Super Star Wars

The Good
Lucasarts and JVC (two of the most respected entertainment brands of the time), teamed up to make an important entry into the Star Wars series. I'm no longer a Star Wars "enthusiast", but let's just say that back in 1992 I was more than a little curious about this title! I remember flipping the SNES box art over and being impressed by the couple of screenshots displayed there. The 16-bit graphics looked very promising and the idea of having a character selection for most of the levels was an exciting idea, and showed that (maybe!) the game design was faithful to the film.

The title screen, in the true spirit of those clever montage movie posters, was appropriately inspiring with somewhat detailed renditions of Mark Hammil, Alec Guinness and the supporting players. This, coupled with the iconic fanfare, was another promise of a great game to come.

On commencement of the game itself, we have a descendant of the modern "cut-scene" as the very first scene of the film (where Vader's ship pursues Leia's) is played out in 16-bit glory. This emulation of the film is intended to give the player a sense of simultaneity - a sense that the game is the film, and the film is the game.

So, as like the film, the game starts at Tatooine, and players take control of a pre-jedi Luke who is (quite heavily) equipped with a blaster. In an effort to extend game play and flesh out the action, we are now exterminating all kinds of Tatooine fauna! Scorpions, mynocks, and other vermin are your first in a massive list of hostiles. Luke, (Han Solo and Chewbacca) can jump flip-jump, shoot and slide. These three moves are enough to get you through most of the levels, while the vehicle levels require another set of simple moves.

So how does this game actually play? Is there any fun to be had playing as these characters in the Star Wars universe? Yes and no. The enjoyment is in the details of the game. The magnificent score (even a reproduction on the SNES synthesiser is memorable!) and the various locations and enemies are all spot on. The sandcrawler for example, (the Jawas' mobile scrap plant) is a phenomenal example of imagination and creativity. Battling through this industrial zone filled with conveyer-belts, droids and booby-traps is a 16-bit platform-game milestone - John Williams' Tatooine theme only compounds the enjoyment.

It has to be said that the production values are supreme, and that there is no rival for this title at the point of its release, (in fact, I believe it to be better than its sequel, which has the same problems made even larger). Sound effects are good, music is top-notch and the cut-scenes are welcomed and add context and colour to the adventure.

The question for any Star Wars adventure is whether the space battles are of any playable quality. You don't need me to tell you that there have been great successes and great failures in this department for the series. So does Super Star Wars fall in the former or the latter? I would say neither, and that it is somewhere in the middle. Sure, this is a two-dimensional action game primarily, but it would be hard to call it Super Star Wars without at least a brief sojourn in an X-Wing. And so, the final battle sees Luke in the cockpit re-enacting one of cinema's most recognised science-fiction sequences. Thankfully, the Mode 7 capability of the Super NES allows a respectable (and very brief) slice of trench warfare. From the cockpit view, it's up to you to make that final pot-shot into the single weakness of the mighty Death Star.

The Bad
The game disappointed me in two areas. Firstly, I found the action repetitive. The old habit of running right and holding down the fire button is a crime this game does commit. Sure, it's not as bad as say "Turrican" or "Contra", but nine of the sixteen or so levels are strictly a left-to-right affair. It seems the designers did try to break this up with the Mode 7 Speeder levels and the climbing levels (Tractor Beam Core). Nevertheless, you begin to feel that there's more that could have been happening in the level design area.

The second problem I had is in the actual game play mechanic and collision detection. Everything moves faster than you, and it's not uncommon that even the most junior of enemies will score a cheap hit due to that advantage. This problem extends to boss fights, where it's more of a stand off-between energy bars than it is about skilful playing. Avoiding some of the attacks is practically impossible - you WILL get hit, and it's really only a question of whether your life bar can hold out. Set the difficulty to "brave" or "Jedi" and you've got even less of a chance.

The Bottom Line
Super Star Wars is successful because it has captured the spirit of the Star Wars universe very well. All of the key ingredients are there, and the fact that the side-scrolling game play is repetitive takes a back-seat somehow. You can get caught up in the Star Wars flavour very easily and it pretty much excuses the less memorable action itself. It's a landmark title, but I'm not likely to ever try to take on the Empire in THIS particular Star Wars release again.

