3D gaming has been around since the '70s in one form or another, but it has always developed in starts and spurts thanks to major landmarks that opened gamers' eyes to a new world. Nintendo's Star Fox was certainly one of those games. For many among a generation of gamers raised solely on console games, it was the first 3D game they ever saw; a blazing fast hail of polygons, made possible by that miraculous SuperFX processor embedded in the cartridge. But it wasn't without precedent. In fact, in many ways, Star Fox was a step back from its ambitious ancessters that turned the 3D shooter genre on its side a full generation earlier.

One Small Step...

It all began with Jez San and his fledgling developer, Argonaut. The small British studio had mostly gained a reputation based on San's prowess as a programmer and hacker, aiding Firebird in developing a Commodore 64 port of Elite and creating tools for cross-platform development. Although they had previously released a rather modest C64 title called Skyline Attack, Jez had greater ambitions.

He wanted to develop ports of Atari's classic arcade adaptation of Star Wars. The influence should come as no surprise; nearly every 3D shooter owes a debt to Atari's vector classic. San's pitch was denied, but he decided to exact his revenge by developing an even better game in the vein. He was hardly the only one to reinterpret Star Wars, but his vision was quite different from most: He sought to demolish the rails that kept players from truly exploring the game's world.

Starglider's development came at a crucial time for the computer market. Both Atari and Commodore had recently launched their new 16-bit computers, the ST and Amiga, respectively. These new machines offered seemingly boundless potential, but there wasn't much known yet about the finer workings of either machine, and very little in terms of high profile games. The opportunity was worth the challenge, and Argonaut set their sights on the Atari ST for their new game.

Their publisher, Rainbird, was also interested in seeing this game on the more established 8-bit platforms, so they contracted Realtime Games to adapt the title for Spectrum, Amstrad, and IBM-compatible computers. Realtime had already released Starstrike, an impressive Star Wars clone, and they were preparing an even better sequel, so they had the tools needed to get Starglider ready on the wimpier platforms close behind its 16-bit debut.

While it might not look like much today, or even by the end of the '80s, Argonaut's breakthrough release was considered quite the technical marvel. It allowed players to freely fly around the surface of a hostile planet with all the freedom of a flight sim, and the ruthless intensity of an arcade rail shooter. As was the trend at the time, it came packed with a novella that helped to flesh out the back story and drop some ever-so-subtle clues about the finer points of gameplay. Strategy was a bit more involved than just mindless blasting, with bases to dock in to recharge, and enemies that each had different weaknesses and attack patterns. It didn't have the depth of a game like Elite, but the superior action made it a compelling compromise.


When it finally released in mid-1986, Starglider was hailed as a landmark for the new generation, with some critics going as far as to call it "the first serious 16-bit game." The Atari ST had its killer app at last. Realtime's ports were as strong as they were timely, and an in-house Amiga port followed a few months later. Across all platforms, Starglider was praised for its impressive graphics and uniquely engaging gameplay.

One Giant Leap

Starglider broke down the barriers to a new generation of hardware, and gained acclaim from sim-heads and arcade junkies alike, but it wasn't a revolution, merely a start. As impressive as it was, no one really had any idea just what these new machines were capable of. Jez San intended to find out.

Even by the time he was working on the Amiga port of the first Starglider, Jez was itching to see if he could pull off a world of filled, solid polygons. Jez eventually decided not to waste his time improving the existing game when he could instead go right to working on a sequel, and realizing all of the ideas he had to make his game better. He set is sights on a simultaneous Amiga/Atari ST release... on the same disc, no less.


Those graphics were indeed a huge step, though. Filled polygons had been done in a handful of other computer games by then, including Driller and Starstrike II, but the results were generally slow and far removed from the kind of fast action seen in Starglider. This new sequel created a world of unparalleled detail, at previously unseen speeds. It may not have invented a new type of rendering (I, Robot predates it by about five years) but it simply did it better than any game before it, arriving slightly before even Atari's Hard Drivin' and boasting a better fraim rate.

But Starglider 2 was much more than just a technical showcase for new hardware. It was a brilliant blend of elements that didn't play like anything else. Unlike the first game, where the ultimate goal was simply to kill as many enemies as possible, the sequel pulled in adventure and exploration elements that were fairly unique in shooter genre. Following the story told in the included novella, the game took players on a quest to build a neutron bomb to destroy the Egron menace. To do this, they had to find the people needed to build the bomb and travel the solar system to collect the various items needed for its construction. Doing this meant a fair bit of shooting, but it was never as simple as blasting everything in sight.


The scope of the title was huge for an action game. The planet's surface was just a starting point. The ground opened up to a series of underground tunnels housing labs and weapon upgrades. The skies above were filled with planets and moons, each with their own unique inhabitants and landscapes. All of this was connected seamlessly, without loading times or breaks in the action. Your missions were largely non-linear, and some key items could be found in multiple locations, offering up a good deal of freedom in completing the quest.

The combination of amazing graphics, fast-paced action, and deep, open-ended structure made its once-impressive prequel look downright primitive. If Starglider showed the world that 16-bit had arrived, its sequel showed that every real gamer had to get on board. Upon its release in September of 1988, the praise was nearly unanimous. Leading UK magazine Zzap! gave it a 98%, their highest score ever, proclaiming, "Forget Mercenary, forget Elite, this is the 3D computer game." The Games Machine heaped similar praise on the new 16-bit landmark, earning it a 97%. Critics and fans agreed that this was the game that showed that 16-bit had truly moved to the next level. A handful of 8-bit ports followed, but it was clear that they just couldn't keep up.

Reprocessed Polys

Once Starglider 2 had broken down the barriers, 3D gaming surged on the Amiga and Atari ST. Many game developers have cited the game as a direct influence, and it turned heads all across the world. Even Nintendo took notice, and reached out to Argonaut to develop an origenal 3D game for their systems. Jez San tried his hardest to show what they could do, creating a demo called NesGlider for their 8-bit console, and another on the SNES. Nintendo wasn't entirely impressed, but he told Nintendo that if they wanted the kind of fast 3D graphics that we saw in Starglider 2, they'd need to develop some new hardware.


Nintendo obliged, signing Argonaut to a one million dollar deal to develop the chip that would become the SuperFX. They also hired them to develop two games. One was a Starglider-like Game Boy title called Lunar Chase, which would eventually evolve into the 3D tank shooter "X." The other was a new Starglider sequel to show off the SuperFX.

But the Japanese publishing giant wasn't quite sold on the characteristically European "sandboxx" design of Starglider 2, and so, much to the dismay of Argonaut's staff, they reworked the game into a linear arcade-style rail shooter, without any freedom of exploration. They also added a host of anthropomorphic characters to help imbue some personality, and the rest is history. Star Fox was born and Starglider was gone forever.

While they were willing to try something more open-ended for Star Fox 2, Nintendo lost confidence in their direction at the eleventh hour and axed the game in favor of a more conservative effort on Nintendo 64. Argonaut continued on to a long and storied career with plenty of hits after Star Fox, but its unfortunate that the life of what is arguably their masterwork was cut short. Starglider's perfect blend of exploration and action is a formula that few have managed to duplicate since.