and Stunt Car Racer (Geoff Crammond). It's clear that it was these classic titles, and their celebrated authors, that inspired Harri and the Stardust team to produce such a clever and confident debut.

Stardust was released as a mid-price title in late 1993. It reviewed well in all the mags but completely failed to trouble to sales charts. Regardless, the game was ported to the PC and Atari ST, and an Amiga sequel, Super Stardust, arrived the following year. The follow-up was essentially an update designed specifically for the newer AGA Amigas. The graphics were even more polished and the difficulty level was a touch less severe. It was later ported to the Amiga CD32 and PC.

Having lay dormant for more than a decade, the Stardust series triumphantly returned on the PlayStation Network in June 2007. Super Stardust HD emerged as a twin-stick shooter of sheer bloody excellence that ran at a blistering 1080p/60FPS. It was the first must-have title on PSN and is still one for best games available for the service. The PSP version was less successful as the game didn't really suit the console's controls. Such problems shouldn't affect the imminent PS Vita launch title, Super Stardust Delta, which is looking like a snug fit for the new Sony handheld.

If you're unfamiliar with the original Stardust then hopefully this feature will encourage you to dig it out. And should you do that, you'll discover a game made with skill, passion and humour; a true gamer's game.

Picture of Martyn.

About Martyn Carroll

Martyn has been writing about video games since 1997. He launched Retro Gamer magazine in 2004 and has been typecast as a lover of rubbish old games ever since. His specialist subject is actually the Crabs novel of Guy N. Smith.

Read more articles from Martyn by visiting the Martyn Carroll archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (48) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • triple_a #1 3 months ago

    Bloody brilliant games, all of them. The original blew me away on Amiga 500. I think it even had 8 channel audio (Amiga 500 can only do 4 on hardware I think).

    To my shame I pirated it but bought Super Stardust on PC and HD on PS3. Also plan on getting it for Vita at launch.

    Housemarque is really one of the crown jewels of the Finnish game industry. I hope they will continue to produce quality titles for years to come.

  • captainCandy #2 3 months ago

    Never liked it for its lack of originality and that difficulty level... Technically nice for an Asteroids clone.

  • Freakachuu #3 3 months ago

    Oooh oooh, Do Uridium 2 next.

  • DDevil #4 3 months ago

    I had Super Stardust on the CD32. I was completely blown away by it. No wonder I bought it on PSP and PS3 as well!

  • Triggerhappytel #5 3 months ago

    I've got a lot of time for Housemarque. SSHD is brilliant, Dead Nation is superb (and is essentially an evolution on the SSHD gameplay; not that any reviewers seemed to pick up on that) and I enjoyed Outland too, although found it a little sterile. I would be/will be getting Delta if/when I get a Vita, and I really hope they've got Dead Nation 2 in the works as well.

    Brilliant company, and although I've not played the original Stardusts on Amiga or PC I hope they continue to pump out excellent, high-quality downloadable games.

  • ShiftyGeezer #6 3 months ago

    Stardust was great, hence a little disappoinment with Super Stardust HD that dumbed down the mechanics a little, I felt. It's also encouraging to hear SD was really, really hard, because I completed it just fine which makes me a 7331 gamer!! (Back in '93, anyhow ;))
    Edited by ShiftyGeezer at 19/02/12 @ 11:22

  • ronecvan_is_here #7 3 months ago

    @captainCandy, seems to be a bit of an ignorant comment, that's almost like saying that every FPS made these days is an exact copy of Doom. Stardust was a fun game, and reminds us of some retro blasts.

  • Stompy #8 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:13:35 17-04-2012

  • Desheep #9 3 months ago

    Please have a look at the best game ever made: Creatures on the C64. Well... The best game ever made if it was still 1990.

    How about Mayhem in Monsterland instead? That was some thing of a "technical masterpiece" if you'll excuse the cliche.

  • lucky_jim #10 3 months ago

    1993 was such a great year for Amiga gamers. Games like this and Lionheart, Legend of Valour, Frontier, Hired Guns, Cannon Fodder, Uridium 2, Skidmarks, Dune II, Flashback, Syndicate and The Settlers (I mean, seriously, they all came out in the same year!). The CD32 was the best selling CD games format around that year, beating both PC CD-ROMs and Sega's Mega CD. Then it all started to go horribly wrong, but I'm not going to think about that.

    It was a great time to be an Amiga gamer, I miss those days!

  • Drygore #11 3 months ago

    @lucky_jim

    Yeah. I really, really miss those days as well :'(

  • erp #12 3 months ago

    @Desheep Yeah! I'd definitely like to see those too... ;)

  • Bahumet #13 3 months ago

    11 disks for Monkey Island. That's my enduring memory of the Amiga. That and being horribly addicted to Sensible Soccer.

  • KDR_11k #14 3 months ago

    I played Super Stardust before the original, that kinda impacted my opinion of it because Super is so much better and prettier.

