Are the SNES Star Wars games any good?

[BazookaBen]

I recently picked up a lot of a bunch of CIB SNES games, and two of them were Super Star Wars and Super Return of the Jedi.

Played the first couple of levels on them and the controls didn't feel great. Should I keep playing? Does the level design get more interesting?

[Jonst]

I used to have super Star Wars, I enjoyed it, but looking back it was very repetitive/tedious. For me it was more about being soaked up in the atmosphere of a Star Wars game, which the ost is a massive part of, the mode 7 levels are quite fun though. It depends how much you love star wars I guess...

[Pretas]

Didn't you already buy two of them? You dug your grave, might as well lay in it.

I'll mention that Star Wars Arcade for 32X is one of the few standout games for the platform, and goes much further than simply porting and reskinning the vector classic. It's still a glorified tech demo and doesn't hold up to something like Rogue Squadron II, though.

[BazookaBen]

Didn't you already buy two of them? You dug your grave, might as well lay in it.

Well, I'm going to sell some of the games that came in the lot, so I'm wondering if I should do the same with these. No need keeping games I won't play.

[BIL]

Didn't you already buy two of them? You dug your grave, might as well lay in it.

LMAO

You have such a way with words. I am reasonably certain he will survive.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Empire is the best one, and pretty damn hard. Battle of Hoth sequence was awesome, I'd often just fire it up for that stage alone. Only have Jedi as a point of comparison, I had Star Wars on the SMS so didn't bother with Super Star Wars.

I remember Jedi being much easier but only if you picked the right character - there was usually one overpowered one you could pick, like Leia/bounty hunter's charge shot that makes short work of everything. They all control fairly differently so it takes time. I finished it on the hardest difficulty back in the day and recently tried it on easy... got my arse handed to me several times before I could get back into it. That initial speeder stage though, urgh. Somehow should be taken out and shot for that.

[BrianC]

I'll mention that Star Wars Arcade for 32X is one of the few standout games for the platform, and goes much further than simply porting and reskinning the vector classic.

It's not a port/reskin of Atari's vector game. It's a port of Sega's polygonal Star Wars arcade game. According to system's 16 page, it's on Model 1 hardware. The 32X version has a similar downgrade in graphics to Virtua Fighter.

[Despatche]

the port/reskin you're thinking of is the x68000 remake

[MR_Soren]

I remember they got tons of hype in the gaming press at the time, but I never felt like they played very well. Okay games, but nothing special. The license was the draw.

[pegboy]

I played and beat all of them back during their release but they haven't really aged well. When I played the first one again more recently I was shocked with how clunky the controls seemed.

[Skykid]

The original is the best, but the majority of its value comes from nostalgia of it being Star Wars and a Stars Wars game I enjoyed as a kid. Controls are clunky, health items are constantly spewed to compensate for the lack of precision and ability to evade and pacing is all out of whack - the sand crawler two-parter is so long it's like a game in itself.

That said, SSW is not unplayable. Get into it and you can get through it. Stages like the aforementioned Sandcrawler, the Mode 7 bonuses, and the SW arcade rip for the trench run finale are highlights, if admittedly clunky. If you can soak up the nostalgia, it has some worthwhile elements.

Empire and Jedi suck: regurgitations of the first, often wholesale, and somehow worse in execution. Empire is probably the absolute worst of the three. The opening Hoth platform stage is a joke, like it was slapped together in an hour with no semblance of game design at all. It's buggy, laden with unfair off-screen pitfalls and quite insulting to anyone who ponied up cash for it. Jedi is basically the same but marginally less aggravating.

[Skykid]

I'll mention that Star Wars Arcade for 32X is one of the few standout games for the platform, and goes much further than simply porting and reskinning the vector classic.

It's not a port/reskin of Atari's vector game. It's a port of Sega's polygonal Star Wars arcade game. According to system's 16 page, it's on Model 1 hardware. The 32X version has a similar downgrade in graphics to Virtua Fighter.

And it's absolutely terrible, terrible, terrible. The 32X game has music that sounds like it was written on an Atari 2600 - criminal for a SW license - and is literally broken. If you go chasing Ties to fill your kill quota before the time runs out, they're irritating as hell to locate and shoot down. Stop hitting the d-pad and fly in a straight line and they all fly up, over your head from behind, and directly into your cross hair, leaving you only to press fire.

The Death Star levels are equally useless because all the gun turrets and other frippery can't be shot at or you won't meet your kill quota within the time limit, so it becomes wasted background material.

It's a painfully repetitive, poorly designed game. Super Star Wars is actually better.

[BrianC]

I only played a bit of Sega's Star Wars at an arcade, though Shadow Squadron sounds like what SEGA's Star Wars Arcade should have been.

