First Star Software, Inc. (Company)

First Star Software, Inc.

COMPANY» Founded 1982-01-01

Chappaqua,New York,United States of America

Company Brief

First Star Software, Inc. was originally formed in 1982 by Richard Spitalny and Fernando Herrera (Person). The company developed a number of titles for the Apple II, Atari 400/800 and Commodore 64 home computers (their first title being Astro Chase (Game)) but is principally known for the Boulder Dash (Game) and Spy vs. Spy series which have sold millions of units between them. While First Star Software only developed on home computers, some of their games were ported to the NES, Sega Master System and arcades by other companies. They sold a 50% stake in the business to Warner Software, Inc. 18 months after its founding but Warner no longer retains any ownership in the company.

The company still exists today and is still helmed by Richard Spitalny, primarily to license and publish their properties on various web, PDA, handheld and mobile phone platforms. They are not currently developing new intellectual properties. In 2007, a remake of Boulder Dash called Boulder Dash-ROCKS! was released on the Nintendo DS and on the PSP the following year. Both versions are considered fairly rare. Versions have also been produced for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and J2ME and BREW enabled phones. They also publish First Star Software: Greatest Hits which is a compilation of 14 of their old games, repackaged to run on computers running Windows 95 and above. The package can be ordered in either downloadable or on CD from their web site.

Developed Games

View all developed games

Spy vs. Spy (Game)

31 December 1984

Based off the popular MAD Magazine comic strip, Spy vs. Spy is said to be one of the earliest "split screen" games. Two players are pit against each other and must attempt to use different kinds of traps to takeout the opponent as many times possible, while collecting all needed items.

AMI SMS CPC +11