Star Wars Day!
May the 4th be with you!
To celebrate Star Wars Day today, we look back at one of the best Star Wars games released in arcades.
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade was a huge hit upon release in 1998. Though it is often forgotten today, it still stands as one of the best arcade games the franchise has to offer.
Released side-by-side with the special editions of the classic films, Star Wars Trilogy Arcade is regarded for following the films well with excellent gameplay. The game play re-enacted the key battles from the original trilogy with extra bonus missions against Boba Fett and Darth Vader.
Within the game play, the player would have moved a crosshair around the screen with a joystick and shoot with a button that was on top of the joystick. A ‘Special Event’ button would light up during the game and if pushed would show an event from the film on the screen.
The battles that appear from ‘A New Hope’ started with at Yavin, where the player would take on the role of Luke Skywalker piloting an X-Wing to defeat TIE Fighters. A second mission consisted of flying along the surface of the Death Star and eventually coming face to face with Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter. In the third battle, the player would be in the battle station trenches firing Proton Torpedoes at the Death Star.
Re-enacting scenes from ‘Empire Strikes Back’, the game started with the opening fight of the Battle on Hoth. The player would have been expected to shoot at AT-ST walkers and droids and helping to take down the AT-AT’s. The second scene from the film that appeared in this hit game was the Escape from Hoth, where the player would run through the rebel base taking out Wampas and Snowtroopers. Alike the second battle, in the third the player was placed in the hangar taking out the remaining enemies.
Jumping straight into the action of ‘Return of the Jedi’, the player would have been placed on a speeder bike, shooting down Scout Troopers whilst on Endor. Next, they would have started heading towards the Empire’s base on Endor and then the player would have fired repeatedly at an AT-ST. Ending the main stages of the game, the final battle would place the player in an X-Wing on their way to destroy the 2nd Death Star.
Two bonus rounds featured in the game, with both including boss battles. In the first of the bonus rounds, the player would go head-to-head with Boba Fett and be expected to deflect the oncoming blaster shots back to him. Whereas, the second bonus round saw the player duelling Vader on the 2nd Death Star.
Let us know which Star Wars game you’ll be playing to celebrate this May the 4th! Or maybe you're playing another game on our of our Arcade cabinets, let us know!
