Star Raiders

Star Raiders is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit computer family. It was developed by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released by Atari as a cartridge in 1979. The game is considered the platform’s killer app. It was later ported to the Atari 2600, the Atari 5200, and the Atari ST. The game simulates 3D space battles between the player’s ship and an invading fleet of alien “Zylon” ships. Star Raiders stood out for its graphics, which offered not only various map and remote-viewing perspectives but also first-person views looking forward and backward, with movement conveyed through a fluid 3D star field as the player attacked enemy spaceships. Although first-person target-shooting games already existed (including “Cosmic Conflict” from 1978), “Star Raiders” stood out for its significantly higher graphical quality and more complex gameplay. It inspired imitators in the 1980s as well as space combat simulation games of later generations such as “Elite,” “Wing Commander,” and “Star Wars: X-Wing.” In 2007, Star Raiders was included in a list of the 10 most important video games of all time, compiled by the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University.