No games were released in 1990. The reason that this is important, is because this was the last year that no new games came out. For the next twenty-four years, at least one new game was released per year. With everything that is on the horizon for Star Wars, I believe it will be a long time before we have a year that does not produce any new games. So with no games since Droids in 1988, let’s go to the year 1991.
In 1991 two games were released. The first one was titled Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star and is a flight simulator for some home computers. You are flying an X-Wing in 3 different levels. First you take on TIE fighters in a space dogfight. After a certain amount of kills, you move to the surface of the Death Star to take on Turrets. The final level is the famous trench run. This game reminds me of the earlier Star Wars arcade games.
The second game of that year was titled Star Wars, and was released for Nintendo. In following years this game would become available for Game Boy, Game Gear and the SEGA Master System. This game is your classic side-scroller. You are Luke Skywalker searching the planet of Tatooine for your friends. When you find them they will be able to help you in your quest. Obi-Wan will give you your lightsaber, R2-D2 will show you maps and C-3PO will give you hints. After finding Han and Leia, you leave the planet and become the pilot of the Millennium Falcon. Now the game turns into a first person flight simulator; you fly through an asteroid field while taking on TIE fighters and navigate the trench run of the Death Star. Besides the 1988 Japanese exclusive, this is the first Star Wars video game where you become Luke Skywalker with the lightsaber. Darth Vader’s only cameo in this game is the Game Over screen that is located at the bottom of this.
In 1992, two Star Wars game were released. The first was Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, which is the direct sequel to Star Wars of 1991 and was put out for Nintendo and later Game Boy. In this side- scroller you start off on the planet of Hoth. Following the events of its movie counterpart, you face off with a Wampa and battle AT-ATs in a snowspeeder. Once you leave Hoth you fly to Dagobah for Jedi training from master Yoda. After making your way through the jungles, you start training and learning new force powers. Once you pass Yoda’s tests you head to Cloud City to try and save Han and Leia from Darth Vader and Boba Fett. This game was released near the end for the original Nintendo, so no Return of the Jedi sequel was made. Instead, games were now being developed for Super Nintendo.
The second game released was for Super Nintendo and was called Super Star Wars. This game also followed the story of the movie, finding the Droids on Tatooine, escaping the Death Star and, of course, the space battle of Yavin. You have the option of playing as Luke, Han or Chewie. Each character has different abilities and stats. During the game you will come across health and weapon upgrades. These really help since, as in older games, dying happens quite often. This game also has two land speeder levels and you fly an X-wing while you face off with the Death Star and Darth Vader’s TIE fighters. Of all the games so far, this is my favorite Star Wars game. This, and its sequels, are still a blast to play.
The year 1993 was very busy for Star Wars video games. With four new games and two expansions we have a lot to cover here. First up is Star Wars Arcade for SEGA 32x. The 32x was an add on for SEGA Genesis. Using the extra power, this is a flight simulator in 3-D space. Like most of the previous arcade games you take on TIE fighters, laser towers and the trench run. This is the best looking flight simulator yet. The other nice thing about this game is you can play with two players. When playing with two players you fly a Y-wing; one person is flying and the other is gunning.
Super Empire Strikes Back was also released in 1993. This is the direct sequel to Super Star Wars from the previous year. This game improved on it graphics, story and levels like Hoth, Dagobah and the Death Star. This time around you get to play as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca, who all have different weapons and special abilities. Luke also gets to learn force powers such as invisibility, restore health, levitate and a few others. The best new feature is the password system that lets you quit the game and return to that level at a later time. This becomes very helpful reaching the end of the game. While most of this game is a side scroller, it also has a very good free flight snowspeeder level, where you need to trip up AT-ATs. This battle has been done so many times in previous games, but this game does it the best.
I’ve decided that when a game is covered I will discuss that game and all of its expansions, even if they are in different years. X-Wing was released in 1993 on floppy disks for the computer and is a flight simulator. The game takes place before the events of Star Wars and helps develop more back story to the movie. Playable ships include X-wing, Y-wing and the A-wing. For most of the story you are ace pilot Keyan Farlander, but that is unknown at first. X- Wing has 3 operations for you to work your way though. The first operation is gathering intelligence, and ambushing Imperial Forces for the Rebel Alliance. The second one is centered around the hidden plans for the Death Star, while the third is setting up the attack on it. The final stage of the game you are involved in is the destruction of the Death Star. X-Wing featured great cut scenes, music and voice acting that all helped the game win multiple awards. The game also is the first Star Wars game to produce expansions.
Later in 1993, Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing were released. Both games featured about twenty new playable missions and new ships. Story wise they focused on the aftermath of the destruction of the Death Star. The following year they released X-Wing Collectors CD-ROM that included all three games.
