Perhaps it’s just the fact that almost every single one of my elementary schools was absolutely obsessed with the franchise, but I seem to remember playing this week’s game(s) time forgot at least once a year during my formative years. Many was the time I’d spend an afternoon at my friend Mark’s house, only to waste away the hours on one of the threeSuper Star Warsgames for the Super Nintendo.
Super Star Wars,Super Empire Strikes Back, andSuper Return of the Jedisubsequently showed up rather frequently on the Burch family Blockbuster account — and IknowI can’t be the only one who fell victim to the addictive, harder-than-it-oughtta-be-considering-the-target-audience gameplay offered by LucasArts’ interactive adaptation of one of the best film trilogies of all time.
TheSuper Star Warstrilogy not only included a solid mix of platforming, combat, and mode 7 racing levels (things “normal” gamers could appreciate), but also allowed players to take control of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and Leia in both Boushh and Bikini outfits (thingsIwas interested in).
And people sayalllicensed games suck.
Firstly, I’d like to apologize for the following embedded YouTube videos. I dunno why the dude who edited them together thought it was necessary to cut back to the title screen every thirty seconds, but the videos nonetheless showcase a hefty amount of gameplay from each entry in the series.
Story:
EachSuper Star Warsgame follows the basic structure of its respective film, but with roughly eight hundred times more unnecessary violence. Instead of simply walking into the desert and getting his droids back as he did inA New Hope, Luke now has to jump around the outsides and insides of a Sandcrawler, blasting Tusken Raiders and Jawas and Krayt Dragons all the way. Rather than just driving directly back to the moisture farm on his landspeeder,Super Star WarsLuke deems it necessary to blast roughly two-dozen Jawas on his way home.
This degree of creative license with the films’ original plots is hardly surprising — given the choice between playing through a mundane, financially accurate Jawa bartering minigame and a twitch-reflex platforming stage where you blow away no fewer than thirty sand midgets for no reason, which wouldyoupick — but it’s still kind of amusing to see theStar Warssaga’s calmer moments turned into excuses for pulse-pounding action levels.
Other than the obvious action-centric changes made to the plot, the games remain more or less faithful to the general tone of the films: small cutscenes move the plot along in between stages, the graphics look as realistic as they need to, and the music is great. John Williams’ score was digitally recreated for all three films an,d even now, has a definite low-tech charm while still channeling the basic attitude of the films’ orchestral soundtracks.
Gameplay:
EachSuper Star Warsgame is made up of roughly 90% side-scrolling platform/shootemup stages, and 10% vehicle stages (powered by Mode 7, of course).
The player can choose one of three characters to play through each side-scrolling with, and the cast differs depending on which game you’re playing and your location in the story.Super Star WarsandEmpireonly allowed for Han, Luke, and Chewie, butReturn of the Jediadded Leia and, for God knowswhatreason, Wicket the Ewok. Each character had different weapons and statistics, of course, but I never knew — for me it was Han Solo, or nothing at all. I make no apology for this.
The platforming levels are notable for being unforgivably hard; even with a fully upgraded blaster and extra lives a-plenty, the constant flood of enemies and painfully difficult jumps can be enough to make even the most hardened old-school gamer cringe in anger and irritation. Even when using NOT save state on a NOT emulated version ofReturn of the Jedi, it’s almosthilariouslydifficult to beat the final boss (Emperor Palpatine) without dying roughly eighty times in the process.
Even if you can’t actually get all the way to the end credits of the final game, though, you’ll still have a really good time. As one would hope from an absurdly challenging 2D action platformer, the controls are extremely tight; same goes for the level design. Writing about it now, I actually find it rather difficult to point out just a few exceptional things about the platforming levels, simply by virtue of the fact that they’re so universally well-done.
The Mode 7 spaceship levels, while not quite as tight, are still fun. Whether you’re piloting the Milennium Falcon inROTJor blowing up AT-ATs on Hoth inEmpire, the ship levels do more or less what they have to: they break up the action between platforming levels, and give the player the opportunity to (more or less) experience some of the series’ most epic moments. The controls are nowhere near as responsive as they oughtta be — to this day, I cannot beat the final spaceship level ofROTJwithout getting an anger-induced headache — but they serve their purpose well enough.
Why you’re probably not playing it:
Given its illogical attitude toward story-driven action, arcadey sensibilities and varied modes of play, one might initially be tempted to labelSuper Star Warsa relic of the past — retro, classic, what have you. Most all of the subsequentStar Warsgames chose a much more serious, atmospheric attitude for the franchise (Knights of the Old Republicdidn’t have a high score table, after all), andSuper Star Warscould be said to represent that brief time in the series’ history when it prioritized balls-out fun over storytelling or immersion.
That said, however, I don’t think the sensibilities which gave birth to theSuper Star Warstrilogy immediately disappeared after the release ofSuper ROTJ. When I think ofShadows of the Empire, the nextSWgame I got really hooked on following the completion of theSupertrilogy, it actually shares a lot of the same ideas and structure. InShadows, you blow through a level full of Stormtroopers and/or Wampas and are rewarded with a brief, slideshow-style cut scene before playing a brief spaceship mission — same asSuper Star Wars, just in 3D.
Similarly, if you’ve ever playedStar Wars Trilogy Arcade, that essentially replicates the structure and tone of theSuper Star Warsgames save for an emphasis on first-person shooting and joystickery. On one hand, you’ve gotStar Wars GalaxiesandKnights of the Old Republic, which focus on completely immersing the player in theSWuniverse. On the other, you’ve got games likeStar Wars Trilogy Arcadeor theSupertrilogy. To that end, it feels like theSuper Star Warsseries wasn’t outrightforgotten, per se, just separated into a sub-genre of a sub-genre.
