The Last Starfighter

• EASTER EGG: Programmers Gary Stark and Bruce Poehlman admit to putting a few hidden extras in the game, but they don’t recall how to trigger them.  One that’s been seen is the Starship Enterprise will sometimes make a brief appearance (by the sun) when recharging.  There is a clock timer, and if this timer is $00 or $80 at the right moment of recharging, the Enterprise will appear (picture #1 and video).  Unfortunately the timer clocks rather slow (from $00 to $FF) so it's very unlikely you will see this effect without cheating (the odds are 1 in 128), as there doesn’t appear to be a method to either resetting or resetting the timer in the code.  The graphics for the Enterprise are stored in the Atari 8-bit version at $3A40-$3A42 (bytes $E7, $12, $1C).

• 2 prototype versions exist!  It seems the only difference between the 5200 (picture #2) and 8-bit (picture #3) prototypes is the title screens.  Note the missing copyright information in the first version, as well as the different mountain terrain.

• This originally started as a game called Orbiter, which was later adapted to be based on the movie, THE LAST STARFIGHTER, and eventually released for the 8-bit computers under the name Star Raiders II.  Although a Last Starfighter prototype version exists (pictures #4 - #9), which has a number of differences to SR II (both cosmetic and integral – pictures #10 - #15), the gameplay is essentially the same in both.  Some of the major changes with SRII are the addition of shields, a tactical display, and 3 space stations (although you can still refuel by flying to a star, it refuels much faster).  The barrier was removed (picture #12), and 2 planets were renamed - one in each system (pictures #6, #7, #12, and #13).  Every attack squadron now has a Command Ship you have to destroy and if you don't destroy it fast enough, it will fly away.  Also, if you leave an attack squadron before completely destroying it, it will rebuild itself the next time you engage it.

• With Ko-Dan planets, don't bother attacking the fighters because as long as any cities exist, there will be an endless supply of fighters, so ignore the fighters and concentrate on destroying the cities.

• BUG: When an attack group first comes into your solar system, it'll attack the frontier closest to their system.  If you repel the attack, it won't attack the barrier again and instead slowly circle around the barrier in a clockwise motion.  There can be up to 8 attack groups in the game at most, and you can have all 8 around the frontier (picture #16).

• BUG: Destroyers can get hung up firing on a planet if the base it's trying to fire on is moved off-center, making it very easy to destroy them (picture #17).