A note about using a mouse on an emulator

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Quick summary: use Ctrl+F5 to confine the host system mouse to the extents of the emulated screen

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A curious thing about Solarian II is that the cursor position is reset to the center every level. This is intentional and the developer addresses it in the version notes.

The issue on emulation is that this 'reset' mechanism isn't pulled through to the host system.

When the ship position resets after clearing a round, your OG system mouse might be way out in wherever-the-heck-you-left-it-last-land, but the game tells itself the mouse is in the center. The instant you move the mouse, the emulator whips over to the OG system position (sometimes in the nether regions beyond the emulated screen). The cursor (chevron? marker? arrow?) indicator below the ship whips over there too. Meaning the ship immediately goes in that direction whether you like it or not. This can be disastrous if you need to dodge nasties in a hurry.

Out of habit, I will move the chevron to the centre mark at the end of each round¹, during that short space of time between clearing the level and the scoring screen. That way, the mouse position is the same on both host OS and emulation, and the 'reset' has no practical effect.

¹ The exception is challenge rounds. When the challnge starts the mouse is not reset. Your ship at <end of level> will be the same as <start of challenge round>. So if you have the challenge medal, get your ship into prime position -- regardless of the above -- for best performance.

In any case, it turns out there's a very easy solution:

In most emulators (tested on Sheepshaver and Basilisk II) you can preempt all of this by pressing: Control + F5

This toggle "grabs" the mouse, essentially syncing up the mouse position in both host and emulator. The mouse is now confined to the extents of the emulated screen. Et voila!

Problem solved. Robert's your cousin's father and Fanny's your Aunt.