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Play The Last Starfighter (US edition · English) Online
The Last Starfighter
Play The Last Starfighter online for NES. Learn speed control, rolling and runway landings, clear enemy Command Ships and time your fuel-chamber bonuses.
Browser play
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) / Famicom — EmulatorJS controls
Default Player 1 keyboard mapping. Change keys in Controller Settings.
| Console button | Keyboard |
|---|---|
| ↑ / ↓ / ← / → | ↑ / ↓ / ← / → |
| A / B | Z / X |
| START / SELECT | Enter / V |
Open Controller Settings to configure your keyboard or gamepad. Touch controls are available on mobile.
How to Play The Last Starfighter
Quick start
Use SELECT on controller 1 to choose one or two players, then START. The GunStar launches automatically. Fire with B while avoiding fighters and surface obstacles. Pressing in your travel direction accelerates; pressing the opposite direction slows the craft and eventually turns it around. Use up/down to shift across the ship’s surface, and hold A with up/down to roll through narrow gaps. When LAND NOW flashes, approach the main runway from the left and fly along its centre in the direction of the landing arrows. In the fuel chamber, press A or B when the desired bonus light flashes.
Controls
Left/right: accelerate in that direction, or slow and eventually reverse if travelling the other way. Up/down: move across the surface. B: fire lasers ahead. Hold A and press up/down: change the ship’s rolled position, including sideways and inverted orientations. START: begin or pause; any button resumes after pausing. SELECT on controller 1: choose one/two players before play. In the fuel-rod chamber, A or B selects the currently flashing bonus/QUIT light.
The Last Starfighter — About this game
The Last Starfighter is a NES space shooter in which your GunStar attacks waves of fighters above enormous enemy Command Ships. The campaign presents fifteen ships to destroy, with the Star League threatened by Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada. Your lasers have unlimited ammunition but fire only in the direction the craft faces. Horizontal input changes speed and eventually reverses direction, while rolling the ship helps it pass narrow obstacles. Shooting alone does not finish a stage: after enough defenses are removed, the LAND NOW signal directs you toward the runway. Landing takes you into a fuel-rod chamber with a timing-based bonus sequence; leaving it triggers the Death Blossom that destroys the ship. The next target then awaits. A two-player option alternates turns rather than putting two GunStars on screen together.
Cheats
No cheats have been added for this edition.
Player verification and sources
Browser play was reviewed before this edition was published in the catalogue. The date below is the catalogue publication date, not the game’s original release date.
- Browser test and catalogue publication date
- Browsers and devices
- PC: Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Mobile: Chrome on Android and Safari on iPhone and iPad.
- Player engine and core
- EmulatorJS 4.3.0-pre · nes
- Tested by
- rwEmulator
Sources and editorial basis
rwEmulator reviews edition metadata, release information, game manuals and first-hand browser-play notes. Available manuals are linked below; the editorial policy explains how facts are checked and corrections are handled.