A brief history of Star Wars arcade games

Today is Star Wars day! Hurray!

Let's be honest though, most people fell out of love with George Lucas's meandering sci-fi epic when he started to ret con the originals to fit the contrived story of the lacklustre prequels. However, with Disney recently buying the rights to all things Lucas and getting JJ "Lost" Abrhams on-board to make Episode VII over the next couple of years, Star Wars isn't going to go away any time soon and may even get good again.

Why do I mention this? Well, not only is today today Star Wars day, but this year is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars arcade video games, so I thought I would do a brief history of Star Wars arcade games, starting with one of the most iconic arcade games of all time.

Star Wars

Manufacturer:	Atari
Developer:	Atari
Genre:	Rail shooter
Year:	1983

What better sequence from the original Star Wars film to use for the basis of an arcade game than the seminal Death Star attack run? And that is precisely what Atari did with this magnificent vector graphics rail shooter. The multi-coloured vector graphics may have been incongruous with the film, but they still managed to be incredibly evocative. The game appeared around the same time as another first person vector graphics space game, Elite, for the BBC Micro B. Just like Elite, the way Star Wars looked and moved was closer to "real" space flight than anything else out there. Add in the beautiful cockpit cabinet with the flight stick controls and the digitised voice of Alec Guinness telling you, "The Force will be with you ... always" and Star Wars everyone were in sci-fi heaven.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Manufacturer:	Atari
Developer:	Atari
Genre:	Shoot 'em up
Year:	1984

A year after the first Star Wars game and the last Star Wars movie in the trilogy, Atari switched from vector graphics to sprites and an fixed isometric view for Return of the Jedi. Like latter half of the film, the game switched between the battle on Endor and the battle in space to take down the half-built Death Star (2). The Endor levels consisted of racing through the forest on speeders and blasting up rolling logs and eventually the shield generator in an AT-ST. The space levels put you in control of the Millenium Falcon during the attack run on the Death Star, then the escape. The final level has you swapping between both scenes every few seconds, which is simultaneously exciting and disorientating. Like their first game, Atari filled RotJ with digitised voices and also added a few pixellated cut scenes for good measure.

The video below shows a complete play through, although watching the game from beginning to end will give you a frequent sense of deja vu.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Manufacturer:	Atari
Developer:	Atari
Genre:	Rail shooter
Year:	1985

No, I'm not losing it, the game of Empire Strikes Back may have looked like the original Star Wars game, but wasn't released until a year after Return of the Jedi. The game also used the same vector graphics and cabinet as the original game. The reason for this was simple, Empire was not a full game, but a conversion kit for the original, which included a new daughter board, a new marquee and a decal for the yoke. In terms of game play, it is very similar to the first game, as you might expect. Instead of doing the attack run on the Death Star in an X-Wing, you alternate between flying a T-47 airspeeder (my favourite Star Wars fighter) in the battle to defend Hoth, then escaping the Empire through an asteroid belt in the Millenium Falcon.

The video below is from John's Arcade, who has a brilliant little arcade in his basement. I'm really very, very jealous.

Star Wars Arcade

Manufacturer:	Sega
Developer:	AM5
Genre:	Rail shooter
Year:	1993

Here's where an appreciation of proper nouns is important, because Sega's Star Wars Arcade game is should not to be confused with Atari's Star Wars arcade game. See the difference? Anyway, this game does actually play a lot like the original, but with it being released in 1993 and made by Sega, it benefited from being polygonal, not sprites or vectors. Polygonal graphics were exploding in the early 90s and Sega with their Model-1 board were one of the pioneers of the new tech. It wasn't always done well (looking back at Virtua Fighter 1 now is quite hard), but simple textured polys work great for space ships.