The Good
It followed the Story of "Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope". There is a boss at the end of quite a few of the levels, and the boss's are very well done and some are quite challenging. Their are new enemies and bosses that arn't in the movie as well as some that are. You get to upgrade your gun as you go and later in the game you get the choice to play as Han and Chewie, in addition to Luke. The sound effects of R2 beeping, the Tusken Raider's roaring and the lightsaber swinging are good and the music is straight out of the film and it very good. There are 4 3-D levels, two in which you ride in a landspeeder, two of which you ride in an X-Wing and attack the Death Star, all of which have tremendously good 3-D graphics for SNES, especially considering that the game was made in 1992! A great game. I disagree with MegaMegaMan, though, that it's the hardest, but that's probably just cause I've had it since I was 6 or 7 but I didn't get any of the other ones till I was 14 (now I'm 16).

The Bad
What didn't I like, huh? Well, the biggest thing is their's no password system. My favorite level by far is the Death Star trench Run, which is the last level of the game, but to play it I have to play the rest of the game, first, which takes about an hour, maybe slightly less if your extremely good. I can't just type in a password and go to the last level, which sucks, and if you get game over you have to start over from the beginning, which is probably why MegaMegaMan thinks it's the hardest of the Super Star Wars games. Other than that the only thing I don't really like it there's no final boss, unless you count shooting Darth Vader's Tie Fighter down as a boss.

The Bottom Line
A great game, a must-have for all Star Wars fans and even if your not a fan you'll enjoy it.

The Good
Having played this game during it's original release it was a pleasant surprise, even after 20 years to see how great the graphics and sound have held up. The stunning artwork and style put into every level supported by smooth animation and incredible sprite detail is truly as amazing in the 21st century as it was back in the mid 90's. This game has always represented what the SNES can do on screen especially with the amount going on. The colour usage is vast and helps give the developers the chance to create truly expansive levels that can still make a strong impression with first time gamers today. The sand crawler ascent level is my personnel favorite for this.

Another, equally strong area the game has are it's sounds, both music & FX. Every Star Wars game gets an instant boost with the wealth of iconic and recognizable sound effects be it blaster or light saber. The SNES still manages to push this further with an impressive music score to tie in with the action and effects.

Shooting and jumping feel great from the start, this is essential with the frantic, non stop action at the core of this title. The story continuity is true to the film, with filler levels being well designed and creatively placed. The difficulty, like most "hardcore" games is polarizing as you will see in my negative comments. When you do complete a tough level after multiple attempts you feel great, if only for the Chance to blink and exhale.

The Bad
The main negative point to highlight with Super Star Wars is the relentless difficulty level. To say the game is unforgiving would be an understatement. To say the game was both unforgiving, punishing and sometimes unfair would be a lot more accurate.

The flaws with this come from the level design and enemy placement rather than bad enemy AI. If you exit the screen and re-enter it, even after only a second your defeated foes will be back for another attempt at you. This sort of programmer laziness should have been left with the 8-Bit era, not carried on with one of this consoles flagship 3rd party titles.

The levels themselves are designed in such a manner that multiple attempts, no matter your skill level with a character are required. This takes the fun out of progression because you are constantly paranoid for what lurks ahead. Even with this fear in place the blind jumps/leaps of faith are far too numerous, In the early levels especially (Level 2, the sand crawler exterior is the worst for this).

To top off the adverse difficulty through a restart from the beginning of the level is what meets you after death, very little in the way of checkpoints. Sometimes 20 minutes of intense game play stand between you and the next safe point to re-spawn. Expect to feel angry and demoralized in equal measures with this title.

The Bottom Line
As much as I wanted to like this game with it's fluid and impressive visuals, supported strongly by iconic music and classic Star Wars sound effects, I sadly couldn't.

The high difficulty levels with over the top action based game play take away what could have been a strong sub-genre for the SNES and the Star Wars franchise in general.

Super Star Wars is great to watch someone else play and does everything a showcase title should but I doubt many playthroughs were completed without frustration being a strong memory for gamers in the 90's and now.