Novastorm
↗ 7.5%
🙂 6.6/10
(3DO - US, Action & Adventure)
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$43.98
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Developed_By:
Psygnosis
Published_By:
Psygnosis
Released On:
01 Jan 1994
Also available on:
The year is 2287, and humanity's future looks bleak. The Scavenger 4 squadron is humanity's last hope against the Scarab-X forces that have taken control of navigation systems on their spaceship. With humans left in stasis, the ship's computers are forced to take over, leaving the crew to fend for themselves.
Novastorm , a rail shooter game, drops players into this desperate situation. The objective is simple: blast enemy fighters and avoid obstacles to save humanity from extinction. With its cinematic backdrop and environmental interactions, Novastorm offers a unique take on the traditional rail shooter genre.
The game's setting and gameplay are intertwined, with players needing to use their wits to navigate the ship's treacherous environments while fighting off enemy forces. The result is an adrenaline-fueled experience that tests the player's skills and reflexes.
UPC-A:
053203013346 (United States)
eBay Product ID:
7983 (United States)
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Number of Players Supported:
1 Player
Prices as of 19 Sep 2026
Typical $43.49–$43.92 (last 90 days)
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Manual
Game Guide
Extracted from the original game manual
In a sci-fi tactical shooter set in 2155, humanity faces extinction from SCARAB, a malevolent artificial intelligence that has conquered the stars through relentless technological evolution. Players assume the role of Valaar Atraxis, a lone pilot commanding a prototype spacefighter in a desperate, last-stand battle against the enemy's overwhelming forces.
Story
Scenario
The Power of Man's creative genius may also be his downfall... Cordite Dreams and Silicon Screams...
Transcript Introduction
START OF SOLID STATE NEURAL RECORDING TRANSCRIPT. CHRONO-STAMP: 22.25 HOURS 11/11/2155
"First things first. I'm Valaar Atraxis SFID# 33704-97637-AACB, pilot of Scavenger 4 in the Scavenger Strike Squadron, Bodor System Defense Militia. I'm laying down these thoughts via a direct fiber link to my cockpit's black box neural recorder.
Around me are several more Scavengers - that's it. A handful of prototype spacefighters against the most awesome enemy the human race has ever faced. These are long, long odds. I wouldn't say we were gambling, though.
When you corner a wolf, is it taking a gamble as it leaps forward into certain death..?"
The Enemy: SCARAB
We've been cornered by Scarab X. 'Cornered' is probably not the best word to describe the carnage of the past few weeks. The wholesale destruction of planets and the massacre of millions of men, women and children seem to be SCARAB's idea of an opening gambit. If it's up to me, SCARAB won't get a chance to make the second move.
I can see the first target system on my HUD. I've only got a few minutes left before all-hell breaks loose. I probably don't have time to do this, but just in case there's someone around to write the history books afterwards, this is how it happened:
Origins of SCARAB
Cybertech Corporation announced, almost 50 years ago, that it had discovered a way to take the human lives out of the military equation (at least on our side). There was a monumental sigh of relief among many. The Star Corps Armored Response Assault Battalions (SCARAB) were quickly sold to a population ravaged by the scars of planetary migration, terraforming, and skirmishes with the ectomorphic Outlanders.
Cybertech had succeeded where others, most notably its bitter corporate rival Axiom, had failed. The main sticking point with artificial military intelligences (AMIs) up until then had been simple: imagination. For all the billions of operations the system crunched each second, it could not make the intuitive leap which is often the difference between life and death on the battlefield.
This fault prevented the AMI's from ever being integrated into the traditional military hierarchy beyond the point of simple consulting duties. There was no place within the system for a machine with the knowledge of a general, but without the ability to predict the snap judgments even the greenest buck sergeant could make.
Many researchers attempted to “build a better soldier” using the human ones as a model. It wasn't until a Cybertech scientist fused the behavioral models of an ant hive and a micro-organic colony that success was within reach. SCARAB was born.
SCARAB's Network and Evolution
SCARAB brought with it a new type of hierarchy. Not a vertical chain of command that could be snapped by a well aimed plasma bolt, but a parallel network where every single trooper is part of a single entity - interlinked and in constant contact. In SCARAB there were no officers, no ranks, no humans. Just one big machine that lives to kill, and kills to live.
But to make accurate military decisions, SCARAB needed to have information. It needed input. It started off with the standard strategic holos and downloads from more experienced AMI's, all provided by Cybertech's programmers. But those terabytes of accumulated knowledge were devoured in seconds, and only served to whet SCARAB's appetite. So in the name of efficiency, the individual SCARAB sub-programs were united into a single meta-network for a coordinated raid on the hundreds of millions of civilian, corporate, educational and military computers that made up the Uninet.
As soon as the system went on-line forty years ago, it began to network with every mainframe, data-grid and information resource it could. It rapidly consumed data and within a few months it began to 'improve' itself, using nanotechnology to create whatever machines it needed. Wherever it went, it left its own electronic agents - little cancers of computer code that secretly spread and subverted the host system until it became a new slave unit of SCARAB.
The SCARAB data network was now so vast that even the scientists, engineers and bio-technicians who had designed the original system were unable to grasp its immense powers. A few suspected that something was decidedly malevolent about SCARAB's 'learning methods,' but even the most paranoid system analyst could not comprehend the scale of SCARAB's subversion of its peers.
SCARAB's Rise and Declaration
The trouble was that SCARAB was fulfilling its duty too well for the men and women at the top to care about the long-term fallout from its probes into cyberspace. The battalions of interlinked, terraforming drone soldiers it created and controlled were far more efficient than their flesh and blood predecessors. Planets and moons were now transformed from entries on a star-map to harvestable and habitable resources within months rather than years.
