This past weekend represents something that is significant to geeks all over the world – it was the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie theatrical release. Many of us weren’t even born by then, but make no mistake; Star Wars had a huge influence on our lives as gamers throughout most of those 30 years.
Let’s take a look at some of the better games that have been released in the past 3 decades of our lives. First, some guidelines for this list:
- I am only listing games that I played, and that I liked personally. So this means that none of the strategy games will make it to this list, since I don’t play that genre. Nor will the Battlefront games, which I completely hated, even though they were generally well-received.
- Many of the games on the list have sequels; sometimes I list the first in a series, sometimes the second, etc. Whichever one I liked best makes it to the list.
With that out of the way, let’s go through the list, in chronological order!
Star Wars | Arcade | Space Shooter | 1983
If you’ve been following HCW Tech Blog, you’ll know that I didn’t start out in the arcades until the early 90’s with games like Bad Dudes vs. DRAGONNINJA and Ninja Gaiden. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the classics, because several arcades still carried some of the older games like Dragon’s Lair and this: Star Wars.
The vector graphics must have been really cool back in 1983, but what really attracted my attention was the elaborately decorated sit-down cockpit cabinet and the analog yoke joystick; and having music and sounds from the movie was cool as hell. Star Wars Arcade wasn’t exactly the #1 quarter sucker for me (after all, the same arcade had a full cockpit version of After Burner at the same time!), but it still stands as one of the best Star Wars video games ever.
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back | SNES | Run n’ Gun | 1993
As you can see, there is a 10 year gap in my list of Star Wars games between 1983 and 1993. With the downfall of American video games in the 80’s, and most of the good games coming from Japan in the early 90’s, Star Wars wasn’t exactly given a lot of attention during that time. There were a few games here and there for the Atari systems and the NES, but the next really good Star Wars game wasn’t revealed until the SNES came out. The Super Star Wars series was great.
It was also a very difficult series; I chose the second of the trio, because it had a helpful password system, so you didn’t have to beat the game in one sitting (and once you get past the Dagobah stages, you are given all your Jedi powers when you continue from a password, even if you didn’t get them in the first place ;)). If you want to be transported to a time when video games were actually challenging, check this series out.
Star Wars: X-Wing | PC | Space Shooter Sim | 1993
If this wasn’t in chronological order, this game would be at the very top. X-Wing was the first game where you actually felt like you were truly part of the Star Wars universe, and not just controlling characters. The detailed story, complete with cut scenes and excellent iMUSE soundtrack really pulled you into the game. The control was perfect, the graphics were great, there just isn’t a better Star Wars game than this. Some folks will say TIE Fighter was better, and they might have a case. But for me, X-Wing is by far the best Star Wars game, and easily one of my favourite video games of all time. If there was one retro franchise that I would love to see revived on today’s platforms, this is it.
Star Wars: Dark Forces | PC | First Person Shooter | 1995
Ah, the mid-90’s First Person Shooter. Those were the good ol’ days… Well, maybe not. But for its time, Dark Forces was one of those games that was excellent regardless of the license. This could have been Doom or Wolfenstein or Duke Nukem, and it would have been almost as great. But the feeling of plowing through Imperial bases and starships with great-sounding weapons and equipment just put it over the top. And unlike other FPS games at the time, there is – get this – an actual plot. Yup, instead of “find the red key, find the red door, find the green key, find the green door,” everything you do in the game is based on an objective. And everything is explained in nice cut scenes, with a storyline that has lasted for a long time (as you’ll see later in this list).
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron | N64 | Action/Space Sim | 1998
I never owned an N64, so I didn’t get a lot of playtime with this one. But several of my friends had the console, and most of them owned this game. For good reason too; it was an incredibly fun flying action game, and one of the better looking games on the N64, thanks to its support of the Expansion Pak.
The game takes place between Episode IV and V, and of course, you play as Luke Skywalker. You do get to control various models of Rebel spacecraft, from the X-Wing, to the Y-Wing, B-Wing, and V-Wing. This was a highlight for the Nintendo 64, and several sequels followed for GameCube.
Check out the remaining 5 after the jump.
Star Wars Episode I: Racer | N64/Dreamcast/PC/Mac | Racing | 1999
Yes, if you can believe it, we have a game listed that is from the “new trilogy”. This wasn’t planned, but as I was compiling this list, I noticed that the best Star Wars games always seem to take place outside the movies, yet in the amazing Star Wars universe. There are some good games based on the original trilogy, as you can see. But as far as the new trilogy goes… Nothing, except for this one game that is based on a sequence in a movie that was so obviously intended to promote the video game in the first place.
