video games based on Star Wars, The Wars, have always been one of the most important that have reached the stores. Not in vain, There are hundreds of millions of gamers who were looking forward to the new adventures inspired by the George Lucas classic that premiered in 1977. A key moment in history in which the first video game consoles began to reach our homes, something that did not go unnoticed by the main development companies of the time.
A brief history around the galaxy
Star Wars has always had the problem that it was very difficult to transfer his adventures from the big screen to a console of domestic video games without losing realism along the way. Trying to capture that epic feeling of conquering the galaxy, defeating evil and facing fearsome dangers was not possible in those early 70's, 80's and 90's due to the limitations of a hardware that didn't really suffer a real quality explosion until late in the century. 2000s, with the presence on the market of PCs with increasingly better graphics cards and the launch of the powerful PS3 and Xbox 360.
Although if we have to mark a moment in which the Star Wars games already begin to resemble (slightly) the originals of the films, that moment arrives with the first cartridges for the NES and Super Nintendo from 1991 and 1992. Those Star Wars y Super star wars that replicated step by step everything that happened in the original movies, with a touch of action and platforms and even dotting it all with scenes in space where we starred in little skirmishes against the Empire's TIE fighters.
Although surely the great leap within the franchise must be found in the year 1995, with the launch of Dark Forces, a shooter perfectly set in the period of the three original films (Episodes IV, V and VI) where we reach the first high level of realism never seen before in any video game based on The Wars. Obviously, we cannot forget about the X-wing, TIE-Fighter for PC from Totally Games, as well as a notable Shadows of the Empire who dared to get out of the script of the original protagonists of the saga. You know, the Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, etc.
Most of the time LucasArts (originally Lucasfilm Games) has been present in all these adventures, the emblematic company that has managed the future of the saga for a good part of the last 30 years, exhaustively controlling every movement around the goose. golden eggs. The problem is that already in the late 90s, and throughout the first decade of the 2000s, it seemed that the games were losing their way, that they had less and less quality and that control that had its peak during the 90s was missed.
Currently, it is Electronic Arts and TT Games (among others that will join soon) that have the license to operate together with LucasArts when developing games based on Star Wars. Proof of this are three of the last, extraordinary, as they are Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, Star wars squadrons y LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga: the first a 3D action adventure, the second a space combat simulator that on PS4 has a VR option to use with Sony's virtual reality headsets and the third, a small masterpiece that makes a sensational review of the nine films of the franchise.
All Star Wars games
With all the above, It's time to start the review of all the games that have appeared from Star Wars. And to organize ourselves better, we are going to take this journey through decades, the same ones that have marked the technological difference in recent times between the different formats that have reached the market: from the first consoles in the late 70s, the microcomputer sector of the 80s , the 8 and 16 bits of the consoles of the 90s and the final explosion of the modern industry with PC, PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox as main players.
Here you have them. These are ALL video games Star Wars appeared up to today.
The 80's
These years are characterized by extraordinarily simple games, but which they left a great taste in the mouth among the first gamers of those years Special attention to that The Empire Strikes Back which, despite the technical limitations, took us to the plains of Hoth to star in the spectacular battle of Episode V.
The arcades were another of the best explored places in the 80s, with games as remembered as that isometric Return of the Jedi where we rode the spectacular motorcycles through the forests of Endor, or the Millennium Falcom over the surface of an Imperial super destroyer.
Finally, we cannot forget the first 3D dabbling in the saga, with vectors, and that They turned out to be a real wonder. with arcade furniture specially designed to handle the shooting target of our X-Wing. Don't you remember them?
| Title | Year | Consumer Relations Platform |
|---|---|---|
| The Empire Strikes Back | 1982 | Atari 2600, Intellivision, ZX Spectrum |
| Death Star Battle | 1983 | Atari 2600, 5200, ZX Spectrum |
| Jedi Arena | 1983 | Atari 2600, Intellivision |
| Star Wars | 1983 | Arcade and 8 and 16 bit computers |
| Return of the Jedi | 1984 | Arcade and 8 and 16 bit computers |
| The Empire Strikes Back | 1985 | Arcade and 8 and 16 bit computers |
| Droids: Escape from Aaron | 1988 | Spectrum, Amstrad CPC |
The 90's
As we told you before, the 90s began with the first adaptations sequence by sequence of the movies, both on NES and Super Nintendo. The truth is that they were the only ones, because later the action would move to space to put us at the controls of the most sophisticated combat fighters in the Galaxy. It is the case of the remembered X-wing y TIE-Fighter of Totally Games, who would later join in X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.
