Controls[edit]
- Joystick: This unique 49-way (7 × 7) optical joystick controls your velocity and acceleration. Press the joystick in whichever direction you desire to fly. Press it all the way to fly faster, or press it minimally to fly slower. Smaller movements will give you the best control of your ship.
- Fire: Press the Fire button to shoot a laser in the direction that the nose of your Siniship is facing. A single laser is enough to wipe out a Worker or a Warrior. Lasers are also needed to chip away at the surface of Planetoids in an effort to mine Sinisite crystals. Lasers, however, has absolutely no effect on Sinistar.
- Bomb: Sinibombs are ready to be released as soon as you collect Sinisite crystals. Press the Bomb button to eject a Sinibomb. If Sinistar is in the area, they will naturally gravitate to him.
- 1-2 Players: Press either button to begin a one or two player game.
Characters[edit]
Siniship[edit]
This is your ship, and the only tool that humanity has against the dreaded Sinistar. It is equipped with several state-of-the-art pieces of equipment, like an offensive laser that doubles as a mining tool, and a Sinisite polarity chamber. Once you mine and collect Sinisite crystals from a Planetoid, they enter a chamber on your ship that refines the crystals, infusing them with the opposite polarity of Sinistar, and turns them into Sinibombs. The Sinibombs must then be jettisoned to attack Sinistar. Your ship is quite maneuverable and can be flown at different speeds depending on how far you push the joystick. It can be destroyed by taking fire from warrior ships, or by being eaten (literally) by Sinistar. If your Siniship is destroyed, the next one will return with all of the previous ship's Sinibombs.
Planetoids[edit]
The battle against Sinistar is waged in a region of space where a planet was recently destroyed by the forces of Sinistar. The planet is rich in Sinisite crystals, which are now lodged in the small bits of planet that float freely through space. In order to obtain Sinisite crystals to develop into Sinibomb, you must fire your laser at the Planetoids and mine the crystal out. Once your laser dislodges a piece of crystal, it will float aimlessly through space. You must then be sure to collect it before the workers do.
Workers[edit]
The workers have one job to do, and they do it well: Collect every piece of Sinisite crystal in order to reconstruct a physical host for the Sinistar. They dash through space to do the bidding of their master and mine Sinisite crystals from the Planetoids. However, they can't do nearly as fast and efficiently as you can. So workers that occupy your region of space will simply wait for you to dislodge some crystals. Then they will rapidly approach the crystals in an attempt to collect it before you do. They can't actually harm your ship but they can, and will, bump you out of the way if it means collecting the crystals before you do.
Warriors[edit]
Warriors also have one job, and that is to destroy you. You are the single biggest threat to the reconstruction of Sinistar, and they will do all that they can to remove you from space. They approach from every direction, pointing their guns in the direction that they are flying in. When they are facing you, they will fire a blast from their cannon. If this blast makes contact, you will lose one Siniship. Physical contact with them, on the other hand, has the same effect as everything else; you will merely bounce off of them. When they appear, be sure to target them and remove them before they remove you. They become quicker and more accurate as the game progresses.
Sinistar[edit]
Sinistar is a destructive cosmic force. In order to fulfill its goal of total annihilation, it needs a physical host. The only physical form that Sinistar is compatible with is negatively charged Sinisite crystals. Once 20 crystals have been gathered together, the host is complete, and the Sinistar essence fills the structure. From that moment on, it is free to rampage around the galaxy, growing stronger with every destruction. But before it can begin, it knows that it must defeat you. The only thing that can damage Sinistar's physical structure are positively charged pieces of Sinisite crystals, which your ship refines into Sinibombs. While Sinistar is composed of 20 crystals, it only takes 14 to defeat him since the core seven pieces are packed to tightly together. Positively charged Sinisite is attracted to Sinistar, so you can fly away from him, and still hit him with the bombs that you release. Even when you destroy him, the universe is not safe. Somewhere, in another sector of the galaxy, the workers prepare to build another host.
Scoring[edit]
| Planetoid | 5 points |
| Worker | 150 points |
| Crystal | 200 points |
| Warrior | 500 points |
| Sinistar Piece | 500 points |
| Destroying Sinistar | 15,000 points |