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History of Star Wars Video Games

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the use-the-cart-luke dept.

Leafel writes "UGO has posted a feature on the history of Star Wars video games, dividing the timeline into 4 categories: The Golden Age (up to 1990), The Silver Age (1991-1996), The Gaming Renaissance (1996-2000), Modern Age (2001 on). From the article 'December 2004 saw the latest release in a long line of Star Wars related video games. As a sequel to one of 2003's top role playing games, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has made a lot of Xbox owners and RPG fans very happy. In honor of KOTOR II's release and in anticipation of May's Revenge of the Sith movie event, we take a look at the long history of interactive Star Wars entertainment, complete with all of its highs and lows.'"

10 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Or check this by mdbales · · Score: 2, Informative

    You mean this?

  2. Re:Where's the 'x-wing' of today? by Rezonant · · Score: 1, Informative

    Closest thing to X-Wing and Tie Fighter? The Freespace series, without a doubt. It's the same gameplay but upgraded to 1999 graphics :P. Actually Freespace 2 is still pretty darn good and looks decent.

  3. They missed one: Yoda stories by smallmj · · Score: 2, Informative

    The seem to have forgotten a PC game from back in '95 or so. It was Yoda stories. It was a desktop adventure game that never really caught on. They made an Indiana Jones game that was nearly identical.

    --
    ------- Mark
  4. Re:Where's the 'x-wing' of today? by TrollBridge · · Score: 2, Informative

    For a time, the Descent: Freespace and Freespace 2 filled a gap that the failure of XvT left in me. I was very disappointed that they didn't continue the Freespace series. They really were fun, and had some top-notch graphics for their time!

    I assume Volition, Inc. simply got gobbled up.

    --
    There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
  5. Re:Where's the 'x-wing' of today? by keath_milligan · · Score: 3, Informative

    That would be Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed - a massive multiplayer game you pay 15 bucks a month to play alone.

  6. Re:Why did X-Wing die? by Pxtl · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hm. You can get a pretty good joystick at Radio Shack for $15 if you don't care about a hat or throttle (not really needed for Alliance). Why don't you pick one up and give it another shot? All the best underdogs of the late '90s were passed over because of joystick oriented play (HardWar, Pysgnosis Lander, many car-based games, etc.).

  7. Re:X-Wing! by the_maddman · · Score: 2, Informative

    So did I, and I just found my old copy and got it to run inside DosBox http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/. It takes a lot of grunt to run it under and emulator, but it's still addictive, I've found I still remember all the shortcuts and cut scenes, but I'm playing everynight anyways. I'd love to find the collectors edition, but they seem to be nearly impossible to get a hold of.

  8. Re:Where's the 'x-wing' of today? by neurojab · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd love an updated version of X-Wing with state-of-the-art graphics and game-play. What is the closest thing to X-Wing out there today?

    They tried. "Totally games" produced an updated Windows version of Tie Fighter and X-Wing... unfortunately, they "updated" the gameplay a bit too much, and as a result, it totally sucked.

    The DOS version of Tie Fighter may have lacked a bit in the graphics department, but the gameplay was just about perfect. .. Excellent MIDI music that changed according to what was happening on the screen, great controls, a smooth, space-like feeling.

    Honestly, if you liked X-Wing, but haven't played TIE Fighter, I highly recommend you pick up the DOS "Collector's CD-ROM" edition of TIE Fighter. It's an excellent game, and you'll never notice that the graphics aren't that great. I've sucessfully run it under Windows 2000 (with a bit of help from Google). It may work under DosBox in Linux, but I haven't tried lately.

  9. What about the Namco Famicom Star Wars game? by Sprite+Remix · · Score: 1, Informative
    This article fails to mention another famicom game that was release only in Japan and made by Namco. Before you begin the first level, 2 jawas steal R2D2 from your farm. You already begin with the lightsaber before you even meet Obi-Wan Kenobi- though you get your pistol a little later in the game... Hell, you even start with all your powers of the Force (which is consumed by crystals left by defeated enemies).

    During each level you have to fight Darth Vader (the first encounter is inside the sand-crawler). Apparently, Darth Vader is so sneaky with the Force he will transform into a scorpion when you hit him ONCE. There are many other oddities in the game including visiting many planets with pyramids and ice... Screenshots and probably better info (in Spanish though) can be found here http://www.retrones.com/Juegos%20comentados/Star%2 0Wars%20Namco/star_wars_namco.htm

  10. Re:Where's the 'x-wing' of today? by LSD-25 · · Score: 2, Informative
    I'd heard that Freespace 2 had fallen into a legal hole that meant that nobody owned it, and so was legal to download. It seems unlikely to me, but does anyone know anything about it?

    No, it's still under copyright, but the developers have released the source for non-commercial use. See http://www.liberatedgames.com/game.php?game_id=8. The artwork for the game is not free, so you'll still have to buy the game, or just play the demo.