Star Wars Trilogy Arcade

Manufacturer:	Sega
Developer:	AM5
Genre:	Rail shooter/Weapon combat
Year:	1998

By 1998 it was common knowledge that a new Star Wars film was on its way, which would explain Anakin Skywalker's origins, from his rise in the Jedi order to his eventual fall to the dark side. Despite the ham-fisted way Lucas handled the reissue of the original trilogy, Star Wars fans all over the world were still excited about the prospect of a new film. We all know how that turned out. Anyway, I digress. As the name suggests, Star Wars Trilogy featured scenes from all three of the original films, specifically the rebel attacks on the Death Stars in the first and third films and the Empire attack on Hoth in the second film. While these all played out in much the same way as both Sega's and Atari's previous games, this game had a trick up its sleeve. The cabinet featured a force feedback joystick that allowed you to take control of a light sabre in two special stages. The first pits you against Boba Fett in the battle over the Sarlak pit; the second has you facing down Vader himself. Exciting stuff and it's one of those games that does not emulate well, because the force feedback joystick really added to the atmosphere.

Star Wars Racer

Manufacturer:	Sega
Developer:	AM5/LucasArts
Genre:	Racing
Year:	2000

Would it shock any of you if I said I didn't like Phantom Menace? No, I didn't think so. However, the pod racers were a cool (if utterly ridiculous) idea and one that lent itself well to a hectic arcade racing game - which is precisely what Sega AM5 and LucasArts did when they made Star Wars Racer in 2000.
Despite the cabinet looking like Anakin Skywalker's pod racer, the game did give the player a choice of Episode 1 pod racers to play as. While that is a nice idea, I doubt most people could name any of the other racers, with the exception of the villainous Sebulba.
There were many pod racing games on home computers and consoles and to be honest, none of them, not even this arcade version, were as good as WipeOut series on the PlayStation or Nintendo's F-Zero series, both of which did futuristic racing better.

Star Wars Starfighter

Manufacturer:	Tsunami Visual Technologies, Inc.
Developer:	Tsunami Visual Technologies, Inc.
Genre:	Rail shooter
Year:	2003

By 2003 the second Star Wars prequel had come and gone, and Star Wars fans were no happier about the direction these new movies were going in. While Attack of the Clones was marginally better than Phantom Menace it was still a terrible, lumbering, incoherent wreck. Anakin Skywalker was now being played by Hayden Christiansen, whose wooden acting earned him the nickname Manikin Skywalker. Even the presence of the world's most potent actor, Christopher Lee, or the appearance of Boba Fett's dad, Jango, could do nothing to save the film. Also by 2003, the arcade scene was all but dead, with modern consoles like the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox offering experiences that could match or sometimes even better a typical arcade machine. So it seems hardly surprising that Sega did not do another arcade game. Instead, for the last ever Star Wars arcade game, Tsunami Visual Technologies took us back to Episode I. This time the player got to pilot a Naboo StarFighter in a series of aerial challenges followed by an assault on the Trade Federation Droid Control ships around the planet, in much the same way as many previous Star Wars star fighter games. Actually finding footage of this unexceptional game is tough, especially as there was the similarly named Jedi Star Fighter available on many home platforms. It's not a big loss and to be honest, you'll have more fun playing the 30 year-old Atari game instead.

And so it seems whether it's Star Wars movies or Star Wars arcade games, the quality can go up as well as down, but one thing you can say in favour the classic Star Wars arcade games is that George Lucas has never gone back and ret conned them.nj

But wait, that's not all...

Anyone who's been following Arcade Throwback for a good while will know I love pinball machines almost as much as video games, and there have been a fair few Star Wars pinball tables over the years. In fact, they pre-date video arcade games by 3 years. So as an appendix to the brief history of Star Wars arcade games is the even more brief history of Star Wars pin games. 

Empire Strikes Back

Manufacturer:	A. Hankin & Company
Developer:	A. Hankin & Company
Year:	1980

Star Wars 

Manufacturer:	Data East
Developer:	Data East
Year:	1992

Star Wars Trilogy Trilogy 

Manufacturer:	Sega Pinball
Developer:	Sega Pinball
Year:	1997

Star Wars Episode 1 

Manufacturer:	Williams
Developer:	Williams
Year:	2000

Sadly, not only is Episode 1 pinball the only Star Wars pinball table I've played, it was also the last real pinball table I ever played. I found it in an seafront arcade in Blackpool, back in 2002. Based on William's Pinball 2000 platform, the game included a holographic display, which you could interact with by firing the ball at targets on display. It also had a light sabre toy inside the table, which lit up at various points during play. This was before those more authentic light sabre replicas were on the market, so it seemed more special at the time. General consensus is that, like William's only other Pinball 2000 machine, Revenge from Mars, this Star Wars table was not great. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing it in Far Sight's Pinball Arcade.

