Star Raiders

Star Raiders is a space combat sim created by Atari and published in 1979 for the 8-bit computer series. Later, it was ported to Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST.

The game was created by Doug Neubauer, one of the engineers who worked on designing the Atari 8-bit computers. It was one of the first titles released for the Atari computer and probably the first space combat sim ever created. A genre that will produce masterpieces such as Elite, Frontier: Elite II, Wing Commander, Freespace, and many more.

Star Raiders is incredibly advanced if you think it was created in 1979. You can move on the 2D map from one galaxy sector to another. Once you detect the enemy ships (called Zylon, an obvious reference to Battlestar Galactica), you can use the hyperjump to reach them and destroy them. The first-person view is amazingly created thanks to the starfield moving in the background, while the radar informs you in real-time about the movements of your targets. The enemy ships, resembling Tie fighters and Klingon ships, move smoothly on the screen, thanks to the usage of the hardware sprites of the Atari 8-bit. The explosions, alarms, engine sounds are generated by the audio chip of the computer (the chip that Neubauer designed).

Star Raiders is a classic, a milestone in the history of video games, but it's also still enjoyable today. Try it!

If you want to know more about Neubauer and Star Raiders check this fantastic interview.