''Destination Earthstar'' is a futuristic, first-person and side-scrolling, space shooter game developed by

Imagineering ''Imagineering'' (from "imagination" and "engineering") is the implementation of creative ideas in practical form. The word was registered as a trademark of Disney Enterprises, Inc. in 1990, and forms part of the title of Disney's research and dev ...

and published by Acclaim for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Plot

Two hundred years ago, a random number of Earthlings were captured for

slave labor Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. They eventually earned their

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

and the privilege to live amongst the aliens as equals. The descendants of these enslaved Earthlings formed a group and sent a volunteer into

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

in the hopes of finding planet

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

again.Story of ''Destination Earthstar''
at Nintendo Player Players have to travel through eight vast

planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravitationally In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interacti ...

s in order to get back to their original home world.

Summary

The view of the game is from the cockpit of a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

. The goal of the game is to explore a grid which is displayed on screen in search of opponents to destroy and to land on planets some of which refuel the energy and refill the ammunition of the player's arsenal of weapons. The player starts with two weapons. The primary weapon is the Ruby Laser, with a rapid zapping capability that has a tendency to overheat. Once overheated the lasers will stop firing, and the player must wait for the weapon to cool down to use it again. The secondary weapon are Neutron Torpedoes with three times the demolition force of the Ruby Laser, but supplies are limited. As the player travels through a star system they may be able to pick up two additional weapons. The Argon Blaster is a weapon that can be found featuring disintegrating acids. A Heat Seeker weapon can also be found that tracks enemy objects that have a special sighting mechanism, which is not available in other weapons. After the player has destroyed every enemy that is on the grid, a number will be indicated. This number represents how many enemies are in that quadrant of the grid. After blasting numerous enemies, the player will finally be able to go to the planet labeled "B" on the grid. These

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s are unlike the other planets as they do not refill the player's vehicles energy or ammo. Rather, they are an enemy base that proceeds with the player entering an 8-bit cutscene of his spacecraft entering the base's gravitational orbit with the gameplay changing from a first-person cockpit players had on the grid stage to a horizontal 2D shoot 'em up stage similar to

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

's ''

Gradius is a series of shooter video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. Games *''Scr ...

'' or

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

's ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

''. Using this perspective, projectiles can be fired from the front or back of the player's ship.

Reception

Allgame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

gave ''Destination Earthstar'' a rating of 2 stars out of a possible 5.

References

{{reflist 1990 video games Acclaim Entertainment games Imagineering (company) games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games North America-exclusive video games Science fiction video games Shooter games Video games scored by Mark Van Hecke Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States