Sinistar is a 1983[a] multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and manufactured by Williams Electronics.

[3] It was created by Sam Dicker,[4] Jack Haeger,[4] Noah Falstein,[5] RJ Mical, Python Anghelo,[1] and Richard Witt.

The player pilots a lone spacecraft, flying through a large region of space, part of which is shown on the mini-map at the top of the screen.

When collected, each crystal turns into a "Sinibomb", which is the weapon for defeating the end of level boss, Sinistar, an animated spacecraft with a demonic skull face.

In all but the first zone, a completed but damaged Sinistar can be repaired by enemy Workers, extending its lifespan if the player is unable to kill it quickly.

Sinistar was commercially available in the mid-1990s as part of Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits for the Super NES, Sega Genesis and Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Microsoft Windows.

[19] Deathstar is a Sinistar clone for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, published by Superior Software in 1984.

The sound bite "Beware, coward" was used in the theme tune to the British Channel 4 video-game TV show Bits.

[23] The audio version of podcast IGN Game Scoop uses the sound bite "Beware, I live" in its theme tune.

[25] Sinistar himself is name-dropped and various lines of his are quoted in Stage 42 of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project.

Sinistar receives a large reference in chapters 30 and 31 of the book Ghost Story, a 2011 novel in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, during a recollection of a demonic battle from the protagonist's youth.

[26] Vocal samples of Sinistar are used in Buckethead's song "Revenge of The Double-Man" that appears in the 1999 album Monsters and Robots.