So there we have it, all of the official Star Wars video games and pinball tables to have appeared in the arcades over the decades. And as rich as this history is, it's nothing compared to history of Star Wars games for home computers and consoles, but I'll leave that to another blog. In the mean time, May the forth be with you - until midnight, then it'll be May the fifth.

MTW

Classic of the Month - Three Wonders

Manufacturer:	Capcom
Developer:	Capcom
Genre:	Platform/Shoot 'em up/Puzzle
Board:	Capcom CPS-1
Year:	1991

It's my birthday this month, so what's better than one classic? Three classics in one, that's what. Capcom's Three Wonders is precisely that, three games on one board, each selectable from the start screen. There's a platformer called Midnight Wanders, a shoot 'em up called Chariot (both staring elves called Lou and Siva) and a puzzle game called Don't Pull. I've never been sure why they weren't separate machines, as far as I can tell they are all complete enough games in their own right, but I'm not arguing. Let's look at each one in turn.

Midnight Wanders: Quest for the Chariot 

The story to Midnight Wanderers is pretty typical. An evil demon called Gaia has kidnapped Lou and Siva's female friend, Sena, and turned her into a statue. You must take control of Lou (or Siva if you're player 2) to rescue her. Despite the Tolkien whimsy, Midnight Wanderers is actually a run 'n' gun game. If you ever played Contra, Bionic Commando, Ghosts 'n' Goblins or Strider the gameplay will be instantly familiar. Lou and Siva run, jump, climb and blast their way through a beautifully drawn fantasy realm. Like any good run 'n' gun game, Midnight Wanderers provides plenty of power-ups to help you defeat its cast of goblins and demonic flora and fauna. Talking of Ghosts 'n' Goblins, just like Arthur, when Lou or Siva take a hit, all their clothes fall off. 

So Midnight Wanderers really wears its in influences on its sleeve, but it's still a fun little game and just part of what the total game Three Wonders has to offer.

Chariot: Adventure Through the Sky 

Despite being on the same board and a different genre, Chariot is the technically the sequel to Midnight Wanderers. It features the same two elves, only now they're flying the Chariots they acquired at the end of the first game, who are now trying to save a princess who's been kidnapped by Gaia's boss, Lar. As shoot 'em ups go, it plays a lot like Gradius, with the same lush aesthetic as Midnight Wanderers. The Chariots can not only be upgraded, but slowly transformed as you collect power ups. This includes a chain of energy orbs, which behave much like the dragon tail in Dragon Breed or St Dragon.

The game is very stingy, only providing one life. However, by collecting hearts dropped by enemies you can eventually get extra lives. It's an interesting mechanic, but it also makes Chariot very hard.

Don't Pull

Don't Pull is a bit of an odd fit and the weak link in Three Wonders. It's a simple puzzle game, which plays almost identical to Pengo. Instead of Lou and Siva, the players get to control a rabbit called Don and a squirrel called Pull (believe it or not). The object of the game it to crush all of the enemies in the level by pushing (not pulling, let's just make that clear), blocks together. The game starts with the enemies (some of which bear a striking similarity to enemies from other games) jumping up out of sewer grates. If you're quick you can stamp on the grates and stop the enemies from emerging. After that you have to either use the blocks or the limited power-ups on the level. It's a fast paced puzzler and you really have to be on your toes, as you try to avoid destroying blocks or pushing them into positions that will make them inaccessible.

The video below is a monster long play of all three games, played from beginning to end. 90 mins (or there abouts) of classic arcade action. Lovely.

MTW

Worth a Look - April 2013

What new games are coming this month that will tickle the fancies of your average arcade throwback? Let's take a look.

