1982 · Mattel Electronics · Arcade · Shooter

Space Spartans

C. a small Spartan force held off Xerxes and the entire Persian army, in the famous Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans chose to die defending the pass into Greece, to give their allies time to prepare for attack. SPACE SPARTANS reenacts this battle in space, in a heroic adventure that pits you against overwhelming alien odds.

Released: 1982
Platforms: Intellivision
Genres: Arcade Shooter Simulation Space simulator Strategy
Developers: Mattel Electronics
Publishers: Mattel Electronics
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: First person Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Languages: English

About

Space Spartans is a 1982 space combat simulator video game developed and published by Mattel Electronics for the Intellivision. It is heavily based on Star Raiders, a game released in 1980 for the Atari 8-bit computers. It was initially programmed by Brian Dougherty and completed by William C. Fisher and Steve Roney.

It is the first game which supported the Intellivoice voice synthesis module. The game was also released under Sears' Super Video Arcade label for the Intellivision.

Keywords

space simulation
space battle
grid-based movement
high score
alien invasion
multiple gameplay perspectives

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The objective of Space Spartans is to survive as long as possible against a never-ending onslaught of alien enemies, while defending a set of star bases given at the start of the game. The player flies a solo fighter craft that navigates over a Sector Grid. Enemies also roam the Grid and attempt to destroy the player's ship and their star bases. The player must intercept the enemy fighters and destroy their bases by switching between the Grid and a first-person battle view. During battles, time progresses at a slower rate, but enemies still move periodically and can combine forces to increase attacks on the player and/or their bases.

The Intellivoice module is required in order to play Space Spartans properly, as it gives the player critical information that is not displayed on screen. This includes alerts about star bases being under attack, the number of aliens in the player's current sector, their energy level, and which of the ship's systems are damaged or under repair.