Easter Eggs
There are two easter eggs in SINISTAR that shows the player the game's credits (which was against company rules). One is like a cross-word puzzle and the other is known simply as the "Williams" Easter Egg. Since I don't have an emulator or Sinistar ROMs I can't excute the eggs. However, I found these instructions on the internet on how to excute the eggs.
Sinistar Easter Egg Instuctions
Assembled by Jeff Vavasour
1. At the "Adjustment Screen", set the pricing selection to "3"
2. (Optional) Then, set the "Ships per game" to "1"
3. Put in One Quarter. The game will show "1 CREDIT".
4. Push the "1-Player Start" button to start a 1-Player game.
5. Bump into an Asteroid.
6. Press the "FIRE" button SEVEN times. It doesn't matter how many shots come out; it's how many time you hit and release the button.
7. Don't hit an asteroid and or shoot again. Just let one of the "Warriors" to shoot you and thus ending the game.
8. Don't put in any quarters; just hit the "2-Player" button THREE times.
9. Now, put in a quarter. The game still shows "I CREDIT".
10. Hit the "1-Player" button the start a new 1-Player game.
11. Press the "SINIBOMB" button ONCE even though you have none. Don't touch anything or shoot!!
As explained earlier, there are two Easter Eggs. The Cross-word one is the more complete one and the "Williams" one is a simpler verison.
12. FOR THE "CROSS-WORD" EGG:
12a. Put in THREE quarters.
12b. Hit "SINIBOMB" ONCE more.
12c. The Easter Egg (above) should show up on screen!
13. FOR THE "WILLIAMS" EGG:
13a. Don't touch anything or shoot; just get killed by a "Warrior".
13b. Press "1-Player" button WITHOUT ANY CREDITS.
Tricks/Glitches
255 Life Bug
There is a glitch in SINISTAR that allows you to uptain up to 255 lives!
Here's how it works:
If you have more than one life left and die twice then the 255 life bug WON'T work. It is mandatory that you have ONE life left in order for the 255 life bug to work.
Everyone who plays SINISTAR knows how the player dies. Before killing you, the Sinistar sucks you in and makes you start spining around his mouth. Then, he chomps you, killing you entirely. Once the Sinistar has you spining around in its "Death Grip", as RJ Mical calls it, you are not dead yet. Once Sinistar eats you then you are dead.
Once you have one life left, you basicly sacrafice yourself to the Sinistar. Before, you sacrafice yourself to the Sinistar, have some "Warriors" (the guys that shoot at you) shoot a lot of lasers in your direction. Then, sacrafice yourself. Hopefully, one of the lasers floating in space, will hit you while Sinistar has you in its "Death Grip". Remember, while you're in Sinistar's "Death Grip" you're not dead. If the shot hits you while in Sinistar's "Death Grip" your lives are reduced to zero. However, you're still in Sinistar's "Death Grip"! Sinistar eats you, even though you have no lives left reducing your lives to -1! SINISTAR's [the game] 16-bit processer, like any other 16-bit processer, uses 256 values ranging from 0 to 255. There are no negative numbers. When you die twice with only life left, the processer confuses -1 with 255 and thus giving you 255 lives!
This is a very hard glitch to pull off because the Warriors do not shoot at you while in the "Death Grip". The programmers did this to (you guess it!) not let you die twice!
Escape from the "DEATH GRIP"!
This next trick is a handy one when you're in tight situation!
I discovered this trick myself, however there's possibly other people who discovered it before me. I say this because it's a fairly easy trick to pull off.
If the Sinistar has very few pieces left and he's about to grab you using the "Death Grip", DROP ALL OF YOUR SINIBOMBS NOW. If he does grab you (this is the cool part!) and is about to eat you, the SINIBOMBS will hit him and he will let go of you if you destroyed him!
Submissions
If you have discovered a trick in Sinistar that might be useful to other players, e-mail me at Aardmax@att.net with instuctions on how to excute the trick. The easier the trick the more likely I'll add it on to this page. Please put in the subject line: Sinistar Trick Submission. ANY E-MAILS WITHOUT A SUBJECT LINE WILL BE DELETED!