Starburst Galaxy: Slot Overview

Starburst is one of those legendary slots that most players end up encountering or hearing about at some point along the way. Created by iGaming stalwarts NetEnt, it hit big when it launched in 2012 and has remained lodged in the gambling psyche ever since. The studio headed back into space for Starburst XXXtreme roughly 9 years later, and for reasons best known to them, they’ve now produced another follow-up. The original Starburst slot was famously straightforward, so it was easy to assume Starburst Galaxy would keep things similarly simple. Spoiler: it doesn’t—this one is packed to the brim with features the first Starburst could hardly have imagined 12 years ago.

The first game floated out in deep space far from our lovely blue planet, and Starburst Galaxy does the same. Visuals have been refreshed, yet the familiar symbols and those trippy sound effects clearly nod back to the earlier title. There isn’t a huge amount else to say about the presentation beyond that, except that Starburst Galaxy pulls off a nice trick: it feels genuinely fresh while still oddly comforting at the same time—like switching hands for, well, never mind.

Starburst Galaxy stretches the playfield so its 5 reels each display 5 symbols, and it has removed paylines entirely. To land a payout and keep the feature action ticking over, at least 3 identical adjacent symbols must connect in vertical or horizontal lines—wins can start from any reel position. Volatility is listed as medium-high, and the top RTP sits at 96% regardless of how you play—whether you’re spinning normally at 20 c to $/€28 per spin or using the “Elevate” feature buys.

The paying icons include purple gems, blue gems, orange gems, green gems, yellow gems, a 7, and a BAR symbol. Five OAK payouts range from 2 to 20 times the bet, while with expanded reels, 7 OAK wins can return 10 to 250 times the bet. Any win sets off the Avalanche feature, and so do 3 scatters once they drop off the grid. Winning symbols are cleared away and replaced by new ones falling into place, continuing until no further wins appear.

Starburst Galaxy: Slot Features

Feature-wise, Starburst Galaxy sits at the complete opposite end of the spectrum to Starburst, overflowing with Avalanches, wilds, Feature Generator features, a Galaxy Star, a Galaxy Meter, a Mega Star, a Multiplier Collect Meter, and feature buys.

Wild Symbols

Whenever a win that contains no wild is removed, a wild symbol is dropped into the central area of the cleared combination. If 2 winning combinations intersect, a wild is placed for each win—unless the overlap happens at their centres, in which case only one wild appears. Wild symbols substitute for all symbols except scatters.

Feature Generator

During the base game, every winning combination progresses the Feature Generator. For every 5 winning combinations achieved consecutively, the game randomly awards one of these 5 modifiers, in sequence:

• Destroy – removes 1 or more random symbol types from the grid.
• Random Wilds – replaces 3 to 9 pay symbols with wilds.
• Expanding Wilds – turns all wild symbols on the reels into vertical stacks of 3 wild symbols.
• Line Transform – fills a row or reel with a random pay symbol type.
• Upgrade – upgrades 1 or more random symbols of the same type on the reels to a symbol type with a higher value.

Galaxy Star Feature and Galaxy Meter

The Galaxy Star feature kicks in once the fifth feature from the Feature Generator has been awarded. The play area expands to 7×7, and a 3×3 wild lands on the reels. After wins are counted, winning symbols are removed, and 4 to 8 wilds appear Reactoonz style. When the action finally stops producing wins, any remaining awarded features in the Feature Generator are then triggered.

The Galaxy Meter starts up when the 3×3 wild shows on the reels. Each winning combination is added to the Galaxy Meter. Every time it reaches 50, the Galaxy Star feature is awarded, and it will activate once no more wins are available. After hitting 50 on the Galaxy Meter, it resets and begins again, with any additional wins continuing to build it up.

Mega Star Feature and Multiplier Collect Meter

Landing 3 scatters on the reels in the same spin triggers the Mega Star feature. After the Avalanche, once the grid stops producing wins, a 2×2 wild is placed on the reels where no wild symbols are already present. When wins are checked, winning symbols are cleared, and 2 to 5 regular wilds are added to the reels during the next Avalanche.

The Mega Star fires before any awarded-but-not-yet-activated features in the Feature Generator. When Mega Star triggers, 1 or more scatters can carry multipliers of x2 to x25. These multipliers feed into the Multiplier Collect Meter, which displays the total collected multipliers that apply to every winning combination until the end of the round.

Elevate Feature

Extra in-game features can be switched on via the Elevate feature. The available options are:

• Bonus Boost – 3x the bet, increases the chance of reaching the Galaxy Star.
• Mega Star – 10x the bet to activate the Mega Star feature. One free main game spin is guaranteed to have 3 scatters.
• Boosted Mega Star – 50x the bet. Activates the Mega Star and the Multiplier Collect Meter. When the feature is activated, 1 free main game spin guarantees to have 3 scatters to activate the Mega Star. At least 2 scatters will have multipliers.
• Galaxy Star – guarantees reaching the Galaxy Stay for 100x the bet.
• Galaxy Star Bonanza – 500x the bet. Activates the Galaxy Star with 5 awarded features in the Feature Generator and a random multiplier of x2 to x75.

Starburst Galaxy: Slot Verdict

The leap from Starburst to Starburst Galaxy is like that classic rom-com scene where the quiet bookworm at the back of the room suddenly whips off her glasses and shakes out her hair in slow motion—instantly going from overlooked to the person everyone’s staring at. These two games are worlds apart. Mechanically, at least. On the audiovisual side, Starburst Galaxy gives a warm nod to what came before, while adding enough polish to feel much more lively and current.

From a gameplay perspective, it’s as if NetEnt borrowed a page from Play’n GO, with clear vibes of titles like Moon Princess and Reactoonz popping up throughout. Starburst Galaxy revolves around landing horizontal or vertical line wins anywhere on the grid, clearing them away, dropping in a wild, and gathering various elements to charge collection meters for feature triggers and progression. It’s a lot to take in—and a lot of new (for Starburst) mechanics to chase. Strap in for the potential, because Starburst Galaxy’s 25,000x ceiling is a Saturn rocket next to Starburst’s far less fiery Big Tom Thumb.

Starburst Galaxy ended up being very different from what many expected. Plenty of people assumed NetEnt would stay much closer to the original than it has. While there are obvious links—visual style, audio cues, and some familiar wild trickery—Starburst Galaxy piles on a huge amount of additional content, delivers much bigger win potential, and successfully fuses old and new. The result is a sequel arriving 12 years after the first game that feels purposeful and relevant, rather than just an unnecessary nostalgia lap.