Badland

Developer:	Frog Mind Games
Publisher:	Frog Mind Games
Platforms:	iOS
Price:	Around £3
Demo available:	Unknown

Five years ago, indie game scene was ignited by the release of Jonathan Blow's cerebral platformer Braid. The game started in silhouette, before revealing its lush, oil-painting aesthetic. A few years later, Play Dead Studios released an all silhouette game, Limbo and since then there has been a deluge of (mainly indie) games using the same look. Enter Frog Mind's Badland on iPad and iPhone, a single touch puzzle-platformer where the objective is to get one or moe shadowy fur balls through a fast moving, trap-filled world to the exit tunnel at the end. With power-ups to change the size, shape and physical properties of the fur balls (like making them sticky), it's impressive that Frog Mind has managed to squeeze so many mechanics into a game that only needs one "button".

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I haven't played this yet (I don't own an iOS platform), but from the reviews I've seen, it looks and sounds great. Don't take my word for it, here's AppSpy's review:

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Developer:	NeverRealm Studios
Publisher:	WB Games
Platforms:	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U
Price:	Around $40
Demo available:	Yes/No

I don't know much about comic books, in fact before my little boy started watching the Avengers and Batman: The Bold and the Brave cartoons, I couldn't have told you which super heroes were Marvel and which were DC. What I do know is that after Midway went belly up in 2009, Ed Boon became the creative director of NeverRealm Studios, who developed the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. Now they're giving a host of DC super heroes the NeverRealm treatment with Injustice, a 2D fighting game which wears its Mortal Kombat heritage in plain view on its sleeve. It's more than a MK game with DC characters, it has plenty of its own mechanics, as well as borrowing a few from other games. Along with over the top super that look more like a summon from Final Fantasy, it also features transitional stages (a la Dead or Alive) and interactive backgrounds that can be used to attack your opponent. Fighting games fans are sure to enjoy this one.

Sacred Citadel

Developer:	Southend
Publisher:	Deep Silver
Platforms:	XBLA/PS3/PC
Price:	Around £12.99
Demo available:	Yes

While I'm not familiar with the Sacred RPGs, I understand that this spin off is nothing like them and instead plays more like Sega's classic Golden Axe. The game's story is as cliché has they come, as is the choice of a warrior, ranger, mage or shaman, but there's something about its blend of hack 'n' slash and RPG that I find appealing. It has a pleasing, water-colour aesthetic and music that is bound to remind you of some classic arcade games. It isn't getting amazing reviews, but if you fancy something akin to Golden Axe that you can play with your mates over the internet, then for £10 you can probably get a decent couple of hours entertainment out of Sacred Citadel.

MTW

Top 10 driving games

I'm not the biggest fan of driving games, but I do love a good arcade driving game. Here are my 10 favourites.

Super Sprint

Atari's Sprint is the grandaddy of top-down racers, inspiring countless clones and sequels alike. In 1986 Atari release two such sequels, Super Sprint and Championship Sprint. There's little to separate the two games, but Super Sprint is the one I remember most fondly.

Ridge Racer

In the mid-90s, sprites started to give way to polygons and one of the games that spear headed that revolution was this street racer from Namco. The tight, winding tracks through cities and along mountain sides were like nothing arcade gamers had seen before. It was exhilerating and it inspired clones on every platform going.

Chase HQ

If all the other games on this list were about driving, Chase HQ was about driving down criminals — for justice! Ahem, anyway Taito's Chase HQ was a genre defining game that combined racing with demolition derby and the kind of heroic action normally associated with action adventure games. Brilliant.

Hang-On

The Pole Position of bike racing, Sega's Hang-On was fast and exhilarating. And it made you feel like Barry Sheen to straddle the big plastic bike, even if you couldn't reach the floor.

"Iron Man" Ivan  Stewart's Super Off Road Racer

Us Brits had no idea who "Iron Man" Ivan Stewart was, but we did know that Sprint clone, Super Off Road, was a riotous racing game. You did not so much control your little off road racer as will it around the twisty, uneven track, as you spin the stirring wheel around frantically. Somehow, that was all part of the fun.

