Star Wars Trilogy Arcade

The player battles TIE fighters in the mission recalling the final battle from Return of the Jedi.

The gameplay has two main themes: three missions that reenact key scenes from the original Star Wars film trilogy, plus a final unlockable mission; and two boss battles against Darth Vader and Boba Fett.

Normal gameplay involves the player moving a crosshair around the screen using a joystick and pressing the fire button atop the joystick to shoot. A "special event" button lights at certain points of the game and when pressed, triggers an event to happen onscreen. The game puts the player in several key battles of the Star Wars films with one mission for each original Star Wars film. The player selects which film's mission to play first and each mission has three parts.[3]

The A New Hope mission reenacts the final space battle at Yavin, with Luke Skywalker piloting an X-wing fighter against TIE fighters. The second part of the mission involves flying along the Death Star's surface, shooting TIE fighters and XX-9 heavy turbolaser turret guns, and confronting Darth Vader's TIE fighter. The third part of the mission pits the player within the battle station's trench, using proton torpedoes aimed at the exhaust port to destroy the Death Star.[3]

In The Empire Strikes Back mission, the player reenacts the film's opening battle on Hoth. The first part of the mission involves shooting AT-ST walkers and probe droids, and helping other snowspeeders to take down the giant AT-AT walkers. The second part of the mission reenacts the escape from Hoth, running through corridors of the rebel base, shooting Snow Troopers and wampas while traveling to the Millennium Falcon. The third part of the mission takes place in the hangar, again shooting snowtroopers and one last wampa before escaping.[3]

The Return of the Jedi mission begins with a reenactment of the speeder bike sequence on Endor from the film, where the player must shoot scout troopers on their own speeder bikes. The second part of the stage has the player moving towards the Empire's base on Endor, shooting any enemies on the way. In the third part of the mission, the player must rapidly fire a blaster at an AT-ST walker.[3] The game's final mission, which is unlocked after clearing the other three missions, directs the player as Wedge Antilles, to destroy the second Death Star.[3]

The game features two boss stages that are accessed immediately after beating the conventional missions, although the player is not required to win either to finish the game. In both stages, the player controls Luke Skywalker wielding a lightsaber. In the first boss battle, which is played after clearing two missions, the player has to reflect Boba Fett's blaster shots back at him, in order to knock Fett into the Sarlacc pit behind him. The second, which is played after clearing all three missions, involves the player dueling Darth Vader on the second Death Star.[3]

Reviews are generally positive. Christopher Michael Baker of AllGame rates the game at 4.5 out of 5, finding it virtually flawless, with excellent graphics, sound, and play control. The joystick controller is said to provide a reactive feel which meaningfully mimics a lightsaber, but the game's only flaw is a minor imperfection in play control during the two bonus stages against Boba Fett and Darth Vader.[4]

Destructoid's Anthony Burch finds the game at a balance between gameplay (focusing on shooting and lightsabers) and story (focusing on the immersive cinematic reenactment of being part of the Star Wars universe). He says that the game's mission designs generally range from "awesome" to "more awesome", and the A New Hope missions follow 1983's Star Wars arcade game exactly. He finds the bonus missions' play control to be "clunky and linear" but nevertheless to feel like a realistic lightsaber could, and to generally be a "delight".[5]

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• Star Wars Battle Pod

• Star Wars Trilogy Arcade at the Killer List of Videogames