Get to Know About Stardust
If you’re the sort of person who loves blasting through swarms of asteroids while your heart thumps to an 8-bit beat, Stardust is right up your alley. Originally born in the early ’90s, it’s a top-down shooter that’s all about zero-gravity zipping, frantic reflexes and snappy power-ups. You pilot a little starfighter the size of your enthusiasm, and every level has you dodging chunks of space debris, lasers and weird alien constructs hell-bent on vaporizing you.
Controls are pick-up-and-play simple, which means you’ll be strafing around planets before you even hit the first boss fight. Collect little blue crystals as you go for upgrades—think rapid-fire blasters, homing missiles and shield bursts—and try not to get greedy, because one stray asteroid can end your run. The pacing slaloms between mellow cruising and all-out mayhem, so you’ll feel every beat of the soundtrack, whether you’re inching forward or unleashing that big-screen–shaking superweapon.
Beyond the standard waves, each “world” throws something new at you: ringed planets peppered with turrets, ghost ships that phase in and out, and gargantuan bosses that light up the bottom of your palms with sweat. The visuals lean into bright neon against pitch-black backdrops, giving it that retro sci-fi flair without ever feeling stuck in the past. And yes, there’s a local co-op mode so you can drag a buddy into the fray—because crying over split-screen deaths is twice the fun.
What really sells Stardust is how it balances old-school tension with modern polish. It never takes itself too seriously, but it’ll sure make you take yourself seriously when you’re ten minutes in with no lives left. If you’re itching for a quick session that still packs enough punch to keep you coming back, this little star-dodger’s got your name on it.