  • Rens11 #15 3 months ago

    Have never played a stardust game but definitely getting super stardust delta for vita on the 22nd!

  • damoxuk #16 3 months ago

    Played Super Stardust on A1200 and was blown away by it.

    Super stardust HD was also so much fun and I think one of if not the first ps3 games to get trophy support.

    And i'll be buying this once I get my Vita :)

  • scuffpuppies #17 3 months ago

    Many, many, many hours have been spent chasing friends high-scores over the years. Great game, and still one of the best arcade shooters available on the PS3 to date.

    Would love a direct sequel though....

  • saku_luk #18 3 months ago

    Played them... loved them!

    Will get VITA edition as well.

  • Architect_z #19 3 months ago

    I loved Super Stardust HD.
    First game i got for my PS3, they should make more

  • Alestes #20 3 months ago

    Great article :)

    I wish there were more Amiga classics on PSN. Games like Another World, Flashback, Cabal, Midnight Resistance, Pang!, Rodland and Stunt Car Racer.

  • pap #21 3 months ago

    Had an involuntary grin break out on my face when reading the part about Amiga owners using the tunnel sequence to show off. I did precisely this, several times :)

    Great game, great article.

  • pap #22 3 months ago

    @Alestes Stunt Car Racer was the first ever game that made me feel slightly sick, but in a really good way.

  • steninja #23 3 months ago

    @Alestes pang! I've never thought of that, but how cool would a HD remix of pang be, a la Pacman championship editionDX!?

    As for stardus (ps3), id totally neglected shoot em ups until that game came out on the grounds that they're simply too hardcore and punishing. glad it changed my perspective.

  • BigJonno #24 3 months ago

    @lucky_jim Were those all the same year? That's crazy. It just shows how decompressed your perception of time is when you're a kid. I was ten that year and there is no way I would have said that all those games came out so close together.

  • DrStrangelove #25 3 months ago

    I dig the music... it's psytrance/goa-ish but with harder beats (probably there's a subgenre with a proper name which I don't know).

  • DrStrangelove #26 3 months ago

    I recently met a well-known coder who's been making games for almost 30 years and he told me that the last game he played to any degree was Tomb Raider, in 1996. He said he had neither the time nor inclination these days.
    Are you referring to John Carmack? I have the impression the id software guys really don't get to know a lot of other games in their dark office dungeons (don't get me wrong, I love id software... well, used to love). From Doom 3's intro stages I figured they knew Half-Life, and in Rage it's quite obvious they played Borderlands.

    But somehow they seem to be living in some sort of time capsule where developments in other games just seem to pass by unnoticed.

  • ray #27 3 months ago

    Probably one of the flashiest Amiga games ever, but it really did not play well. The weapons were totally unbalanced and controls were way too slippery for my taste. I had more fun with a PD Asteroids whose name I forgot (admittedly it looked like two sticks tied with a rope, but it played well). Are the new games identical as far as design goes?

  • J.C #28 3 months ago

    Are these devs sony owned? These boys dont seem to have much love for the xbox :(

  • michaelius #29 3 months ago

    My first game on PS3 was SSD Hd my first game on Vita will be another Stardust :)

  • Otis_Inf #30 3 months ago

    Harri Tikkanen. Handle: Scy. Member of Bloodsuckers and byterapers. Bloodsuckers intros/demos:
    http://kestra.exotica.org.uk/demos.php?query=SCY&strict=yes

    Took me a while to find it though, apparently he did mostly music/gfx, not code: http://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?detail=modules&view=6504

    Cheers
    Otis, old /\mig/\ demoscener (1989-2000)

  • MattEdWithCheese #31 3 months ago

    I remember having this in my dad's vast collection of Amiga demo-discs

  • Lukree #32 3 months ago

    Dead Nation looks ace as well, shame that it's available only on PS3. :/

  • KDR_11k #33 3 months ago

    @steninja: The most recent Pang release is Pang! Magical Michael on the DS, that came out last year I believe. With that name I don't think any Pang fans realized what it was.

  • chiz #34 3 months ago

    I remember seeing the original back in 93 and being blown away by it. Everything about the game was polished, from the graphics to the sound. I got the updated version for the A1200, but the original will always be in my heart.

    Console kids at the time were jealous.

  • craziii #35 3 months ago

    I played this game on my friend's ps3 and almost bought a ps3 for it :p almost.

  • DrStrangelove #36 3 months ago

    @chiz

    Console kids should be jealous of PC gamers too today, but quite annoyingly, they aren't.

  • Pickster #37 3 months ago

    @DrStrangelove

    Ummm. Why exactly? More AA? Higher Rez? Oh, wait, that magical 60fps?

    I know this will get me negged because of the 60fps brigade. Yes 60fps does look nicer than 30fps. But I would hardly call Uncharted 3 or Gear 3 unplayable because OMG they are only 30fps.

