Did you know there was a port of Solarian II for the Apple IIGS?

Here it is in action, made to fit on the smaller 320×200 screen:

and a longer video (with sound) on YouTube:

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Comparisons

The sounds are mostly the same — the "drip" audio is a little more toned down compared to Haller's. Notably the Game Over sound (stamped at 7:10) is a great addition. A fun adaptation of the original.

In the original, you get new waves of enemies at Level 5 and again at Level 9 but in the GS version they are limited to the first wave characters i.e. Pentagons, Kamikaze Arrows, Bluebottles, Rotors, Birds and Krushus. So no Deltas, Oings or Daggers etc, but the swarm patterns are similar to their original counterparts.

A few other differences: Rotors and Birds have to be shot to clear the level and the supply ships are comically large. And when you get a dud present, it informs you. NOTHING!

As far as I'm aware there's no boss fight, since the pre-packaged High Scores seem to go above Level 17. We can therefore assume it loops, since the game files only appear to go up to Level 12.

While it lacks a few polished details of the original, it's pretty faithful in most regards, and still fun to play.

Found at MacGUI - Vault | Apple IIGS | GS Games

SolarianGS

v1.0.1 released for the IIGS in December 1992 by David Tolson | Coloureez

History

This game was originally written for the Macintosh computer by Ben Haller and after having played it at a friend's house and becoming totally addicted, I decided I wanted it on my GS. The only way to solve this problem was to write it myself! Needless to say my Mac owning friend thought I didn't stand a chance of keeping up with the speed of the Mac. The gauntlet had been thrown down! I had written a number of programs for the GS but nothing which included animation or even digitized sound. I studied a few articles which were interesting but after trying out the few samples bits of code included realised that something a bit more ingenious was required. I guess none of the game programmers want to give away too much of their secrets! After a few months of refining my code I finally hit on the answer. Actually it could go a bit faster still, but I think the result is adequate. I hope you agree.

The Game

The game is close to the Mac original but leaves out a few features. Maybe I will release a version 2 someday with everything in, but I think this is good enough for release now. It is basically a complicated Space Invaders type game. A full explanation of how to play is given in the on-line help available from the main menu in the game.

And here's a contemporary review from the March 1993 issue of inCider/A+ magazine

Solarian GS, by David Tolson. $10 Shareware. Based on a Mac shareware title, this version gives you three lives and several seconds of shield protection to start with. Your colorful enemy flies in a circular formation; with unlimited mouse-activated fire-power, you'll try to blast everything that moves. Watch out, though — the enemy shoots back. Complete with lots of digitized sound effects, Solarian is like a super Space Invaders with bombs and fireballs. Released in December 1992, this one quickly became one of the most popular GS games thus far. While high on the mayhem meter, Solarian sports a socially responsible aspect, as well: Players are directed to submit the shareware fee to Tolson's favorite elementary school.

Review by Joe Kohn