[Skykid]

I only played a bit of Sega's Star Wars at an arcade, though Shadow Squadron sounds like what SEGA's Star Wars Arcade should have been.

Sega's SW arcade is great for what it is. The 32X version is so different it can barely be called a port, hence the misunderstanding it's based on Atari's vector game, and it really sucks.

[Squire Grooktook]

I agree with Skykid that the first one is probably the best. Empire is probably the worst too.

[Drum]

Super Star Wars starts out the strongest but gets dull as it goes on imo. Empire is a real dud as far as I played - stupidly difficult and messy first stage. Jedi is probably the overall fairest and best. I think they have their charms, certainly I love the spritework.

[dan76]

the port/reskin you're thinking of is the x68000 remake

I didn't even know this existed. It's an "upgrade" of the original Atari vector graphics arcade game, but instead of just controlling the crosshairs you control the ship, somewhat like the sega 32x version.

I'm on a rom hunt!

Oh yeah, those snes Super Star Wars game pretty much suck.

[Squire Grooktook]

One of the best things in the snes trilogy is the cheatcode in Return of the Jedi that lets you use any character on any stage. S&M whipping Emperor Palpatine to death as Leia in her metal bikini makes for a compelling alternate ending to the original trilogy.

Also I need to post this before I go to bed.

[SuperDeadite]

the port/reskin you're thinking of is the x68000 remake

I didn't even know this existed. It's an "upgrade" of the original Atari vector graphics arcade game, but instead of just controlling the crosshairs you control the ship, somewhat like the sega 32x version.

I'm on a rom hunt!

Oh yeah, those snes Super Star Wars game pretty much suck.

The X68000 version is kind of it's own thing really. It's a time attack game. It doesn't loop and there is no score, just your completion time. Also be sure to play it on Hard (the default) as it's really easy and not much of a challenge. Still enjoyable though.

[Ed Oscuro]

Empire is probably the absolute worst of the three. The opening Hoth platform stage is a joke, like it was slapped together in an hour with no semblance of game design at all. It's buggy, laden with unfair off-screen pitfalls and quite insulting to anyone who ponied up cash for it.

Beat me to it. I was thinking this when I tried playing it recently. Just a bunch of junk. I'm ever hopeful it will improve later, but that opening stage was not impressive.

I have fond memories watching the sandspeeder level from the original game 20 years ago, however. That was one of my "whoa, gaming" moments

[null1024]

I only played a bit of Sega's Star Wars at an arcade, though Shadow Squadron sounds like what SEGA's Star Wars Arcade should have been.

Man, Shadow Squadron is miles, miles, MILES better than Star Wars Arcade 32X.
and it's still a bit annoying and boring
I still love that game though. Looks great too [that fucking launch sequence, hnnng].

[Pretas]

There's no denying that Stellar Assault/Shadow Squadron is leaps and bounds above Star Wars Arcade, as well as most anything else on the 32X. Darxide is the most technically impressive game on the system, with smooth-moving fully textured models zipping everywhere, but it's just an extremely repetitive and mindless asteroid blaster.

Stellar Assault SS is supposed to be an excellent remastered/expanded port. Sadly, it's one of the absolute priciest Saturn releases, on par with Hyper Duel and Silvergun.

[Skykid]

Stellar Assault SS is supposed to be an excellent remastered/expanded port. Sadly, it's one of the absolute priciest Saturn releases, on par with Hyper Duel and Silvergun.

Pretty sure Silvergun's first tier pricing status is history. Compared to others on the Saturn it's becoming just moderately expensive.

[No_not_like_Quake]

SESB gets a bit better after those nonsensical snow canyon levels but I don't think I'd bother with these games these days. AFAIR, there's a lot of weird collision detection issues, so you are often getting smacked around but this is mitigated by the ass loads of heart pick ups all over the place, which isn't the greatest way to design a game.

[Squire Grooktook]

Not to mention the melee attacks have no sense of impact or force.

[No_not_like_Quake]

Not to mention the melee attacks have no sense of impact or force.

Yeah, you just kind of watched a bosses life meter go down without feeling like you are connecting or hitting it.

I guess the novelty of these games was that it was Star Wars on the SNES. There's much better side scrolling action games on SNES.

[BrianC]

Not to mention the melee attacks have no sense of impact or force.

An especially huge mistake for a game based on a movie all about the force.

Funny that 2600 was mentioned earlier since it had a couple decent Star Wars games. Empire Strikes Back is especially fun. The prototype game, Ewok Adventure, is also fun.

[Pretas]

Beam Software's Star Wars: ANH game on NES is actually pretty decent. At least until you reach the Death Star level, a nightmare of tedious elevator mazes, leap-of-faith platforming and antigravity chasms full of spikes. Hilariously, it's possible to reach the Death Star and rescue Leia without having ever met Obi-Wan or Han (Chewie flies you there on his own).