Before Star Fox, before Halo, before any space opera took over living rooms, there was Star Raiders. Released in 1982 for the Atari 2600, this game put you in the cockpit of a starfighter tasked with saving the galaxy from relentless Zylon forces. And yes, it came with a keypad controller overlay—because apparently, piloting a ship requires more buttons than Atari knew what to do with.

Star Raiders wasn’t just about pew-pew lasers. You had to manage shields, energy, and galactic maps while juggling dogfights in first-person space combat. It’s basically Atari’s attempt at a flight sim, boiled down into chunky pixels and beeping sound effects. For 1982, it was insanely ambitious and way ahead of its time, even if it melted some kids’ brains trying to figure it out.

Why Star Raiders is still legendary:

1. It pioneered space combat gameplay long before 3D graphics were even a dream.
2. The keypad overlay makes it a quirky collectible—half game, half sci-fi prop.
3. Hardcore Atari fans consider this the console’s ultimate “thinking person’s” shooter.

If you’re looking to buy retro games on Retro Games eXchange, Star Raiders is a must-own piece of gaming history. It’s clunky, it’s complex, and it’s the OG space adventure that inspired decades of sci-fi games to come.