But in 1995 comes the twist that we all expected: become a Rebel soldier infiltrating dangerous imperial installations. That dream made it come true Star Wars Dark Forces, a first-person shooter that arrived in full gaming fashion inspired by the success of the old Doom, two years before.
The video arrived with the CD-ROMs of the multimedia era (which everyone said) and proof of that sensitivity, it was the arrival of another franchise that at the time was highly celebrated: Star Wars Rebel Assault. Although it may not seem like it over the years, these titles became the first dramatizations, almost movies, of The Wars that we saw after the premiere of the three pelis originals.
Then the action was as simple as that of a matamarcianos, but the setting and the story they narrated served as medicine for many while new episodes arrived.
That was the case with Shadows of the Empire, one of the first occasions in which LucasArts dared to give all the prominence to a hero who did not belong to the narrative instant of the original films. At the time it was a complete success and exceeded the expectations of the company, which began to welcome the expansion of the story to other lesser-known places.
In this decade the small series of Star Wars Rogue Squadron, a game focused exclusively on space combat but which it made a tremendous leap in realism compared to what was seen in the original movie games of the series PC, Nintendo 64 first and Gamecube later with the second and third installments, were the lucky platforms that received these wonders stawareras.
The rest of the decade left us with an overexploitation of the franchise, with all kinds of games that, at times, They did not meet what was expected by the fans. An example of that policy was Masters of Teras Kasi, a fighting title with our protagonists of the galactic saga distributing swordsmanship left and right. Because? Well, nobody knows...
For the end we leave what the arrival of the new episodes to the LucasArts games had an impact. Here it was, clearly, where the North Americans already lost the north and they started a business career by selling and selling at the cost of a single name: Star Wars.
| Title | Year | Consumer Relations Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars | 1991 | NES |
| The Empire Strikes Back | 1992 | NES |
| Super star wars | 1992 | Super Nintendo |
| Star Wars: X Wing | 1993 | TWO, Mac |
| X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit (Exp.) | 1993 | TWO, Mac |
| X-Wing: B-Wing (Exp.) | 1993 | TWO, Mac |
| Super Empire Strike Back | 1993 | Super Nintendo |
| Star Wars Chess | 1993 | TWO, Sega CD, 3DO |
| Rebel Assault | 1993 | DOS, Mac, Sega CD, 3DO |
| Star Wars: TIE Fighter | 1994 | TWO, Mac |
| Tie Fighter: Defender of the Empire (Ex.) | 1994 | TWO, Mac |
| Star Wars Screen Entertainment | 1994 | Windows, Mac |
| Super Return of the Jedi | 1994 | PC, Super Nintendo, Gameboy |
| Star Wars arcade | 1994 | Arcade, Sega 32X |
| Dark Forces | 1995 | DOS, Mac Playstation |
| Star Wars: Rebel Assault II | 1995 | DOS, Mac Playstation |
| Shadows of the Empire | 1996 | Nintendo 64 |
| Shadows of the Empire | 1997 | Windows |
| Yoda Stories | 1997 | Windows, Game Boy Color |
| X-wing vs. tie fighter | 1997 | Windows |
| X-wing vs. Tie Fighter: Balance of Power (Exp.) | 1997 | Windows |
| Jedi Knights: Dark Forces II | 1997 | Windows |
| Master of Teräs Kasi | 1997 | Playstation |
| Star Wars: Monopoly | 1997 | Windows |
| Star Warped | 1997 | PC |
| Jedi Knights: Mysteries of The Sith (Ex.) | 1998 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Rebellion | 1998 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Behind The Magic | 1998 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Rogue Squadron | 1998 | Windows, Nintendo 64 |
| Star Wars Trilogy | 1998 | Recreational |
| Star Wars: Droidworks | 1998 | Windows, Mac |
| X-Wing: Alliance | 1999 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Racer | 1999 | Windows, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Power Mac, Gameboy Color |
| Star Wars: Episode I. The Phantom Menace | 1999 | windows, playstation |
| Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge | 1999 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Anakin's Speedway | 1999 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Jar Jar's Journey | 1999 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Insider's Guide | 1999 | Windows. PowerMac |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Pit Droids | 1999 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Gungan Frontier | 1999 | Windows, Mac |
The 2000's
The truth is that the history of Star Wars games in this decade becomes stormy because LucasArts begins to develop relentlessly, for any platform, as if the filters that had been imposed in previous years did not work. Now there are all kinds of games based on Episodes I, II and III, with hardly any roots in popular culture and that most of them are complete failures. If there is one aspect that saves this crazy maelstrom, it is certain specific releases, precisely based on the original films.
