Star Wars (1983 video game)

Star Wars is a first-person rail shooter designed by Mike Hally[12] and released as an arcade video game in 1983 by Atari, Inc.[13] It uses 3D color vector graphics to simulate the assault on the Death Star from the 1977 film Star Wars. There are three connected gameplay sequences: combat against TIE fighters in space, flying across the surface of the Death Star, and the final trench run. The sequence then repeats with added complications and the Death Star regenerating. The player's X-Wing fighter has a shield which only protects against damage a certain number of times, then the next hit ends the game. Speech synthesis emulates actors from the film.[14][15]

Developed during the golden age of arcade games, Star Wars has been included on lists of the greatest video games of all time. Home ports were published by

Gameplay

Assuming the role of Luke Skywalker ("Red Five"), the player pilots an X-wing fighter from a first-person perspective. The controls consist of a yoke with four buttons — two trigger style and two in position to be pressed by the thumbs — each of which fires a laser positioned on the four leading edges of the X-Wings.

The player does not have to destroy every TIE fighter and gun turret to advance through the game. Instead, the player must survive for a set length of time by avoiding the enemies and their shots or destroying them. The player begins with six shields, one of which is lost for every collision into an enemy or projectile. If the player loses all shields and is hit again, the game ends.

Each wave consists of three attack phases, culminating in the destruction of the Death Star.

Phase 1

In the first phase, the "Imperial March" or another part of John Williams's Star Wars score is briefly played electronically and the player engages in a dogfight with Darth Vader and enemy TIE fighters in outer space near the Death Star. After the TIE fighter waves, when flying towards the Death Star, the yellow grid lines on the Death Star spell out either "May the force be with you" on odd-numbered waves or names of some of the developers on even numbered waves.

Phase 2

In the second phase, the player must fly across the surface of the Death Star to reach its equatorial trench. This section is omitted during the first wave of the game. During the second wave, the player is attacked by artillery bunkers. In the third and subsequent waves, laser turrets on towers rise to confront the player. A bonus is awarded for destroying every turret.

Phase 3

In the third phase, the player must navigate the trench until finally firing a proton torpedo for a direct hit on the exhaust port target. If the player is successful, the Death Star explodes and the player is awarded a bonus shield, to a maximum of six (can be set internally for a maximum of eight). Should the player fail to hit the exhaust port, a shield is lost and the trench must be attempted again. If the player manages to destroy the Death Star without firing at anything but the exhaust port, a bonus is awarded for "using the Force."

The game then resets to the first phase. Each successive wave greatly increases the difficulty; TIE fighters shoot more often, artillery bunkers and laser towers spawn in the second phase, and obstacles appear in the trench during the third. Unlike the movie, where the units shoot beams similar to lasers, the enemy units in this game shoot projectiles resembling fireballs, which give the player a chance of destroying the shots.[13]

title	Star Wars
developer	Atari, Inc.
publisher	Arcade NA/JP/UK: Atari, Inc.‡R1R‡‡R2R‡ SPA: Sega, S.A. SONIC‡R3R‡ Ports Parker Brothers Domark Broderbund
designer	Mike Hally
programmer	Greg Rivera Norm Avellar
composer	Earl Vickers
series	Star Wars
platforms	Arcade Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, Macintosh 128K
released	May 5, 1983 Arcade NA: May 5, 1983‡R4R‡ JP: May 1983‡R1R‡ UK: September 1983‡R2R‡ SPA: 1983‡R3R‡ 2600, 5200, ColecoVision MS-DOS Atari ST Amiga Macintosh
genre	Rail shooter
modes	Single-player

Star Wars (1983 video game)

Gameplay

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Development

Ports

Reception

Retrospective

Legacy

High scores

Works cited

External links

References