retronauts

Episode 471: Star Control I & II

Added 2022-07-25 19:41:00 +0000 UTC

Outer space is big, frozen, and lonely, but Toys for Bob's Star Control galaxy is a lovingly-tended well of warmth and imagination. The original Star Control brought a rich Spacewar! combat experience to the Amiga, DOS, and Sega Genesis, while Star Control II terraformed story-heavy adventure games.

Nearly every modern adventure game owes something to Star Control II in particular. Its alien races—from the feverishly imaginative Zoq-Fot-Pik to the blood-chilling Ur Quan Kohr Ah—have since inspired some of gaming's best-known xenomorphs. The Thraddish had to brawl before the Krogan could throttle.

How do Star Control's elements all come together to brew an adventure game that's still close to perfect? How did the lambasted 3DO uplift Star Control II? What's Star Control's future looking like? Have you found the hidden Star Control II reference in Skylanders?

What about…y'know…Star Control 3?

Nadia Oxford, Shivam Bhatt, and Scott Sharkey all huddle in the cockpit of a Spathi Eluder to talk about the myriad ways in which Star Control and its sequel influenced adventure games—and why the games still thrive today. What they do is not wrong. They do this thing because it's good.

Art by John Pading. Edits by Greg Leahy.

06:57 - Star Control (Amiga): Intro
16:51 - Star Control II (3DO, 1994): Hyperspace
30:33 - Star Control II (PC): Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah | The Ur-Quan Masters (PC, 2002): Outfit
38:46 - Star Control II (PC): Orz
49:23 - Star Control II (PC): Slylandro Homeworld
1:00:49 - Star Control II (PC): Quasispace
1:08:34 - Star Control II (PC): Commander Hayes
1:18:23 - The Ur-Quan Masters (PC, 2002): Orbit 3
Closing - The Ur-Quan Masters (PC, 2002): Credits