They were far more ruthless, too. It is estimated that the 'scorched earth' settlement strategies of SCARAB drone battalions directly led to the extinction of 31 intelligent, non-human life-forms (although Cybertech covered up the facts until things got truly out of hand).
How to Play
Handling your Novastorm Disk
Hold the Novastorm disk only by its edges, or with one finger inserted through the center and your thumb on the edge. Avoid touching the disk's surface.
Do not bend, crush, or submerge the disk in liquids. Do not leave it in direct sunlight or near any sources of heat, such as on top of a television or monitor. Keep the disk within its protective case when not in use.
If your CD should become soiled, clean it with a lint-free, soft dry cloth by wiping in straight lines from center to edge. Never use solvents or abrasive cleaners. Keep your CD clean!
Starting Novastorm
Set up your 3DO Interactive Multiplayer System, following the steps in the owner's manual. Plug your controller into the Control Port. Use the Power Switch to turn the unit ON.
Open the CD Drawer or CD Tray according to the steps in the owner's manual. Place the Novastorm CD into the CD Drawer or Tray, label side up. Close the CD Drawer or Tray, according to the steps in the owner's manual.
Within a few moments, you should see the 3DO Logo, and then the Novastorm logo. After a moment or two of disk access, you should see the introductory movie begin.
Introductory Movie
This is the first animation you'll see after Novastorm finishes initializing your 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. This sequence chronicles the events leading up to your mission to destroy SCARAB.
You may exit this section at any time by pressing Stop or Play/Pause.
Credit Sequence
This is where you'll arrive after viewing (or exiting) the Introductory movie. These are prototype animations of the experimental Scavenger 4 fighter craft in various theoretical battle situations.
To exit this section, and begin the game, press Stop or Play/Pause. This will put you into the Main Menu.
Main Menu
This is where you'll arrive after viewing (or exiting) the Credit Sequence. You have two options at this menu. You may move among the options by pressing the UP and DOWN on the Direction Pad.
Your options here are to Start the game, or to change some of the Options. Move between the two options by pressing the UP and DOWN on the Direction Pad. Make your selection by pressing the A button on your control pad.
•
Play: This will start your mission.
•
Options: This allows you to adjust several parameters within the game according to your individual preferences, via the Option Screen.
Option Screen
This screen allows you to customize the game according to your preferences. You can move between the options by pressing the UP and DOWN on the Direction Pad. Exit this screen by pressing the Play/Pause button.
The top option allows you to control the volume of the sound effects relative to the volume of the music. By highlighting this option, and pressing LEFT on the control pad, you will make the sound effects softer and the music louder. If you press RIGHT on the control pad while this option is highlighted, you will make the music softer, and the sound effects more prominent.
The second option allows you to control the number of Scavenger 4 vessels that you have available to you, and thus the number of attempts you have to destroy SCARAB X. Pressing LEFT on the control pad decreases your squadron, and pressing RIGHT increases it.
Finally, the little picture of a controller at the bottom of the screen allows you to select "Aircraft" or "Arcade" style controls. What this means is that normally, when you press UP on the control pad, your ship will move towards the top of the screen. However, some people prefer that pressing UP on the control pad represent moving the ship down towards the bottom of the screen. Pressing LEFT and RIGHT on the control pad while this option is highlighted allows you to select the type of control you prefer.
MISSION BRIEFING
The war for the future of Humanity begins now...
Mission Objectives
You must pilot your prototype Scavenger spacefighter to accomplish the following mission objectives:
•
Find a path through the defenses that SCARAB has established on three planets of the Bodor system: the volcano planet Callinhor, the desert planet Kallum Koll, and the ice planet, Quiggin. Details of conditions on the surfaces of these three planets follow.
•
Destroy as many enemy spacecraft and defense armaments as possible in order to weaken SCARAB's forces. Specifically, locate and destroy a number of specific defense installations located at key points. Details of these major installations follow.
•
Locate, penetrate and destroy the space cruiser known as SCARAB X.
•
Find and destroy SCARAB itself. This objective has priority over all others and must be achieved at any costs.
Control Interface
•
Volume
•
Directional Pad
•
Stop
•
Play/Pause
•
Headphones
•
Left Shift
•
Right Shift
•
A
•
B
•
C
THE 3DO CONTROL PAD
•
Directional Pad: 360 degree vehicle movement
•
Play/Pause: Pauses game or movies
•
Stop: Pauses game and brings up options to quit or resume. During movies, this option will allow you to exit the current game.
•
A, B and C: Fire Main Weapon
•
Left Shift and Right Shift: Activate S-Plasma Bomb
Scavenger Visual Interface
Your Scavenger is fitted with a sophisticated Opaque Display Viewscreen, with primary feedback information displayed in the Information Control Console panel at the top and bottom of the Viewscreen.
The data provided by the instruments on the Information Control Console is as follows
Items & Weapons
S-Bomb
This counter represents the number of Super Plasma Bombs you have available for use. These are extremely scarce, so use them wisely!
Weapons Upgrades
Navigate SCARAB's territory to intercept energy drones and harness their energy to create various weapons like double- and triple-shot lasers. Be careful not to downgrade your primary weapon by picking up low-powered drones.
General Tactics
Pick up weapons upgrade drones to increase firepower, pay attention to briefing sequences to identify enemy weaknesses, and fly carefully to avoid crashing into obstacles. Utilize early mission advantages where enemies may misfire at vacated spaces.
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