Star Wars computer and video games

:"For the list of the games, see List of Star Wars video games."

"Star Wars" has spawned over one hundred computer and video games, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles. Some are based directly on movie material, with the remaining games heavily involved in the Expanded Universe.

Early history

The first video games based on the franchise were released on the Atari 2600, beginning with ' (1982) in which the player piloted a snowspeeder during the Battle of Hoth, destroying AT-AT walkers. Several other games appeared, such as ' (1983), where the player controlled the Millennium Falcon in a mission to destroy the second Death Star, and "Jedi Arena" (1983), the first game to attempt to simulate a lightsaber battle (in this case, clearly inspired by the ' scene, where Luke Skywalker trains with a seeker). More significantly, in 1983, the "Star Wars" arcade game was released by Atari based on "A New Hope". In this game, featuring color vector graphics and the first ever digitized speech from a film, the player enters the seat of Luke's Red Five X-Wing fighter and battles waves of TIE fighters led by Darth Vader, weaves through towers across the surface of the Death Star and plummets through the Battle Station's trench in an attempt to destroy it. The sequel for the game, ', used the same technology to re-create scenes from the second film, including battles with AT-AT walkers and an asteroid field.

Due to the video game crash of 1983, which temporarily killed the home console market, no further games based on the franchise were released until 1987 when UK software publisher Domark released several 8-bit versions of the Star Wars vector arcade game, followed by similar conversions in 1988 of "The Empire Strikes Back" machine. In 1987, Namco developed a "Star Wars" game for the Famicom for the Japanese market exclusively, based on "A New Hope", but with several liberties taken with the movie's storyline.

In 1991, the platformer "Star Wars" was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System and Game Boy, and one year later, "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" covered the plotline of the fifth episode of the saga. Also in 1992, "Super Star Wars" was released for the SNES, followed by the remaining games in the trilogy: ' (1993) and ' (1994).

Franchise expansion

At the start of the 1990s, the "Star Wars" franchise began to move away from the official films and began to focus more on the Expanded Universe. The first, "X-Wing", released in 1992, started the "X-wing" computer game series, which would prove itself to be one of the most popular space flight/combat simulators series ever. Fact|date=March 2007 "X-Wing" was followed by several sequels and expansions. Other titles such as The Software Toolworks' "Star Wars Chess" were published or licensed by LucasArts, who also used the first "multimedia explosion" to release "" (1993), which used FMV and photos extensively.

However, the first step towards modern games was done with ', a 1995 first-person shooter that put the player in the role of Kyle Katarn. The 1996 Nintendo 64 title ' was part of a LucasArts attempt to create a story between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of Jedi", putting the player in control of mercenary Dash Rendar. "Shadows of the Empire" featured fan-favorite parts from the "Super Star Wars" line, such as another reanactment of the Battle of Hoth, piloting a snowspeeder and tying a cable around AT-ATs legs. After the Special Edition original trilogy re-release in 1997, LucasArts published two other novelty titles, "Yoda Stories" and "Star Wars Monopoly", sequels ' and "X-Wing vs TIE Fighter", and a Star Wars themed fighter, '.

As ' release approached, dozens of licensed titles appeared, from the praised expansion to Jedi Knight, ' and the first game in the and even educational titles, the market was flooded with several games, most of them of questionable quality. Fact|March, 2007|date=March 2007

The saga continues

After the release of "Episode I" in theaters in 1999, an onslaught of games from the prequel trilogy began to be released for most major platforms. The first was ', based on the podracing sequence in movie. Others, including ' and ', were released, but with little success. The first strategic game in the Expanded Universe was titled ' and broke new ground in that it incorporated ships and planets not found in the original canon, such as the Rebel Assault Frigate and the Bulwark Cruiser. But for all its ground-breaking new looks, it was not as successful as would have been hoped. The second strategic title, "" was also released, but failed to keep up with other RTS games, since it was more focused on battling (no resource-gathering) and used a primitive 3D engine.

In 2002, ' premiered in theaters, and another wave of "Star Wars" based games, including ', ', and ' were released, this time focusing on events and characters from "Attack of the Clones" such as bounty hunter Jango Fett and the Clone Wars.

Also in 2002, ' was released and gave players the first chance to experience advanced lightsaber duels, and it also detached itself from the usual idea of movie tie-ins. was released allowing the player to be a Jedi Master flying a Jedi starfighter. A third RTS game with a much more conventional approach to the genre's norms and using the ' engine, ', offered a better alternative to those seeking strategy in the Star Wars universe. One year later, the last game in the "Jedi Knight" series, ', was released, as well as "", a BioWare RPG that debuted on the Microsoft Xbox and PC. "Knights" (also known as KotOR among fans) was critically acclaimed, even winning "Game of the Year" at the Game Developers Choice Awards, (along with [http://www.lucasarts.com/products/swkotor/awards.html many other critics] ) in 2003. The first MMORPG, titled "", was also released in 2003 and was subsequently followed in 2004 by its first expansion "Jump to Lightspeed".

Adjoining the release of the final Star Wars movie, ', ', ' (both in 2004), ', "Star Wars Battlefront II", and ' (2005) were released. As a side note, Star Wars Battlefront II allows the player to play as a Jedi or Sith depending on the map. A sequel to that ' was released during 2006. Three more games, ' (a second expansion to "Galaxies"), and ' (action) were also released close to the premiere of the third movie, with various degrees of success.

After the films, more "Star Wars" titles are continually being released and developed. ' (an RTS), was released in early 2006. ', recently released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, uses a new, detailed graphics engine. The Wii version utilizes the motion sensing and accelerometer capabilities of the Wii Remote (simulating the ability to swing a lightsaber) and its Nunchuk attachment (used to perform Force powers).

ee also

*Star Warped – parody

External links

* [http://lucasarts.com/ LucasArts]
*moby game|id=-group/star-wars-universe|name="Star Wars" games
* [http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/features/starwarshistory/default.asp UGO article on the history of SW games]