History VideoGame / Stargunner

''Stargunner'' boasts some impressive VGA graphics and a great soundtrack, and could also run smoothly on a computer with a 486DX/33 processor.[[note]]This is quite a feat given that said processor was manufactured seven years before the game's release and most other MS-DOS games released at around the same time as ''Stargunner'' required a 486DX/66 (which has double the processing speed) to run just as well.[[/note]] The game has 33 stages divided into four parts, with the first one, a six-stage episode called Scout Mission, being the only available episode in the {{shareware}} version, detailing the Stargunners' reconnaissance against all three strongholds of Zile. The full version adds three nine-stage episodes, titled Stellar Attack, Terran Assault and Aquatic Combat, with each episode detailing the strike on each of the Zilions' three strongholds. In between each stage, you are allowed to purchase upgrades for your ship using credits accumulated throughout the game. These upgrades range from top and bottom sidearms and engine upgrades that make your ship more responsive in flight to satellites, or moons, that orbit your ship and extra lives.

Uses Platform/{{MOD}} in its music.

* UsefulNotes/{{MOD}}: Used for the game's music.

''Stargunner'' is a HorizontalScrollingShooter released on November 19, 1996 by Creator/ApogeeSoftware. It was the last game sold under the Apogee brand—subsequent games released by the same company, the first being ''VideoGame/{{Duke Nukem 3D}}'', would bear the Creator/ThreeDRealms brand—until ''Duke Nukem: Critical Mass'' was released in 2011.

* BossBattle: There's one at the end of every stage. More specific examples include:

''Stargunner'' is a HorizontalScrollingShooter released in 1996 by Apogee Software.

Released on November 19, 1996, ''Stargunner'' boasts some impressive VGA graphics and a great soundtrack. It was also the last game sold under the Apogee brand—subsequent games released by the same company, the first being ''VideoGame/{{Duke Nukem 3D}}'', would bear the 3D Realms brand—until ''Duke Nukem: Critical Mass'' was released in 2011.

The game has 33 stages divided into four parts, with the first one, a six-stage episode called Scout Mission, being the only available episode in the Shareware version, detailing the Stargunners' reconnaissance against all three strongholds of Zile. The full version adds three nine-stage episodes, titled Stellar Attack, Terran Assault and Aquatic Combat, with each episode detailing the strike on each of the Zilions' three strongholds.

In between each stage, you are allowed to purchase upgrades for your ship using credits accumulated throughout the game. These upgrades range from top and bottom sidearms and engine upgrades that make your ship more responsive in flight to satellites, or moons, that orbit your ship and extra lives.

''Stargunner'' is freeware as of June 22, 2005 and can be run on modern operating systems via UsefulNotes/{{DOSBox}}. Get it from 3D Realms' [[http://www.3drealms.com/stargunner/ game page]] or [[http://www.gog.com/game/stargunner GOG.com]].

The actual game itself can be run smoothly on a computer with a 486DX/33 processor, which is quite a feat given that said processor was manufactured seven years before the game's release and most other MS-DOS games released at around the same time as ''Stargunner'' required a 486DX/66 (which has double the processing speed) to run just as well.

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyNames: Ensign, Captain, and Admiral, which corresponds to easy, normal and hard respectively.

Released on November 19, 1996, ''Stargunner'' boasts some impressive VGA graphics and a great soundtrack. It was also the last game sold under the Apogee brand. Subsequent games released by the same company, the first being ''VideoGame/{{Duke Nukem 3D}}'', would bear the 3D Realms brand.