The famous Star Wars Rogue Squadron II y Star Wars Rogue Squadron III Rebel Strike they still are a good place to remember old times, with the Gamecube boasting of its potential.
But it is also the moment in which LucasArts enters unexplored terrain such as real-time strategy with Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, some times where the Age of Empires they triumphed. We could finally fight in battles full of robots, ships and Imperial or Rebel commanders. Even from other movies because later the different factions of the rest of the episodes arrived: Trade Federation, Republic, First Order, etc.
But we cannot forget in this decade of the arrival of a classic of the role that is not inspired by the events of the movies original and that travels thousands of years into the past, to the Old Republic. What do you remember? Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, from Bioware, is a marvel of which there is a remake on the way that has no waste.
That decade also leaves us first Star Wars Battlefrontt or what is the same, a true multiplayer, where we can adopt the appearance that we want and align ourselves with a faction on the map. Its success lasts until today where a kind of reboot and a second part are still so current and up-to-date that they still have thousands of fans firing shots through their stages.
And for the end we leave one of the greatest discoveries in Star Wars history: the LEGO games. The only ones who can affirm that, truly and until today, have been able to capture the essence and the magic of all the films in the franchise.
| Title | Year | Consumer Relations Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Force Commander | 2000 | Windows, PowerMac |
| Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles | 2000 | Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, Gameboy Advance |
| Star Wars: Demolition | 2000 | Playstation, Sega Dreamcast |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Battle for Naboo | 2000 | Windows, Nintendo 64 |
| Star Wars: Obi Wan's Adventures | 2000 | Game Boy Color |
| Star Wars Math: Jabba's Game Galaxy | 2000 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Early Learning Activity Center | 2000 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars Race Arcade | 2000 | Recreational |
| Star Wars: Episode I. Starfighter | 2001 | Windows., PS2, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds | 2001 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II. Rogue Leader | 2001 | Nintendo gamecube |
| Star Wars: Obi Wan | 2001 | Xbox |
| Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing | 2001 | PS2, Dreamcast |
| Star Wars: Racer's Revenge | 2002 | Playstation 2 |
| Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter | 2002 | Playstation 2, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Jedi Knight II. Jedi Outcast | 2002 | Windows, Mac, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Clone Campaigns (Exp.) | 2002 | Windows, Mac |
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | 2002 | Nintendo Gamecube, PS2, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Bounty Hunter | 2002 | PS2, Nintendo Gamecube |
| Star Wars: Episode II. Attack of the clones | 2002 | Gameboy Advance |
| Star Wars: Episode II. The New Droid Army | 2002 | Gameboy Advance |
| Star Wars: Star Fighter Special Edition | 2002 | Xbox |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | 2003 | Windows, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon | 2003 | Gameboy Advance |
| Star Wars: Jedi Knight. Jedi Academy | 2003 | Windows, Xbox |
| Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III. rebel strike | 2003 | Nintendo gamecube |
| Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided | 2003 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Battlefront | 2004 | Windows, Xbox, PS2 |
| Star Wars: Republic Commando | 2004 | Windows, Xbox |
| Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed (Exp.) | 2004 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. The Sith Lords | 2005 | Windows, Xbox |
| Star Wars Galaxies: Rage of the Wookies (Exp.) | 2005 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Battlefront II | 2005 | Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PSP |
| Lego Star Wars: The Video Game | 2005 | Windows, Xbox, PS2 |
| Star Wars Galaxies: the total Experience | 2005 | Windows |
| Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan (Exp.) | 2005 | Windows |
| Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | 2005 | PS2, Xbox, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS |
