Mar 09 2009
“Super Star Wars” (1992)
Story
The first in a series of a trilogy of Super Nintendo games that are based on the original “Star Wars” trilogy. This one basically follows the plot of “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope” with the exception of a few changes needed for its story to be adapted into a platform action game such as this. For one instance in particular - Luke Skywalker must leap across a series of conveyor belts and fight his way to the roof of a sandcrawler on Tattoine in order to retrieve C-3P0 and R2-D2 whereas in the film, he simply just bought them from the Jawas.
Graphics
“Aladdin” meets “Star Wars” on the Super Nintendo pretty much sums up the graphics. They’re good but not perfect. Luke comes off as a pretty boy, the lightsaber looks like a big icy, and the enemies don’t appear menacing at all. The only exceptions are the levels and the bosses in them - All of them were neatly conceptualized and received. I understand that this is a Super Nintendo game and graphics of course can’t exactly be up to today’s present standards but at least it looks 3-D during the cut-scenes and the final fight.
Controls
The learning curve takes about ten-fifteen minutes and you’ll have it down. However, if it doesn’t work out for you, you can always simply change it.
Gameplay
You begin “Super Star Wars” with only a blaster but end up with a lightsaber (and a blaster) as the game progresses. There’s plenty of juicy power-ups to collect to enhance your weaponry and physique to assist your victory in combat. You get to play as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, each of which have different capabilities. You will commandeer different vehicles such as the Landspeeder and X-Wing. You’ll play through fifteen levels ranging from the planet of Tattoine, inside the Death Star, and to the Final aero space battle on the surface of the Death Star. Last but not least is a variety of bosses to battle at the end of each level, each with their own level of difficulty. The final boss is Darth Vader in his Tie Advanced Fighter aircraft.
Overall
Awarded Best Action/Adventure Game of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly (and not to mention, Best Movie-to-Game), “Super Star Wars” takes advantage of all the Super Nintendo capabilities and technology at its panel and uses the plot from the feature film to craft an amazingly superb action-packed video game. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, you will find some sub-plots and elements, even boss characters, that were not in the actual movie but were required in order to make the video game adaptation work. These new additions do not downgrade the game in any way but instead make it more fun and throws some challenge into the mix. Pop the cartridge in, turn your Super Nintendo on, and may the force be with you!
Rating: *****
