Solarian II

Solarian II is Ben Haller's 1988-89 vertical-scrolling shooter for the early color Macintosh, published as shareware through his Stick Software label. Drawing from Galaga and Space Invaders, it pits the player's lone fighter against waves of swooping aliens across seventeen escalating levels of color sprites and digitized sound.

Gameplay

Each stage drops a fresh formation of attackers that break ranks to dive at the player's ship. Bonus rounds and escalating speed reward sharp reflexes and pattern recognition, while a single hit ends the run.

A milestone for color Mac games

Solarian II was widely cited as one of the first color games written for the Mac II family, showing what the new color QuickDraw hardware could do with arcade-style sprite animation in an era still dominated by black-and-white titles.

Sound and presentation

Haller leaned heavily on digitized sampled sound effects and chiptune-flavored cues, giving the game a distinctive personality that fans still cite alongside the polished sprite work.

Platform notes

Runs on System 6 through Mac OS 9, with both 68k and PowerPC builds available. Well supported under Mini vMac, Basilisk II, and SheepShaver for color modes.