Manx TT Super Bike

Sega's Max TT did for motorbike racing what Ridge Racer did for car racing. I can't say how accurately the track emulated the narrow, winding streets of the Isle of Man, but it was everything Hang-On was and more.

Hard Drivin'

Hard Drivin' is a game my brother excelled at, but I could not play Hard Drivin' to save my life.  At the time of its release, it felt like a proper driving simulator, because he had a clutch and a proper 5 gate gear stick.  Looking back now it's has not aged well at all; the primative polygonal graphics are incredibly slow.  Compared to sprite-based driving games from the same era, Hard Driving is ponderous.  Nonetheless, in its hay day it was a game that really separated the men from the boys.

Mario Kart Arcade GP/GP2

Released between the Mario Kart: Double Dash on GameCube and Mario Kart Wii, the Arcade GP games have everything you'd expect from a Mario Kart game, but in an arcade machine. The game also features Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man and a red ghost. It also features a camera, so each of the four players can be super imposed into character cards, as can be seen in the pictures. It's a little touch that gives the arcade versions of this long running series something above the home and arcade versions.

OutRun 2

The original OutRun holds a dear place in so many arcade gamers' hearts, but the oft-forgotten sequel is the real gem in the series. Released in the mid-2000s, OutRun 2 added a brilliant drift mechanic that outshone even Ridge Racer. A skilled player can balance drifting to maximise their speed as they flow around the corners. A perfect drift is one of those truly special gaming moments.

Sega Rally

Another superb racer from Sega. I played this one when I was doing my degree. A lot of my student grant was spent on this machine — in fact I don't think I've spent as much on any other driving game in the arcade. The simple co-driver instructions were vital to success and it added that extra dimension that other racing games did not have. Quite simply, I've yet to find another rally game that I've enjoyed much as this classic.

MTW

Now that's how to play classic games

I remember about 15 years ago, Nottingham indie cinema Broadway putting the PlayStation version of Tekken 2 on their big screen, but this (posted by one of my favourite websites, GamesYouLoved.com, on their Facebook page) is something else. This is the Super Nintendo version of Street Fighter 2 (probably the best conversion of the classic arcade game at the time) and the original Super Mario Bros playing on the IMAX screen at BFI in London. Absolutely incredible stuff.

MTW

Classic of the Month - Spy Hunter

Manufacturer:	Bally Midway
Developer:	Bally Midway
Genre:	Vertical scrolling shoot 'em up
Board:	Bespoke
Year:	1983

Dum-dum-dum-dum-dedede-dum-dum  dum-dum-dum-dum-dedede-dum-dum woah-wow woah-wowow. Wow wow wow wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wow wow wow wow wow. I almost feel like I could end this month's CotM right there, because anybody who played this spy game will know precisely where I'm coming from. Arcade games are full of funky, addictive little ditties, but Spy Hunter brought the A-game with its chip tunes version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme".

The game itself was undoubtedly inspired by every car chase in every spy and cop film going. The game presented the car chases from a top-down, vertically scrolling view. Your mission was to chase down enemy agents in the G-6155 Inceptor, a spy car worthy of James Bond himself. The car on the cabinet artwork was based on the  Mercedes-Benz CW311/Isdera Imperator 108i and looked every bit like the kind of futuristic super car a Hollywood spy would drive. Unfortunately the sprite in the game did not match the artwork at all, but this was 1983, so I'll give Bally Midway a break — this time.

The similarities between the G-6155 and the CW311/Imperator are undeniable.

The enemies came at you in a variety of cars, some just ramming you, others armed with guns and spiked wheels and a whole lot more. Thankfully, the G-6155 can be kitted out with all classic spy car weapons. To begin with you just get machine guns, but periodically the button in the middle of the steering wheel would flashing, informing you that you could call the Weapons Van for a random upgrade. This could be a smoke screen, an oil slick or missiles even missiles. Both the upright cabinet (pictured right) and the cockpit version featured a button for each weapon, so you could stockpile them if you wanted. In fact not only was there a button for each weapon and one to call the Weapons Van, there was also an accelerator, a gear stick and of course a steering wheel. All of which actually made Spy Hunter one of the more complex machines around in 1983. It was fast too; only the best reflexes could cope with driving in high gear.

