''Star Wars'' is an action game based on the 1977 film of the same name. It was released by Victor Musical Industries for the Family Computer in Japan on November 15, 1991 and by JVC Musical Industries for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in November 1991 and in Europe on March 26, 1992. An official

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

"Hint Book" was available for the game upon its release. Two versions for

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...

s were released. The

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

port was developed by NMS Software and published by Capcom and released shortly less than a year later in 1992. The

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear pri ...

port was developed by

Tiertex Design Studios Tiertex Design Studios Limited was a British software development company and former video game developer based in Macclesfield, England; it was founded in 1986, focusing on porting games to home computers and handheld platforms. As a video ga ...

and published by

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

and released in 1993. A Master System version was also released. The game was followed by a sequel, '' Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'', but an NES game adaptation of ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

'' was never realized. A counterpart of the game for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...

, '' Super Star Wars'', was released as well. On June 28, 2019, the NES and Game Boy versions were officially re-released in both standard and Collector's Edition sets with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and Lucasfilm's approval in limited quantities on unlicensed replica game cartridges by

Limited Run Games Limited Run Games, Inc. is an American video game distributor based in Apex, North Carolina. The company specializes in the release of digital games on physical media, with the games being sold on their website. The company, founded by Douglas ...

Gameplay

The game follows a sequence of events close to the storyline of A New Hope, where

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The E ...

has to pilot a

landspeeder Landspeeders are fictional anti-gravity craft used through the '' Star Wars'' movies and ''Star Wars'' expanded universe. They are depicted both in civilian and military capacities, and several versions have been merchandised as toys and model ...

around

Tatooine Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...

, collect

R2-D2 R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...

from the

Sandcrawler The sandcrawler is a fictional transport vehicle in the '' Star Wars'' universe that is found on the desert planet Tatooine. The vehicle, as it appears in its major appearances in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'', is 37 meters long and 18 me ...

, Obi-Wan Kenobi from a cave, and

Han Solo Han Solo is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. The character first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars'' portrayed by Harrison Ford, who reprised his role in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) an ...

from the

Mos Eisley Mos Eisley is a spaceport town in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Located on the planet Tatooine, it first appeared in the 1977 film ''Star Wars'', described by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) as a "wretched hive of s ...

bar, while fighting stormtroopers, sand people, and many other different enemy characters from the movies. After assembling all the characters, the player navigates the Millennium Falcon in a first-person perspective through an asteroid field to the

Death Star The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the '' Star Wars'' space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire, the Death Star is capable of annihilating entire planets into rubble, and serves t ...

(shields for the Millennium Falcon to withstand the asteroid field must also be collected in the Tatooine levels). Once arriving at the Death Star, the player is required to destroy the tractor beam generator, rescue Princess Leia from the detention block, then proceed to destroy the Death Star with the rebel fighters. The Game Gear version has a few exclusive levels. The first level has Leia delivering the stolen plans to R2-D2. The speeder overworld is replaced with three side-scrolling levels through the desert where Luke has to travel on foot. Each character has different attributes. Han Solo and Leia can also be used to replace Luke in gameplay, but unlike Luke who has numerous lives, Han and Leia only have one life each. Obi-Wan Kenobi can resurrect Han Solo or Princess Leia five times (in the Game Gear and Master System versions, the player is even required to kill and resurrect them in order to earn the last 10% completion points and see the ending),

can display a map of the Death Star hallways, and

C-3PO C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to assis ...

can provide information on the current part of the game.

Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

makes his only appearance on the Game Over screen. Chewbacca appears at the end of the Game Boy version, and is mentioned in passing a few times. It is noted in the instruction manual that Chewie flies the Millennium Falcon if Han Solo dies.

Reception

Victor Lucas of ''

The Electric Playground ''EP Daily'' (formerly ''The Electric Playground'') is a daily news television show that covers video games, movies, TV shows, comic books, collectibles and gadgets. Created and executive produced by host Victor Lucas, and his Vancouver, British ...

'' gave the Game Gear version a 7 out of 10 and wrote, "''Star Wars'' does feature some impressive artistic design and a few technical surprises. It's still one of the sharpest looking games available for Sega's 8-bit portable".

References

External links

*
Star Wars (Game Gear) at the Internet Archive
{{Star Wars Trilogy 1991 video games Capcom games Game Boy games Game Gear games LucasArts games Master System games Nintendo Entertainment System games NMS Software games Platform games Single-player video games Star Wars (film) video games Tiertex Design Studios games U.S. Gold games Ubisoft games Video games developed in Australia