I’ve been meaning to share this documentary to the blog for some time.

I met its creator, Max, a couple of times while visiting the Freeplay Florida event a few years back. He mentioned that he was playing around with the original source code from the Williams arcade title Sinistar and hoping to add some features that were visible in the source code, but excluded from the game’s release. We chatted at length about what he was planning, and his passion for this project was nothing short of infectious.

I didn’t think too much about it, other than it sounded really cool and interesting.

Since that meeting, Max went away and knuckled down with his project, culminating in the release of an amazing documentary in April 2025.

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary follows Max’s two‑year effort to recover, restore, and fully understand the original source code and development history of the 1983 Williams arcade game Sinistar. Through extensive research and new interviews with key creators—including Noah Falstein, Mike Metz, and John Newcomer—the film reconstructs how the game evolved across prototypes, hardware constraints, sound design breakthroughs, difficulty balancing, and its eventual legacy.

It also explores related projects, lost materials, community‑driven preservation, and the technical challenges of retargeting and modifying the game for modern platforms, offering a comprehensive historical record of one of the early ’80s most innovative arcade titles.

In short, this is a remarkably important body of work. The production quality is excellent and it is chock full of fascinating insight into the game’s development and history.

Coming in at two hours forty five minutes, don’t be put off by its length. Grab a beer, pull up a chair and enjoy. You don’t have to be a fan of the game to appreciate the work that Max has poured into this project. Enjoy:

Huge props to Max for sharing this with the world. Please support him by giving the video a like and subscribe! Thanks Max!

Max’s project has culminated in a reunion panel, involving the folks involved with the development of the game hosted at last year’s California Extreme event. You can check that panel out below:

Further reading, and Max’s revised code can be seen on his GitHub page here.

Thanks as always for reading this week!

Tony

p.s. Life has dealt Max a rough hand recently and he could do with some help. if you enjoyed the documentary, please consider sending a few bucks his way – he’d appreciate it. Thank you!