| Star Wars: Empire at War | 2006 | Windows |
| Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy | 2006 | Windows, Xbox360, PS2, PSP, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, 360, Gamecube |
| Star Wars Empire At War: Forces of Corruption | 2006 | Windows |
| Star Wars: Lethal Alliance | 2006 | Nintendo DS, PSP |
| Star Wars Galaxies: Complete Online Adventures | 2006 | Windows |
| Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron | 2007 | PSP |
| Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga | 2007 | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Wii |
| Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | 2008 | Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable |
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels | 2008 | Xbox 360, Wii |
| Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron | 2009 | PSP, Nintendo DS |
| Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition | 2009 | Xbox 360, Windows, PS3 |
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes | 2009 | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS |
| Lego Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 | 2009 | Unity |
The 2010s
LucasArts has disappeared after the purchase of Disney and it shows in the number of games that reach stores. Old projects like Star Wars 1313 and others arrive who come to put their heads in this universe of titles inspired by the creation of George Lucas. For example more LEGO Star Wars, which are celebrated to ecstasy by those who want to revive the films, including the new ones that begin to be released from 2015 with The Force Awakens.
For the second time the saga enters the MMORPG genre with Star Wars The Old Republic, a title that did not reach the hype levels of that Star Wars Galaxies from a decade earlier but that seemed to be the real revulsion. Unfortunately, the wait left us halfway and the bet was a bit watered down because, AGAIN, someone thought it was a good idea to get away from Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Obi-Wan or Darth Vader.
Now, in multiplayer times, nothing like recovering the old Star Wars Battlefront to update it to the new machines and try to get into that competitive eSports fever.
The result was the release of two titles, with one in particular still intact to this day, despite the fact that a few years have passed. Star Wars Battlefront II it has a very active community that keeps it at the forefront of that Star Wars army of video games.
The decade, by the way, closed in style, with a Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order that lays the foundations of what they should be the 3D action adventures of The Wars for the future. So much so that there are already plans for a sequel to hit the market in 2023.
| Title | Year | Consumer Relations Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures | 2010 | Windows, macOS |
| Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II | 2010 | PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP and PC |
| Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars | 2011 | Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation Portable |
| Star Wars: The Old Republic | 2011 | Windows |
| Angry Birds Star Wars | 2012 | Windows PC, Android, iOS (operating system), OS X |
| Angry Birds Star Wars 2 | 2013 | Windows PC, Android, iOS (operating system), OS X |
| Star Wars: Battlefront | 2015 | Windows, Xbox One, PS4 |
| Disney Infinity 3.0 | 2015 | Windows, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4 |
| LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2016 | Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, WiiU, |
| Star Wars Battlefront II | 2017 | Windows, Xbox One, PS4 |
| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | 2019 | PC, Xbox One, PS4 |
The 20 years
And we come to the current decade. Moment in which we have not had too many joys still, although there are really interesting games projected for the next few years. From what has come out we are left with Star wars squadrons and its space combats, which are the best seen so far on a video game console.
And, of course, we cannot forget the last and most complete installment of LEGO Star Wars. With Skywalker saga we can finally play with all the movies released from the original franchise, remastered in some cases with a spectacular new engine, and in others published for the first time.
| Title | Year | Consumer Relations Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Squadrons | 2020 | PC, Xbox One, PS4 |
| LEGO Star Wars the Skywalker Saga | 2022 | PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch |