Retro Gaming Australia

Occasionally, you still get a good Star Wars game.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was the first RPG based in the Star Wars universe. Set thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin, Knights of the Old Republic gave us an insight into what went on between the Sith and the Jedi when they were at their height. Of course, it seems very little changed in terms of technology in those 3000+ years.

Who said that they all had to be good?

Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi is the infamous Star Wars fighting game, and arguably the best example of the point in time when Star Wars games took a turn for the worst. Apparently Teras Kasi is Finnish for steel hand.

Not as good as you remember.

Super Star Wars came out at a time when the Star Wars saga was in a kind of hiatus – 10 years or so after the release of the Return of the Jedi, almost a decade before the prequels, and just prior to the onslaught of Star Wars video games. It’s technically accomplished, but needlessly difficult.

This really happened.

From the Phantom Menace onward, the quality control on Star Wars games was severely loosened, and we were treated to games like this. Based on the Vigilante 8 technology, Star Wars Demolition was a vehicular combat game that makes very little sense and plays like crap.

We’ll never see another stretch of quality Star Wars games like we did on the PC in the 90s.

Star Wars: Dark Forces puts you in control of Kyle Katarn, a former Imperial officer who has turned into a rogue for hire. The Rebel Alliance has sought out his help to find the plans to the Death Star, but he discovers a much more sinister threat while on this mission – the Dark Trooper project. Arguably one of the best Star Wars games released.

Developed here in Melbourne by Beam Software.

While not the first Star Wars game to debut on Nintendo’s 8-bit system (a Namco developed game for the Famicom predates it), Beam Software’s take on Star Wars was hyped up as one of the biggest things to hit the NES. It wasn’t particularly great, but you’d have been easily convinced otherwise judging by the press reaction of the time. Then again, Lucas hadn’t allowed the worst of the Expanded Universe to happen yet, and had not touched Star Wars himself for many years. In fact, if I am not mistaken, the NES game was the first time LucasArts (then Lucasfilm Games) was allowed to do anything with the Star Wars IP.

The Star Wars saga hits Blu Ray next week, good excuse for a theme week, no?

The Star Wars arcade game didn’t come out until some five years after the first film, but it was arguably worth the wait. The Atari 2600 port was an admirable effort, even though most of the visual and audio fidelity was lost in the transition.

CPS brawling goodness.

Knights of the Round was one of Capcom’s great early 1990s arcade beat ’em ups. As Arthur, Lancelot or Perceval, you must overthrow the evil king Garibaldi and unite England. And beat up peasants named Dennis.

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Something a little different.

Comix Zone was a late-era Mega Drive brawler developed by Sega Technical Institute. While it really pushed the system’s visual and sound capacities, the game proved to be rather short. The special CD mentioned in the advertisement differs based on your region – the PAL version has the actual original soundtrack, while the North American one has a dozen heavy metal tracks with little relation to the game.

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Developed by a bunch of ex-Beam Software folks.

Discworld is a point and click adventure game based on the Terry Pratchett-authored series, specifically the book Guards! Guards!. Former Monty Python member Eric Idle provides the voice of Rincewind.

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