I have never been shy about my love for all things Star Wars. I fell in love with Star Wars before I discovered gaming and they have both been two things that I always turn to for enjoyment both through collecting and simply enjoying the films I watched and the games I played growing up. But what about the Star War video games that have been released over the years? I have played a lot of Star Wars games over the years and below are my personal top 10 Star Wars Retro Games. Let’s take a look in no particular order.
1. Star Wars the Arcade Game (Atari)
This vector graphic arcade classic is one of the first games I fell in love with back in the early 1980s when I first played in the arcade. The music, speech, game play and that famous sit-down cockpit cabinet made it an arcade experience like no other. To my five-year-old self I was flying an X-Wing and I was Luke Skywalker. I played this for years until it eventually and sadly disappeared from the coastal arcade I would visit growing up. The stand-up arcade cab version is great too, but it is the sit-down cabinet where the real magic happens.
You can find my video of Star Wars the Arcade Game by clicking the image below.
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2. Star Wars – Nintendo Entertainment System
Throughout the 1980s my Star Wars gaming had been playing the Atari arcade games and then various home conversions of the original arcade game. When Star Wars was first featured in magazines in the early 90s, I was so excited as it was mostly a platform shooter following the story line of A New Hope (back then we still just called it Star Wars) and a world away from the original arcade game. The game was expensive on release, but I would end up borrowing it on quite a few occasions and I enjoyed it so much. It wasn’t an easy game but with patience you could make progress and at the time it seemed like a big game too where the levels just kept coming. This was a game that I would spend all weekend playing as I knew I would have to give it back to its owner. I do own it now though along with the Sega Master System and Game Gear Versions too.
3. Super Star Wars trilogy – Super Nintendo
A lot like the previous NES game this one took things to the next level with improved graphics and sound that the 16-bit Super Nintendo produced compared to its 8-bit predecessor. The high difficulty level remained though, and the games were harder if I’m honest. The difficulty level though didn’t stop me from enjoying this fun 16-bit trilogy though which included all the main characters and special force abilities and other special moves. I have cheated and picked the whole trilogy as I couldn’t pick which one to include between Super Star Wars and Super Return of the Jedi (I always struggled with Super The Empire Strikes Back).
4. Rogue Squadron – N64
As I never owned a PC during the 1990’s so I didn’t have access to the X-Wing game on that platform, so I was very excited to play this N64 Star Wars game when it was released, and it didn’t disappoint. A game and series that I still enjoy today Rogue Squadron is a fast paced space ship shooter based between A New Hope and The Empire Strike Back where you get to play as Luke Skywalker leading Rogue Squadron through various missions where your object will be to either: search and destroy, undertake reconnaissance, rescue or protect. With lots of unlock-able content Rogue Squadron provides hours of X-Wing fun for Star Wars gaming fans.
5. Star Wars Trilogy (Sega) – Arcade
Discovering this arcade game in the late 90s was a real treat. The original arcade game as much as I loved it had become a distant memory in every arcade I went into at the time so, for Sega to release this was fantastic for all Star Wars loving gamers. You have three missions to choose from based on each film in the original trilogy. You can fly an X-Wing and snow speeder, escape the rebel base on Hoth as well as battle Darth Vader just to name a few parts of the game. You can still find this machine in arcades today and I have recently found it at quite a few arcades located at various resorts in Walt Disney World whilst on holiday.
6. Return of the Jedi (Atari) – Arcade
Speeder bikes, the Millennium Falcon and a AT-ST (I call them a Scout Walker) all feature in this isometric scrolling shooter. Controlled using the famous Atari yoke controller as used on the original Star Wars arcade can make this tricky to enjoy fully through emulation but if you get the chance to play on the original arcade cab then the game is a lot of fun. As a kid I loved playing this, it was different to the previous two arcade games from Atari and I was never that great at it but I still play it at expos to this day when I do come across it. This makes my list for all the fond memories of playing it in the arcades at the coast when I was a kid.
7. Shadows of the Empire
This game I have always enjoyed as it does have a strong story line closely aligned with the main Star Wars story which as a fan always pulls me in. This is a third person shooter that plays through the adventures of Dash Rendar as he clashes with storm troopers, bounty hunters whilst playing through the four chapters of the games. Along the way you will come across famous Star Wars bounty hunters and a host of other characters. Although the N64 version does have its critics I have always enjoyed the game and it makes my list.
8. Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader
When I got my Nintendo GameCube on its original release in the UK it came with Luigi’s Mansion which was OK, but it also came with Rogue Squadron 2 which looked absolutely gorgeous on display in the store where I purchased the console from. I was 24 when I got this game and it was the first time in years that my mates had piled around my house to witness a new games system and on this occasion, it was more to do with the game than the actual console. Such a great successor to the first Rogue Squadron game on the N64 with dazzling sound and graphics. The GameCube controller really works well with this game too. Honorable mention to Rogue Squadron 3 Rebel Strike too especially as it had the original Atari Arcade Games as a hidden feature using pass codes.
9. Tie Fighter – PC
I haven’t played this follow up to X-Wing a lot, but it is such an impressive space simulation game and having the chance to fly as a Tie Fighter pilot for the Empire was such a cool thing it had to be put on this list. And now as I write this, I am looking for it on Steam!
10. Dark Forces – Sony PlayStation
Another game where I was jealous of those PC gamers who got this title first and to honest got the more superior version too. When this was released on the PS1 I could not resist buying it. No, it wasn’t Doom but it was a Star Wars first person shooter and I enjoyed it so much and still play it on my PS1. Navigating around a Star Wars game in first person and shooting Storm Troopers was very fulfilling and I invested a lot of time in this game when I first got it.
Star Wars Retro Games
Thanks for taking a look at this article and I hope you found my list of my favourite Star Wars retro games interesting. for more retro related content try the links below.
The 15 Best TurboGrafx (PC Engine) Games
When Consoles Took Over Gaming
Thanks, Daz.
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