Star Trek

Name:	Star Trek: Stategic Operations Simulator
Company:	Sega
Model #:	004-01
Programmer:	Jeff Lorenz
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Port of the 1982 Sega coin-op

Often referred to simply as "Star Trek", "Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulation" is an action/strategy game loosely based on the Star Trek series.  Since Paramount Studios owned Sega at that time, it was only natural that they would be granted the use of the Star Trek name (Atari was forced to settle for Star Wars).  Sega planned several video games based off of other successful Paramount movies, but only Star Trek saw the light of day.

Taking a vector arcade game with complex controls like Star Trek and porting it to the 2600 proved to be quite a challenge. Since there was no possible way to vector graphics on the 2600, Sega was forced to use raster graphics instead.  Unlike most vector to raster conversions, many fans felt that using raster graphics actually improved the game.  The next challenge for Sega was taking a four button and rotary knob control scheme and making it work on a one-button joystick.  Pushing left and right turned the ship (mimicking the rotary knob), pulling back fired photon torpedoes, pushing forward activated impulse drive, forward and the button activated warp drive, and simply pushing the button fired the phasers.  The resulting control scheme was so complex that Sega had to include a joystick overlay to help players, although the controls quickly became second nature after a playing the game a few times.

Your basic goal is to move from sector to sector wiping out Klingons while touching as many star bases as possible.  The third sector of each level is an asteroid or comet field, which you must carefully negotiate while touching star bases.  This sector is a bonus round of sorts since there are no enemies and touching the star bases increases your power levels.  After five sectors you come face to face with the deadly probe known as NOMAD, you must shoot NOMAD while avoiding the explosive mines it lays around the screen.  After destroying NOMAD you move to the next level, which looks the same but the enemies move faster.

Star Trek is a fun game for short periods of time, but the excitement wears off after a few levels.  Eventually the game becomes an exercise in frustration as the Klingons become too fast to avoid.  Still, Star Trek is good for a quick burst of fast paced action.

Return to 2600 Software