Laser Star and Helo Battle

Laser Star intro screen

Laser Star intro screen.
Laser Star game screen #1 Laser Star game screen #2
Laser Star game screens 1&2.
Helo Battle intro screen

Helo Battle intro screen.
Helo Battle game screen #1 Helo Battle game screen #2
Helo Battle game screens 1 (player misses direct center) &2 (player destroyed castle).
Helo Battle game screen #3

Helo Battle game screen #3 (player is killed by "sneaky little guy").

Laser Star and Helo Battle is bundle of two games sold together, and the first commercial games that Jarb Software released. They were originally published in very early issues of Rainbow magazine, namely the September 1981 and October 1981 issues (and well before Rainbow started selling tapes and disks with the programs on them), so Jarb decided to offer both of them on the same tape for less than $15.00 at the beginning of 1982. They are fairly simple games showing experimentation with Extended BASIC that had finally been released in January of 1981.

Laser Star, the first one originally published, is a two player only game, with each player controlling their own ship (a rocket and a saucer) with each joystick, and they have to destroy each other a certain number of times to advance in rank. There is also an "alien asteroid control station" in the center that fires off randomly (supposedly clearing away asteroids and meteors) that can also hit either player. There is also something that can paralyze space later in the game.

Helo Battle came out a month after Laser Star before being bundled. This is a single player game but still requires two joysticks. You are the helicopter and you have to destroy the fortified castle - but you have to hit it dead center to destroy it. One joystick controls the flight of the helicopter; the other controls the direction of you shots. The castle also fires back (with a rather nice animation of both the shot launch and it's resultant explosion). There is also (as the instructions put it) "[a]... sneaky little guy!" to watch out for.

Title: Laser Star and Helo Battle

Author: Joe Bennett

Publisher: Jarb Software

Released: January 1982 (1st ad); originally published as type in programs in Rainbow September & October 1981.

Requires: Color Computer 1,2,3, 16K RAM, Extended BASIC, 2 joysticks, cassette or disk.

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