Game Introduction
The player must blast Sinisite crystals out of the planetoids, by firing repeatedly at them, and then collect the crystals to fill the ship's bomb bay with Sinibombs as you battle enemy ships including the Warriors (gray ships) as well as the Workers (red ships). All the while, the Workers are constructing a Sinistar, a huge red and silver evil face with devil-like horns, which eventually comes to life and begins pursuing the player's ship to devour it. Only with enough Sinibombs can the Sinistar be destroyed. The Sinistar speaks in a haunting voice, taunting the player with phrases like "Beware, I Live!", "Beware, Coward!", "I Hunger!", "Run Coward!", "Run, Run, Run!", "I Am Sinistar!", among others.
Game Play
The single aspect this game's play that makes it so difficult is the fact that the enemy ships can move much faster than you. Do not try to outrun them; you cannot. Outmaneuver them instead.
During play, the background scrolls past while the ship itself stays in the center of the screen. There are many things to keep track of during play. At the top of the screen there is a small, zoomed-out view of the area in space. Planetoids, Workers, Warriors and the Sinistar himself all appear inside this radar window. In the upper left corner of the screen, news and warning messages will appear, informing you of important developments. A beeping sound will alert you when a new message appears. Just above the player's score, two rows of small circles will form to indicate how many Sinibombs (crystals) have been collected.
To mine crystals, you must shoot the Plantetoids. Each shot imparts a certain amount of energy to the Planetoid, making it shake vigorously. Once a Planetoid has absorbed enough energy from your shots, it will start to emit crystals and then continue emitting crystals as long as you keep the total energy of the Planetoid above a certain threshold. The number of crystals that can be mined from a single Planetoid is absolutely unlimited, but the Planetoid can be destroyed if it is fired into too rapidly; it will simply absorb too much energy and explode. Five points are awarded for destroying a Planetoid except it is usually better to save them to mine for crystals.
Workers will try to steal the crystals after you have mined them. To prevent this, you can either destroy the Workers for 150 points each or just push them out of the way (your ship will not explode by running into them). Even if a Worker steals a crystal, you can still recover it; just shoot the Worker while it is flying away with the crystal, and the crystal will be left behind after he is destroyed.
Your ship can also bounce harmlessly off Warriors but they can shoot at you with fairly good aim. They will fire more and more as the game progresses, so shoot them as soon as possible before they appear on the screen.
They do not start firing for up to one second and you can often destroy them for 500 ponts each before they get a shot off.
The Sinistar is built one piece at a time by the Workers. Each time a piece is added to it, you will hear a clanking sound. After 20 pieces have been assembled, the Sinistar is completed and warns "Beware, I Live!". That is your last warning to stock up on Sinibombs. The next time the Sinstar speaks, he will attack and try to eat your ship. He can fly even faster than your ship, so it will not do any good to try to fly away and avoid him.
You must collect enough crystals (these are automatically converted to Sinibombs) to destroy the Sinistar. Whenever you drop a Sinibomb from your ship, it will head straight for the Sinistar. If the Sinistar is off the scanner or or a Sinibomb hits a Planetoid, Worker, or Warrior, a "Sinibomb Intercepted" message will appear in the message area, letting you know that the Sinibomb did not hit its target. Workers and Warriors will try to move themselves into the range of a Sinibomb, and the Warriors will even shoot at the Sinibombs, so long shots are often intercepted.
Whenever a Sinibomb makes a direct hit upon the Sinistar, one section will be destoyed for 500 points each. The Sinistar has 13 sections (12 pieces and the face), so it will take at least 13 Sinibombs to destroy him. However, when the Sinistar is being built, he is assembled from 20 pieces; after he is completed, the seven pieces that make his face combine into one section. The face section will be the last one to be destroyed, and it will be worth 15000 points. If you run out of Sinibombs before you can destroy the Sinistar, the Workers will rebuild him while you collect crystals, except in the first wave where the Sinistar is only built once.
After you have destroyed the Sinistar, your ship will warp to another Zone where another Sinistar will be built. When you arrive at the next Zone, you will need to collect more crystals for Sinbombs and attempt to destroy the next Sinistar after he has come to life. When you first appear in a new Zone, the Sinistar will be straight ahead, about two scanner widths away.
After the first Zone, the Zones repeat in a group of four: Worker Zone, Warrior Zone, Planetoid Zone, and Void Zone. The Worker, Warrior, and Planetoid Zones have extra Workers, Warriors, and Planetoids, respectively. The Void Zone has very few Planetoids and is the most difficult.