Luckily, the game itself is pretty good, so we can’t hold it against LucasArts too hard. Racer was a pretty fun multiplayer game, and introduced a new style of racing video games. And best of all, you could really feel a sense of speed while playing it (well, not so much on the N64 version).
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | PC/XBOX/GameCube/Mac | Action FPS | 2002
Remember when I mentioned that Dark Forces had a great plot that lasted through several sequels? Well 7 years and expansion packs later, Kyle Katarn is back. In full 3D. I was addicted to the PC version of JKII for quite a while; the familiar Imperial environments of the first few levels felt so… right.
But what really makes this game special is the Light Saber battle system. Never before has a game gotten hand-to-hand combat in an action game so right. The controls are simple, yet robust enough that it takes some skill to defeat the harder enemies. And amazingly enough, this translated quite well in the multiplayer mode. Jedi Knight II bring back some fond memories for me, but also some bad ones. I jumped right into buying Jedi Academy, thinking it would follow up on the greatness of JKII. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | XBOX/PC | RPG | 2003
Despite hearing how great it was for quite some time, I didn’t get into KOTOR until a bit late. XBOX 1 was one of the few consoles I never owned, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, or the PC port. Eventually, after looking for a good PC RPG, I came across it in 2004. Luckily, I didn’t miss the boat entirely. What a great game!
If you are like I was, and wasn’t turned on by the fact that this game is based on a Star Wars comic that takes place some 4000 years before the movies, do whatever you can now to obtain this game. The story will have you hooked, the battles will keep you playing, and the deep character development will have you tweaking your characters non-stop. Skip the sequel.
Star Wars: Galaxies | PC | MMORPG | 2003
I bought Galaxies right away, back when it was merely a crappy MMORPG, and not the debacle it eventually turned out to be. This is another one of those games that is on the verge of not making the Top 10 list. It does manage to squeak in though, because at its best, it is a cool way to be a part of the Star Wars universe full-time, without having to get too involved in the plot of the movies. If, like me, you have always had that urge to be a wookiee, well now is your chance. You can just be a Wookiee, and chill out in the canteena for a bit before doing some hunting. That is, before SOE listened to the whiners and complainers, and completely ruined the game once and for all.
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy | Everything | Action/Adventure | 2006
Yes, LEGO Star Wars. That kids game. The game that was released for PC, XBOX, PS2, XBOX 360, PSP, DS, GameCube, Gameboy Advance, and even Mac.
There’s not much to say about the game itself; it is about as simple as an action game gets. But there is just something so… irresistibly appealing about seeing the original story take place in Lego form.
If you balked at playing a ‘Lego game’ do yourself a favour and check out the demo at least. I think you’ll agree that it has a certain charm. And if you can look past the light gameplay, you might just get hooked ;)
well, as glad as I am you made this list ( as I have pondered over mine and changed it many times), mine is a little different.
1.Kotor ( xbox ) the reason I got my xbox. The stuff in the sith academy was so awesome! I will never forget this game
2. Star Wars Galaxies ( Pc) ( couldnt afford to keep paying though !) More hours than any of the others probably, but only because its an MMO
3. Jedi Knight- Mysteries of the Sith (PC)It was like tomb raider and jedi knight mixed. How could it NOT be better. plus it had a rancor.
4. Dark Forces II- Jedi Knight (PC)-The cantina levels made this game come to life for me.
5. Shadow of the Emperor (N64) my first game for the n64
6. Kotor 2 (xbox)A let down, but only compared to kotor 1. I still loved it.
7. Episode 1 Racer(n64)this game was so amazing. Racing my 4 brothers was so much fun.
8. Rouge Squadron 1 (n64) my second n64 game
9. Jedi Outcast (pc) I never beat it. I forget what happend exactly. Got to one of the last levels and it glitched out. I was too young to know what to do. So i uninstalled :(
10. Republic Commando(xbox)- Beat this game with a friend. it was a lot of fun. very hard at times.
other games I’ve played and liked:
Battlefront 1 ( xbox) and 2 ( psp )
Empires at War (Pc)
Force Commander (Pc)
Rebel Alliance (PC)
Jedi Academy to some extent ( xbox )
Lego star wars 1 ( xbox)
Lego star wars 2 (xbox 360)
I’m really glad you listed Lego Star Wars II. That’s an awesome game that a lot of people will never play because it seems like it’s “for kids”.
