At long last, Welcome to the long awaited, probably forgotten second installment a Retrospective of Star Wars in Gaming. If you missed the first part or just wanna review it, you can find it here. Now let's get down to business.

The 90s was a mix of hit and misses for Star Wars games and while I've only played a handful of them, I'll try do me best here....and that'll just have to be good enough.

The year is 1991 and the first Star Wars video game in 6 years is released. Aptly named Star Wars, it was based on Episode IV: A New Hope and made it's way to the NES, Sega Master System, Nintendo Gameboy and Sega Game Gear. I've only had access to the NES version and let me tell you..I had a blast. While the game can be frustrating at times, I found it fun to be able to roam around Tatooine in landspeeder and the levels were also fun to explore and blasting the inhabitants to kingdom come also helped. For the most part, it seemed to stay true to movie's plot and for the time, the graphics weren't that bad really. I gotta say though, whoever designed the Death Star levels needs to be slapped....really really hard. That's ok though...I got past them and smiled really big...anyway. To my surprise, the dogfight sequence was actually pretty good, but then I haven't played many 8-bit flight sims so I really didn't have a basis for comparison. All in all I'd say this game was a solid hit. It has jawas, it has stormtroopers, it has droids, tusken raiders, Rodains, Mandalorians, cave slugs, Big ugly creepy hoppy robots in the Death Star. Lets face it, this game had everything but the kitchen sink....well maybe not everything..I got carried away.

In 1992, we got The Empire Strikes Back for the NES, Gameboy and Game Gear. Sweet MoA, I thought I was gonna beat this game with a hammer before too long. The first level, in the Wampa cave is ridiculous. I admit, the game is fun, but I thought I would never find my way out of there. It's more confusing that any level found in Final DOOM and that's something. Weird thing is that you begin on your Taun Taun, like ya do, and find your way into the Cave, which is infested with wampa and probe droids..oh that's not all..your lightsaber is also hiding in there somewhere. Once "Fun with Wampas" is over you gotta defend against the walkers. As I said in the previous blog, they've recycled the same basic idea from the original Empire game. Hit and run attacks until victory, but you are provided with enough harpoons to take down..I dunno..5 or 6 of the 12-13 walkers. Anyway, the rest of the game is a huge fun, frustrating, exciting, enraging, really messy nightmare.

1992 also saw the release of the first Star Wars game for the SNES. This was Super Star Wars. Like it's predecessors on the NES, it was a side-scrolling platformer with more aliens and monsters we've come to expect from a Star Wars game, but this time, the pacing was alot faster and the game itself was much more intense. Fro the time, graphics were pretty sweet and seemed like the kind of Star Wars side-scroller we'd been wanting for a long time. The best part though was music and sound effects. They were almost perfect. They sounded as close to real Star Wars sounds and music as you could get on a 16-Bit console. If you were ever bored and needed some Star Wars action, I bet you popped this baby in, didn't ya? Oddly enough, of the 3 games based on the original Trilogy, this was the last one I played. We had rented TESB and ROTJ, but they didn't have this one. Go figure...

Rolling on into 1993, we have 6 Star Wars games on the horizon Rebel Assault for the PC, 3DO, Sega CD and the CD-I...wait...what the frak was that last one?? CD-I?? Did I fall asleep in the early 90s?...Moving on......Rebel Assault ..I've only played the Sega CD version...once. We rented it..along with a Sega CD. Unfortunately though, the game will only make it through the first few levels before locking up. Looks like we got a frakked up copy. Even so, we still enjoyed playing the bits that worked and at the time, we were amazed by what appeared to be the use Of Early CGI to create new Star Wars footage. If you've played the game, you'll know that it and it's sequel use this technique basically to make up the whole game. Too bad I never had the chance to really enjoy as much as I should have been able to, though.

Thankfully, 1993 also saw the return of the side-scrolling, platforming monster, the Super Star Wars Trilogy, with it's second installment, Super The Empire Strikes Back., developed of course for the SNES. I've probably said this of many games, but I don't think any game in the history of the business has made me want to smash the console more than this game. Don't get me wrong, it was fun...but damn....it was so hard it was like they wanted you to cheat...even then it wasn't that easy. I have since played it and found it to not be as hard., but for a young teenager at the time..it was really pushing me,lol It implored the same gameplay style as SSW, but only slight Graphical enhancements, if any at all. The sounds and music were top notch again, as to be expected, but If I recall, we never see the bit where Darth Vader delivers the line to Luke. If I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to inform me.

Up next, we have X-Wing, X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit, X-Wing: B-Wing for PC and Star Wars Chess for PC, Sega Cd (I think) and 3DO.. 4 games I have never played, but did have an interest in. If memory serves, the X-Wing series became quite popular and may very well still be to this day. I'm sorry I can't comment on them, but If I could, I'm sure this Blog would be longer still,lol. Now, Star Wars Chess, interesting Idea, but..I dunno..maybe it's just me, but I always found Video game versions of Chess to be rather silly. If anyone here has played this game, your input would be appreciated.

1994 saw a Mac version of Rebel Assault...no really it did. We also got Star Wars Screen Entertainment for the PC and Mac, whatever the hell that is. Ah but yes, we also got Super Return Of The Jedi for the SNES, which I found to be the easiest of the 3. It was basically more of the same with little to no graphical and sound improvements, but still a big ol' honking hunka fun! For the time the SSWT came out, i t did justice to the films I think. I definitely recommend it to any old school gamers who still visit the old school, but have yet to play these games. There was also TIE: Fighter and TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire for the PC. Based on the X-Wing series, but this time, you flew from the round @#$%pit of a TIE Fighter. No doubt many of you did the Emperor proud. There was also an X-Wing Collector's CD. I haven't a Clue what this is, but I know someone else might. Sorry..I just talk about what I know and can guess on....so I'll guess it was a collection of the X-Wing games, but I could be wrong..maybe..maybe not..

Finally we move to 1995. This was a very special year in the history of Star Wars Gaming. This was The year Star Wars Returned to the Arcade. Simply named Star Wars Arcade. I wish I could say that I've played it, but unfortunately I haven't. I did play the later Star Wars Trilogy for the Arcade. Anyway, this title also saw service on the Sega 32X..what a joke of a system that was. Hell, it wasn't even a Stand alone console, it was an add on for the Sega Genesis. Another reason 1995 is special is because it saw the release of the original DARK FORCES, for the PC and mac. I absolutely love this game to this day, though the only version I'm familiar with is on the PS1, so I'll hold off my comments about it until I such time that I get that far. We also saw Rebel Assault II : The Hidden Empire for the PC and Mac. Another game I am familiar with only on the PS1. The TIE Fighter series also had a collector's CD release which again, I can only guess is the Original game what I assume is it's expansion pack.

Well ladies and gentlemen, that's all for now. I'll see if I can get the next Installment to you a bit faster than I got this one.

May The Force Be With You All!

Dec 21, 2007 2:21 PM | Report Abuse reply