I purchased Pixel Star expecting a retro-style, improved Asteroids-like game. What I got was a retro-style, improved Asteroids-like game. Truth in advertising!

The first night I played Pixel Star, I was lucky to survive for five minutes. Now? Super Winner (see Achievements section, below). The difference? Knowledge. Knowledge gained from playing the game, experimenting, and dying. Dying a lot. So, if you're not doing great yet, don't despair. This guide is here to help you along.

That being said, there is no substitute for getting in your ship and shooting some pixels.

I personally find it awkward to hold down the left mouse button for so long. I recommend a utility such as AutoHotkey, which will allow you to change the keybind. The following script makes my fourth mouse button act as a toggle for left click:

First, you will have the option to customize your ship. From the main menu, click on Ship.

As of this writing, the Hull options are:

• Invulnerability while taking damage (you can only take one hit at a time, about three seconds, with the exception of flying into a star or black hole, etc; that's instant death).
  
• Regenerate secondary ammo
  
• Faster utility recharge

The Utility options are:

• Teleportation drive
  
• Deflection mirrors (facing the same direction as your ship. You can shoot through it, enemies can't)
  
• Ultra magnet (pulls enemies and asteroids towards it)
  
• Force blaster (pushes everything away from your ship)
  
• Liquid plasma (slows enemies)
  
• Slow time

The Secondary weapon options are:

• Homing missiles
  
• Timed bombs
  
• Attack drones
  
• Static generator
  
• Gatling gun
  
• Rainbow cannon

Obviously you have to experiment and pick what works for you. That being said, if you're paralyzed by choice, these work best for me:

Hull: invulnerability while taking damage. Nothing makes you live longer quite like taking less damage.

Utility: ultra magnet. Allows you to pull the enemies into your line of fire, and means the powerups they drop will all be easy to grab. A great help during the early stages of the game when your lasers aren't very powerful and you need to get a lot of powerups fast. If you can find a High Collision Zone, you're in a really good position to carry the day.

Secondary weapon: rainbow cannon. Once you get past the early stages of the game, you don't really need your secondary weapon. But in those early stages, you need to pick up as many powerups as you can. The rainbow cannon is nice because it has an area of effect right from the start, so it pairs very well with the ultra magnet to pull things together and wipe them out quickly.






A few things to note:

• You don't have to have any Turbo Boost in order to boost, you'll just be slower
  
• You can pick up two Turbo Boost / Rapid Fire pickups before your meters are full
  
• When you have one ship left in your Repairs bar, one more hit will kill you
  
• You can carry more Repairs and Secondary Ammo than the screen has room for

Powerups will make your ship more powerful. You want them! They disappear after an internal timer runs out, so try to pick them up in the order you want them. However, since some of the pickups look very similar, it can be hard to tell them apart. This is the order in which I try to prioritize:

These allow you to survive taking damage.

These prevent damage from hitting your ship. The only reason they're not first on the list is that some types of damage can cut through shields (and one enemy can drop your shields).

These will permanently increase the number of lasers coming out of your ship, make the lasers more powerful, or make them fire faster. All are a significant bonus.

These little helpers will accompany you for awhile, shooting a single laser with the same power level as your ship.

Gives you a short burst of very high fire rate.

These permanently fly around your ship and damage enemies that get too close. By themselves, they don't do much. But if you collect a swarm of them, they can destroy enemies on a collision course with you.

Permanently adds a bonus projectile to your primary attack.

Adds to your secondary attack ammo.

Permanently makes your secondary attack more powerful.

Allows you to travel quite fast for a short amount of time. Can be very dangerous because you might fly into something. I only use it in short bursts. Pro tip: you don't need to have any Turbo Boost in order to boost. Turbo Boost just allows you to boost faster.



Now, if you see one of these indicators on the edge of your screen, there is a Civillian / Bounty / Cargo in that direction. Fly your ship into it to receive a powerup.

Most of the enemies you encounter are pretty strightforward to deal with. Shoot them! However, a few bear special consideration.

these guys are not affected by Ultra Magnets.



these will drop your shields, no matter how strong they are.



these will cut through your shields. Additionally, if there are several of them, they can connect and form a long line of static discharge that will cut through your shields if you pass through it.



these ships will fire dim red torpedoes (see the two little dots in the first picture?) These are hard to see and will damage you through your shields. If you hear the "beep beep beep!" ... boost yourself out of there!

The bosses will be encountered in random order. The faster you can deal with them, the better, so bosses are a good place to use your secondary attack.


I'll be honest with you: this is my favorite boss, and seeing it in the front page video is one of the reasons I bought the game. Stay away from its sticky tendril, its green trail will slow you down, and the pockets of worms left behind are best dealt with later.


Keep moving, keep your distance, and watch out for the explosive gas pockets. Has a medium-range static discharge attack that will go through your shields.


Keep moving around it.


Keep moving around it.



And there are two other achievements directly related to bosses:


All you have to do to get this achievement is survive all the boss attacks. Sounds easier than it is...


To get Super Winner, you have to survive all boss attacks without taking a single point of damage. In addition to the four boss notes above, pay extra attention to the special enemies discussed previously.

Fire a rainbow cannon and follow the projectile. This is easiest right at the start of a game, because the rainbow cannon projectile goes faster as you upgrade it. You can actually go faster than the base projectile using boost, though.


I'm not sure exactly how many drones you have to have for this one, but perhaps nine based on the icon. In any case, if you take drones as your secondary weapon, this is very easy to get.


Die 100 times, pretty straightforward.


Maximize lasers. This does not require their power to be maxed (I'm not even sure if that's possible).


Maximize your shields.


Crash into a star. This will destroy you no matter how strong your shields and no matter how many repair kits you have picked up.


Turbo boost for fifteen seconds straight. You can pick up two turbo powerups before your bar is full. Then, when you see a third powerup, start boosting. Catch the third powerup and you should have no problem boosting for fifteen seconds... assuming you don't run into anything and die.


Pretty straightforward, get 99,000 points.


Get a million points.


You have to get a 50x point multiplier. Every time you destroy something, your multiplier goes up. Every time you take damage, it resets. So, the hard part here is not taking any damage. Pay special attention to the noteworthy enemies listed previously.


This is an aptly named achievement. Once you pass the 20 or 30-minute mark, you are nigh unstoppable if you've been diligent in picking up powerups.

I hope you found something helpful above. Now let's get back to playing this fun game!