Star Rider

Star Rider is a laserdisc-based arcade video game created by Computer Creations and Williams in 1984. The object of the game is to race a futuristic motorcycle around a track in various surrealistic settings. The title character from Sinistar or Joust (video game) makes an appearance. Star Rider was released after the video game crash of 1983 and was not widely distributed. It was produced in both an upright and a sit-down version where the player would sit on a replica of the cycle.

The tracks themselves and the background graphics are video played from a laserdisc. The foreground graphics and racers are superimposed on the video. This technique enabled better visuals than other games of the period.

Star Rider was conceived to compete with the laserdisc game Dragon's Lair which had just come to market. Ken Lantz directed software development, and Richard Witt was lead programmer. John Newcomer was the creative director. The laser disc video production was outsourced to a third-party company. Witt and Lantz developed a means by which the first few lines of NTSC video signal contained data about the roadway, so that animated riders could appear to follow the track.

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