Page 40 - Star Wars Insider #195

DESTROY THE DEATH STAR
FLIGHT
SIMULATIONS
“Switching to
targeting computer.”
Attempts to recreate the visceral thrills
of the Star Wars movies and that fateful
encounter with the Death Star really
came into their own with the advent of
video games—originally the province of
exotic cabinets in shopping mall arcades.
One of the greats of this golden era,
was Atari’s offi cial Star Wars arcade game,
which arrived in 1983 as Return of the 03
Jedi made its box offi ce debut. Players
lined up to pilot Luke Skywalker’s X-wing
in a solo mission against the Death Star.
The groundbreaking game featured frozen. Later, director Steven Spielberg
colored vector graphics,
The Star Wars
displaying wireframe TIE
fighters and trench walls
with a convincing 3D effect arcade game
while John Williams’ iconic turned up
soundtrack and digitized
dialogue filled the air with on screen in
audio straight from the fi lm. Joe Dante’s
Designer Mike Hally created
a three-act structure that was Gremlins
later duplicated by many (1984).
of the trench-run games
that followed: dogfi ghting
TIE fighters in orbit, blasting turbolaser
towers while skimming the surface of game turned up on screen in Joe Dante’s
the Death Star, and
finally dodging catwalks
and laser blasts during
a final run along the
claustrophobic confi nes
of the trench.
Atari sent a copy
of the game to the
Lucasfi lm offi ces where
Peter Langston, head of
the Lucasfi lm Games
division, devoured the
arcade cabinet’s technical
manual. He discovered
that he could make some
special modifi cations
to the controls, adding
a button he labeled as
“The Force” that would
activate the game’s debug
mode, enabling the 05
40 / STAR WARS INSIDER
03 Atari’s
Star Wars
arcade
machine
pitched
gamers into
a 3D attack
on the Death
Star.
04 M.N.M.
Software’s
Attack on the
Death Star
(1991) was
only released
in Japan.
05 Arcade1Up
recently
recreated
Atari’s
Star Wars
arcade game
cabinet.
player to fire their weapons at will while
all enemy fighters and guns remained
(an avid gamer, himself)
spent his breaks during
post-production on Indiana
Jones and the Temple of
Doom (1984) playing the
game on Langston’s modifi ed
cabinet and loved it so
much that he ordered one
for himself. However, when
his Star Wars arcade cabinet
arrived at his office, he was
disappointed to discover the
Force button didn’t come
fitted as standard. The Star Wars arcade
Gremlins (1984), executive-
produced by Spielberg, in 04
which one of the naughty
critters is seen playing the by raster graphics and an isometric
game’s trench run. viewpoint on the action.
Atari’s follow-up, Parker Brothers, who had already
1984’s Return of the Jedi scored a hit with their console version
arcade game, featured of the original arcade game, released
numerous levels in which Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle
the Millennium Falcon was for Atari’s home consoles and the ZX
piloted towards the core Spectrum computer in 1983. In this
of the second Death Star, game, the Millennium Falcon battled
intercut with speeder bike TIE interceptors and Imperial shuttles
chases and a stolen AT-ST on defending the second Death Star, aiming
the forest moon of Endor. to penetrate its outer shield and destroy
This sequel retained the same the energy core. In a twist on the events
flight control mechanism of the movie, if you took too long in
from Atari’s original Star escaping from the core, the Death Star
Wars game, but the fi rst- could rebuild itself and activate its
person perspective and “death ray,” at which point it was
vector graphics were replaced game over for the rebels.