Retro Game of the Day! Super Star Wars

Retro Game of the Day! Super Star Wars

Super Star Wars by Lucasarts/Sculptured Software/JVC for the SNES, released in 1992.

Ah yes. Every nerd's wet dream. The ultimate scifi franchise properly represented on the ultimate 16-bit platform. What more could one ask for?

Supposedly, this is a juiced-up remake of an 8-bit NES title, which I never paid any mind to (the screens looked awfully muddy and uninspired). Back in those days, many American-developed console titles were much less interesting than their Japanese counterparts, so one would tend to steer clear of them regardless of subject matter. But SSW looked awesome.

And it was awesome. The developer did a remarkable job of faithfully adapting the original Star Wars storyline into an enjoyable 16-bit platformer. The game wasn't without its (serious) issues, namely over-the-top difficulty (and I stubbornly always cranked it up to "high" in order to see what I was made of!) As a result I never saw too far into the game, but what I did see, was pretty nice.

The game still can't really hold a candle to a lot of it's contemporaries, gameplay-wise, but it does an enjoyable enough job of providing you with a well-constructed world to adventure through. There's some snazzy 3D sequences to break up the firefighting, and the extra playable characters (Han Solo and Chewbacca) were a nice touch too.

I think what really stole the show for me was the audio, strangely enough. Plugging the cart in, turning up the speakers, and hearing the John Williams classic Star Wars theme pounding out of that little SNES was completely mindblowing. That was one of the most impressive moments in my gaming history, actually..

SSW is by no means a game-changer, but it's a fun little adventure that is worth a try for any Star Wars fan (I think there's a few of you out there). It's clunky in design, it's a bit sloppy in control, you'll die a lot of cheap deaths - but you'll see a lot of cool sights along the way.