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A Retrospective of Star Wars in Gaming, Part I: The '80s PRESS START
If you've seen this on SW.com, yes, I'm recycling an old blog,lol
A long time ago in a game developer's office far, far away...well...far far away from me anyway. For some of you it was probably very very close, but I digest. From the blockiness of the original Empire game to the blockiness of the new Star Wars: Lego II, Star Wars games have come along way since the pre-8-bit era.
The year is 1982, The Empire Strikes Back is the first Star Wars video game to come into the world when it's released on the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision. Finaly that galaxy far far away that we love so much becomes interactive. While I've never actually played this game, it looked interesting enough for it's time. Flyig back and forth in a snow speeder, shooting at AT-ATs is always a fun thing to do...wait a minute, didn't they recycle this in the NES version of Empire? Never the less., this game opened the doors to Star Wars in videogames and for that I thank it. For those of you who did get a chance to play this game, what was the experiance like? Was it everything you hoped for? Did it fufill that need to take on the Empire all by yourself? Or did it just send you packing back to the movies? Whatever your reaction, this was just the begining of the Star Wars Gaming Empire.
Moving on to 1983, though 3 games were released, only 1 really stands out. This ofcourse is Star Wars, released for the Arcarde, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Colecovision and the Atari XE..whatever the hell that is. This game featured the use of vector graphics which enabled the developers to created the 3-D, or perhaps 3-D-esque surface of the Death Star, Tie Fighters and the inside of an X-wing@#$%pit. In 1985, there is an expansion kit based on Empire released for the arcade, once again using vector graphics to create a speer@#$%pit, probe droids, walkers, asteroids, ties and the Falcon's@#$%pit. I've never played the original versions of these games, but they are however avalible as hidden games for you to unlock on the Gamecube's Rebel Strike. To my surprise, these games actually featured a few soundclips from the movies. Not of perfect quality, but good atleast. And you know what? Even today, these games are still fun to play. I sh[oo]t you not. I'm telling you, I had a blast..no pun intended. Yes while graphicly inferior to the games of today, it had that little element that is sorely missing from so many game titles these days..fun. I even managed to get on the top 10 on Empire's scoreboard. For those that don't know, these games were the inspiration for the Rogue Squadron game series. Not only that, now I know where all those damn "crosswalks" in the trench came from in the various versions of the Battle Of Yavin.
Let's move on Return of The Jedi for the arcade, released in 1984. This game is also featured in Rebel Strike, but I had the pleasure..or perhaps frustration..of playing it before the Gamecube even existed. I found it in a skating ring when I was a teenager. This game was a colorful 2-D over head, diagonal scroller. It begins with the speederbike chase. This was very hard to control for me, using the arcade steeringwheel...yes...a 2-D overhead, diagonal scroller had a steering wheel. You also took control of the Falcon as it flew it's way to the core of Death Star II and you even got to play as the AT-ST that was stolen by Chewie and his little furry companions. Once you get past the initial frustration of crashing into tree after tree after tree....after tree.....after tree and finaly learn how to control the game, it's actually pretty fun.
The rest of the '80s are what I like to call the dark times for Star Wars games, seeing as how there were no more.
Next Blog: Star Wars Games in the '90s.
A long time ago in a game developer's office far, far away...well...far far away from me anyway. For some of you it was probably very very close, but I digest. From the blockiness of the original Empire game to the blockiness of the new Star Wars: Lego II, Star Wars games have come along way since the pre-8-bit era.
The year is 1982, The Empire Strikes Back is the first Star Wars video game to come into the world when it's released on the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision. Finaly that galaxy far far away that we love so much becomes interactive. While I've never actually played this game, it looked interesting enough for it's time. Flyig back and forth in a snow speeder, shooting at AT-ATs is always a fun thing to do...wait a minute, didn't they recycle this in the NES version of Empire? Never the less., this game opened the doors to Star Wars in videogames and for that I thank it. For those of you who did get a chance to play this game, what was the experiance like? Was it everything you hoped for? Did it fufill that need to take on the Empire all by yourself? Or did it just send you packing back to the movies? Whatever your reaction, this was just the begining of the Star Wars Gaming Empire.
Moving on to 1983, though 3 games were released, only 1 really stands out. This ofcourse is Star Wars, released for the Arcarde, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Colecovision and the Atari XE..whatever the hell that is. This game featured the use of vector graphics which enabled the developers to created the 3-D, or perhaps 3-D-esque surface of the Death Star, Tie Fighters and the inside of an X-wing@#$%pit. In 1985, there is an expansion kit based on Empire released for the arcade, once again using vector graphics to create a speer@#$%pit, probe droids, walkers, asteroids, ties and the Falcon's@#$%pit. I've never played the original versions of these games, but they are however avalible as hidden games for you to unlock on the Gamecube's Rebel Strike. To my surprise, these games actually featured a few soundclips from the movies. Not of perfect quality, but good atleast. And you know what? Even today, these games are still fun to play. I sh[oo]t you not. I'm telling you, I had a blast..no pun intended. Yes while graphicly inferior to the games of today, it had that little element that is sorely missing from so many game titles these days..fun. I even managed to get on the top 10 on Empire's scoreboard. For those that don't know, these games were the inspiration for the Rogue Squadron game series. Not only that, now I know where all those damn "crosswalks" in the trench came from in the various versions of the Battle Of Yavin.
Let's move on Return of The Jedi for the arcade, released in 1984. This game is also featured in Rebel Strike, but I had the pleasure..or perhaps frustration..of playing it before the Gamecube even existed. I found it in a skating ring when I was a teenager. This game was a colorful 2-D over head, diagonal scroller. It begins with the speederbike chase. This was very hard to control for me, using the arcade steeringwheel...yes...a 2-D overhead, diagonal scroller had a steering wheel. You also took control of the Falcon as it flew it's way to the core of Death Star II and you even got to play as the AT-ST that was stolen by Chewie and his little furry companions. Once you get past the initial frustration of crashing into tree after tree after tree....after tree.....after tree and finaly learn how to control the game, it's actually pretty fun.
The rest of the '80s are what I like to call the dark times for Star Wars games, seeing as how there were no more.
Next Blog: Star Wars Games in the '90s.
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And yeah, it did include actual sound clips from the movies. I specifically remember Obi-Wan saying, "The Force will be with you...always."
Great freakin' game!