I’d think at least one of the other entries could be replaced with Republic Commando, though – Galaxies maybe?
Republic Commando was #11 on my list. Pod Racer made it in just before it (and Galaxies was a close call as well, but I enjoyed it at first)
Good list, I favored Tie Fighter over X-Wing but both were extraordinary. How about a list of the worst Star Wars games? Rebel Assault would be have to be at the top of that list, god that game was awful.
how about Rebel Assualt II? what a piece of garbage!
That list is pretty spot on (except for the MMORPG which I haven’t played) :)
I have to say I LOVED Empires Strikes Back on the SNES. Aside from the great challenge, the graphics were awesome, music was terrific (SNES sound chip was quite capable!) and the game was pretty long!
Great games them all but the very worse had to be Star Wars Chess. I had a couple of friends on that project and it stayed forever in development since it was so crap and Lucas almost refused to allow its release.
I had Star Wars Chess for my Sega CD. Wow that sounds dated. That game was so bad it was hilarious. “Backwards your gun is yes”
What about Star Wars Monopoly for PC? Yikes.
Ive played most of the star wars games there but Galaxies takes forever to update. My Favourtie game is kotor2. Why didnt you put it in?
I listed KOTOR 1. The second one was WAY too buggy when I tried to play it, and I stopped playing when I hit a bug that wouldn’t let me progress further in the game.
Just a while ago, when I was pulling out my old video games I remembered an old star wars game my Dad got me when I was a kid. I could n’t find the game and dont remember what it was called. It was a box set of star wars games for the pc possibly 3 to 5 games. I am now 15 so at the time i was possibly 3-6 years old at the time. I remember playing the games with a joystick. I was hoping if any new what games these would have been so i can download and play them again. 2 of them may x -wing and the fps.
I just couldnt agree with you .I admit Kotor is ok,but lego i mean c’mon. Batllefront2 is better ,there must be anyone who agree with me .
COME ON! Battlefront 2 is surely the best star wars game. I’ve spent about a year of my life playing that game. Every battle is different, new and exciting. Kotor came in a very close second however.
Definitely jedi academy or battlefront II
well i believe that the best star wars game was kotor 1!!!i played it more than 10 times and every time the ending was different!!!! i belive it was the only game that really makes u believe that you are part of this with every decision you make…kotor 2 had better controlling system than kotor 1 but apart from that it was so mysterious… u ended the game and you would question was that the ending or it has more cause i did’t understand a f******** thing…. so 1.kotor 1 and second star wars battlefront II!!!!!!!!!the only thing i did’t like about battlefront II was the jedi handling system which was too strange and some times ineffective(anybody else agrees with me?)…other star wars game that i have played is star wars jedi outcast II(wasn’t really excided with that one because the missions in the game where always the same, find the controlling room,press the buttom and done:( only the mutliplayer mode is worth the fame)
Battlefront2 should be in the list! ITS AWESOME!!!! I don’t like the renegade squadren that much though. Anyway, my favorite star wars game would be podracer and star wars trilogy arcade. The arcade is awesome and is like a star wars x-wing simulator. SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! The reason I like the podrace N64 game is because I use to play it with my dad. My best childhood memory. Then, he stopped playing it. Soon, he started to,like, hate star wars.( Luckily, only a little) I hopr they make a remake of it on the wii shop channel.
Ryan -
In the UK there were two multipacks available, a 3 and a 5 game set for the PC.
I believe the three game one was X-Wing, Dark Forces and Rebel Assualt. I had this one, but could never get Rebel Assault to load.
The 5 game pack had tie fighter as well, plus another game – I can’t remember if it was Rebel Assualt 2 or X Wing vs Tie Fighter though.
Hope this helps.
Kotor 1 is th absolute best game ive ever played no doubt but kotor 2 was ok but i wish bioware would of came through with it i didnt lik how obsidian changed it up and i was disapointed but i still play kotor1 to This day and now im glad there comin out with a new knights of the old of the republic title
Hey, what about the star wars trilogy arcade?! That’s one of the best arcade games ever. The only negative feeling is that it is not on the Xbox live. But lukily, I happen to live neer a bowling alley with that rare treasure burried in the back of the arcade, waiting to be played. It’s awesome!!!