  • michaelf #38 3 months ago

    An excellent game which I still play on my A1200. I've also got PSP Super Stardust Portable, which does its' heritage proud. Looking forward to the PSV entry, though will need to get a PSV first!

  • DrStrangelove #39 3 months ago

    @Pickster

    Well, all together at once makes quite a difference.

    1920x1200 is a real treat compared to the 1000x700 or whatever you have in most high-end console games (the reduced detail level doesn't matter that much at lower resolutions, granted). And 60fps does look more fluid and feels better to control.

    In some games, I tried to set the fps cap from 60 fps to 30 (HL2, Skyrim), and it does feel worse. Whenever I'm turning, that strobe effect feel kicks in, also there seems to be a greater input lag, giving me a slightly drunk control feeling compared to the smooth and quick 60fps.

    It's probably got to do with adaptation, if you're used to console performance, you probably hardly notice it, while I, having played only PC for some time now, find it horrible to play a first-person shooter or something like that on PS3 again.

    While 30fps is not unplayable, it's just that. It's just at the edge of playable. That wouldn't be such a problem if the games managed to maintain 30fps in every situation, but sadly, many games (if not most) regularly drop down as low as 20fps, sometimes even lower.

    And since you can't just reduce detail level like you can on PC, that's a real pain in the arse.

  • BurnOutBrighter #40 3 months ago

    The most successful I've been as an online gamer is with SSHD. I was once ranked 125th on Endless mode lol

  • Pickster #41 3 months ago

    @DrStrangelove

    30fps on a console isn't comparable to 30fps on PC. Modern days there is motion blur which is tuned to the console and the target 30fps.

    I agree that using a mouse to control a 30fps game is awful, but using a controler is much less forgiving. I discoverd this back on the Dreamcast with Quake 3.

    I use to be an avid PC gamer and would hunt the smoothest possible framerate to the point where 60fps wasn't even enough.

    After a while I had to give in because I'm a 'gamer' and some experiences can only be had at 30fps. Once I had resigned myself to the fact that not everything is going to be 60fps and the fact that 30 with a controler isn't as bad as 30 with a mouse, the whole 30fps became less of an issue for me.

    It is still jarring to go from playing Rage on the 360 to playing Gears 3, for the first minute, but after that it's not a problem and the motion blur helps keep it smooth enough on the brain.

    Back to my original point. All those things I listed while are nice to have, they don't really effect the way the game plays. Cross platform games play the same as each other.

    It's not like back 'in the day' when console owners really had something to be jealous about. SNES Doom vs PC Doom for example. Or even anything-with-3D-acceleration vs anything-on-the-PS1

  • CaptainKid #42 3 months ago

    I remember this game on Amiga.
    Weren't the controls just as horrible as on the original Astroids?
    A delay when going from forwards to backwards etc.

    The best space ship top down shooter by far on the Amiga is Transplant.
    It was even free.

  • DrStrangelove #43 3 months ago

    @Pickster

    Yes, back to the point. I disagree there, and the EG face-offs do too. What annoys me most actually is playing a shooter with a joypad, that's just utter shite, like playing Gran Turismo with a keyboard.

    But I'm afraid this is an endless debate and tbh I think the Stardust Retrospective isn't the right place for this.

    So let's agree to disagree, k?
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 20/02/12 @ 00:00

  • TheEarlOfZinger #44 3 months ago

    ooohhh, my controller would have teeth marks in it if they released Pang! HD.

  • BearFishPie #45 3 months ago

    Stardust. Super Skidmarks. Roadkill. Guardian. Cannon Fodder. Monkey Island 2. Gravity Force 2/Gravity Power. The Chaos Engine. UFO: Enemy Unknown.

    Ah, so many happy memories. I don't miss the disk swap-o-rama and endless minutes of HIDDEN MOVEMENT from MI2 and UFO:EU but my A500+ and CD32 did see some solid gold gaming.

  • spatuluk #46 3 months ago

    @J.C Outland was cross platform, I believe, but they do seem to have a special relationship with Sony.

  • Retro_ #47 3 months ago

    Best game on Atari 512ST was 'Time bandit', sadly, no one seems to remember it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bandit

    Wow, just found this :)

    http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_67/8518000/8518789/1/print/TimelordsHandbook.pdf
    Edited by Retro_ at 20/02/12 @ 12:54

  • Pickster #48 3 months ago

    @DrStrangelove

    I can do that quite happily. I have a monster of a PC should I need it. Yet I still find the convenience of the 360 is what draws me to that over the PC.

    P.S.

    Since I don't often go into geek mode. I have 2 PCs that could be used for gaming. One is a dual Xeon 5160 (soon to be upgraded to dual 5345) with a GTX 460 768mb, it's a bit out of date now but still useable. The other's loaded with an i7 2600k @ 4.5ghz paired with two 560 Tis.

    So even if I thought console kids, as you put it, should be jealous of PCs. I have nothing to worry about.
    Edited by Pickster at 20/02/12 @ 16:23