As you raced up the screen there would be branching pathways, leading to different environments. Eventually you would see sliproads leading to boat shacks. Drive through them and your car would transform into a jet boat (or rather the car sprite would swap while you were in the shed). You'd then have to do battle on the water, until the shore led to another shed that would transform you back into a car.

Between the brilliant cabinet art, the music and, of course, the G-6155 itself, it was an evocative game to play and more than worthy of being called a classic.

MTW

Worth a Look - March 2013

What's in this month's Worth a Look? A whole bunch of stuff, the biggest yet, in fact, with a bit of Star Wars in the form of pinball, top-down arcade racer, a sequel to a modern classic and a faux retro puzzle that will challenge even the most hardened arcade throwback and the official sequel to the most famous rip-off in gaming history.

Star Wars pinball

Developer:	Zen Studios
Publisher:	LucasArts
Platforms:	Android/iOS/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Price:	£1.32 - £6.99 (800MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

After Far Sight Studio's series of emulated pinball classics, Zen Studio's Zen Pinball/Pinball FX series is best video pinbal game around. While I would never say their designs are quite up to the legends behind the tables in Arcade Pinball, they do make some cracking pin games. Now they've turned their attention to Disney's latest acquisition — Star Wars. There are three tables in the pack, Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars and everyone's favourite masked bounty hunter, Boba Fett. If you (still) like Star Wars and you like pinball, you probably don't need to know any more than that.

Bit.Trip Runner 2

Developer:	Gaijin Games
Publisher:	Gaijin Games
Platforms:	PlayStation 3/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99 (1200MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

Gaijin's Bit.Trip series are wonderful celebrations of gaming origins and now there's a sequel to the one of the best in the series, Bit.Trup Runner. However, the Atari 2600-looking aesthetic has gone, in favour of something more modern, whilst still hinting at its retro origins. If I'm honest I prefer the original look, but this is still a cracking rhythm puzzle game. Whether it's worth a tenner is a different question entirely.

WRC Powerslide

Developer:	Milestone
Publisher:	Milestone
Platforms:	PlayStation 3 PSN/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99/1200MSP
Demo available:	Yes

Milestone's WRC series may be the offical rally game of the FIA World Rally Championship, but it's always played second fiddle to Codemasters' Colin McRae/Dirt series. However, with this downloadable only spin-off Milestone are channelling Super Sprint, Micro Machines and many other classic top down racers. The game appears to use the same engine as the main series, so it has all the same physics for (unsurprisingly) power sliding and also bashing up the car models. Add a few friends and you've got one rowdy, rip-roaring racer.

Gem Chaser

Developer:	Electric Wolf
Publisher:	Electric Wolf
Platforms:	Xbox Live Indie Games
Price:	67p (80 MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

Having worked in the games industry for a few years means I'm friends with a number of bedroom developers, like the family behind Electric Wolf. They've been pretty prolific over the past few months, with each game improving on their last. Gem Chaser is their latest and by far their most challenging. The premise is simple, collect the gems that match the colour of Gem Chaser, which can be altered by jumping through colour changing portals. With strict time limits and devilish level design that means you absolutely must take the optimum path, this is definitely one for the more masochistic. Warning though, addiction will kick in way before frustration.

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Developer:	Black Forest Games
Publisher:	Black Forest Games
Platforms:	PC/PlayStaton 3/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99
Demo available:	Yes/No

Back in the mid-80s, a group of guys calling themselves Time Warp Productions, produced a platforming game called The Great Giana Sisters. It was a blatant rip-off of Super Mario Bros, right down to level design, and Nintendo were quick to bury it. However, 22 years later they resurrected it for the Nintendo DS and now, another 4 years later Black Forest Games have released this truly gorgeous sequel. This is up there with Trine and Rayman Origins as one of the most beautiful-looking platformers ever. Thankfully the gameplay is pretty nifty too and features a light/dark world mechanic that sees level geometry change as you flip between one world and the other. There's not enough of this sort of game on the PC or Xbox 360, so platforming fans owe it to themselves to check it out.

MTW