The impact that X-Wing had was huge for future games, characters and books. This game proved you don’t need known characters or Jedi to make the Star Wars games great and successful. Keyan Farlander, the main character of this game, now has a huge back story and even has his own action figure. Star Wars video games will produce many great characters, but Keyan is the first. A few years after this game, the book X-Wing Rouge Squadron came out. This book has a sequence based off events from the game and is said to be inspired by these games. The X-Wing book series now has ten popular books. Other games will produce books, but once again, X-Wing is the first to do so.
The final game of 1993 was Rebel Assault and came out on CD-ROM and SEGA CD. This game is a flight simulator on rails but also has a few third person shooter stages. In this game you are only known as “Rookie One” and are in training to become a pilot for the Rebel Alliance. Rookie One can be a male or female from the planet of Tatooine, kind of following in the footsteps of Luke Skywalker. With the success of X-Wing, this game does not even compare. It had clunky controls and some bad camera angles. The continuity in the story is incorrect. Rookie One flies into the battle of Hoth before the assault on the original Death Star that he helps destroy.
Star Wars Chess is exactly as it sounds. Your classic chess game, but with a Star Wars theme. I’m not saying there are better options, but let’s break down the characters/pieces. Your pawns are R2-D2 and Stormtroopers, while the Rooks are Yoda and AT-STs. The Knights are Chewbacca and a Tusken Raider, while the Bishops are C-3PO and Boba Fett. Your King and Queen are Luke and Leia, and for the empire, are the Emperor himself and Darth Vader. Sadly, everyone’s favorite scoundrel Han Solo does not make it into this game. While the Emperor and Darth Vader make sense as the King and Queen, I just want to point out that the biggest badass in the galaxy is the Queen! The best part of this game is when one piece captures another piece. The two characters will face off in a funny, but sometimes violent way, with the capturing piece winning, of course. I do suggest watching these for a good laugh.
Star Wars Screen Entertainment came out in 1994; while this is not a video game I thought I would include it anyway. This product was different Star Wars screen savers for the computer. There were different types of animated screen savers such as X-Wing/TIE fighters trench run, Millennium Falcon flying through Hyperspace and lightsaber battles. It also had static screen savers like character bios, ship blueprints and movie posters.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter is the sequel to X-Wing. In this game you are an ace pilot flying for the Galactic Empire. It offers upgraded graphics and controls from the X-Wing game. You become Maarek Stele and get to choose from seven different imperial star fighters to fly during missions. This is the first game where your only option is to be part of the Empire and not the Rebels. Because of this, the opening crawl to the game does not include the classic music, but plays the Imperial March. The Galactic Empire is shown in the light as trying to keep the peace, while the Rebels are threats to the galaxy. You face off against the Rebels, but also pirates and imperial traitors. TIE Fighter received a great reception from the critics. In 1997 PC Gamer named it (the Collector Edition) the number 1 game in its list of “top 50 games of all time”. IGN ranked it number 2 on their list of “top 25 PC games of all time” and in 2010 listed it as “the best Star Wars game ever made”.
Because of the success of TIE Fighter, later that year, Defender of the Empire was released. This expansion added three more tours of duty. At the end of this game you see Thrawn being promoted to Grand Admiral. In 1995 TIE Fighter Collector’s CD-ROM was put out and included Defenders of the Empire and another expansion named Enemies of the Empire that offered three more tours of duty. The CD-ROM had enhanced graphics and some new and improved cut scenes.
Super Return of the Jedi came out in 1994 and completes the trilogy of the Super Star Wars games. It came out for Super Nintendo and was later made for Game Boy and Game Gear. This game, of course, follows the events of the movie and you get to play as Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie and even Wicket. All the characters have different abilities, weapons and outfits. The levels are designed better than previous games. They seem much less repetitive and the boss battles are challenging, but fun. Vehicle levels in this game are speeder bikes through the forest and Millennium Falcon space battles. Each game in this series kept on improving. As I’ve already said, the Super Star Wars games are my favorite games of this time period, and Super Return of the Jedi is the best of them.
Well, with sixteen games in four years, Star Wars games have been a huge success. I’m very excited for the next issue of 1995-1999. With the prequels in development, we get some new and exciting games. I do love the games before 1995, but many of the games were so much alike because of technology and mostly everything was based off of the original movies. If a lot of the summary seemed repetitive, it’s because so many games featured the trench run or battle of Hoth. We will also start to see more games based around unknown characters. Until next time, turn off your targeting computers and let the force guide you.
History of Star Wars Video Games 1990 – 1994 review. For more gaming reviews, click here.