Starcraft Guide

Starcraft Guide is a Macintosh companion utility distributed alongside Blizzard's 1998 real-time strategy hit StarCraft. Preserved on Macintosh Garden in BinHex-wrapped form, it belongs to the broader ecosystem of fan-built reference tools - unit databases, build-order helpers, and strategy primers - that grew up around the game on Classic Mac OS.

Purpose

Companion guides of this kind typically catalog Terran, Protoss, and Zerg unit stats, build trees, and counter relationships in a single browsable window. The intent is to keep reference material a Cmd-Tab away from a live StarCraft session without leaving the Mac desktop.

Format

The release is mirrored in classic Mac BinHex 4.0 (.hqx) format, preserving the resource fork required for HyperCard stacks, custom icons, or compiled standalone applications of the period. Decoding is handled by Stuffit Expander or a comparable utility before launch.

Era and Compatibility

Tools in this category target the same audience as the Mac release of StarCraft itself - System 7.5 through Mac OS 9, on 68k or PowerPC hardware. Reference utilities tend to be lightweight, often built in HyperCard or REALbasic, and run comfortably alongside the game on a contemporary Power Mac.

Preservation Notes

Detailed authorship and version metadata were not recorded with the original upload, so the Macintosh Garden entry functions primarily as a download mirror and archival placeholder. The accompanying StarCraft entries on the site provide the necessary context for using the guide in tandem with the base game.