The History of Sega's Star Wars Arcade Games – Documentary

happy little games science fiction and cinema some of the earliest examples would be 1902's a trip to the moon which saw a group of astronomers being shot onto the moon made of cream cheese by a huge cannon the 1927 german expressionist film metropolis and 1953's war of the worlds which was a film adaptation of the classic h.g wells book there was one other piece of science fiction cinema that introduced an evil dark overlord it also showcased a group of individuals who would band together in an attempt to take down the evil villain once and for all and restore peace to the galaxy no i'm not talking about space balls i can't breathe in this thing i'm talking about star wars and more specifically the trio of star wars arcade games from sega that came out in the 1990s what famous actor from the series refused to come back and record new dialogue for this game so grab your lightsaber and hop in your x-wing this is the history of the sega star wars arcade games for those of you who were on life support or at the very least in a coma for the last 35 years and was unaware of its presence the very first star wars movie was released in 1977 and was an absolute worldwide phenomenon nothing had ever been seen quite like it in terms of not only box office but also the massive merchandise as well the movie was released right about the time the atari 2600 and arcade games as a whole were starting to blossom so it didn't take long before the two merged together to say star wars games have had a shall we say spotty history when it came to game quality would be a bit of an understatement while you had an absolute gem in atari's 1983 vector classic star wars on the other end of the spectrum you had a dollar and dollar star wars masters of terrica see for every excellent star wars game on the super nintendo we got episode 1 the gungan adventures and also star wars yoda stories in the early 1990s the arcade scene was seeing a major resurgence thanks to the likes of street fighter 2 and mortal kombat among others sega was still among the top developers when it came to arcade games during this time and lucasfilm had taken notice with star wars nostalgia starting to kick into overdrive they felt this would be a perfect time to introduce a new arcade game featuring the cast of the much beloved movie the combined venture saw sega produce three brand new arcade games the first one was simply titled star wars arcade even though the events of the game takes place during the movie return of the jedi the game was designed to run on sega's model 1 hardware which was a host to a number of other 3d polygon games including virtua fighter and virtual racing you take control of either an x-wing or a y-wing as you set out to destroy the death star and stop the empire forever the game is a one or two player affair but honestly you really need that second player as the action gets hot and heavy in no time at all the game starts up with a mission brief from none other than admiral akbar who unfortunately does not warn you it's a tarp if you choose to play it through one player mode you have to be the pilot but in two player mode the other person gets to be the gunner it works really well this way and like i said the game is a bit easier with the second player the first level sees you have to destroy a number of tie fighters in a dangerous asteroid field the second level sees you take on a superstar destroyer which you can destroy by blowing up its reactor if you manage to do this you are rewarded with a nice cut scene of its destruction [Laughter] the third level sees you get closer to the death star taking down another squadron of tie fighters the final level sees you enter the unfinished death star you have to destroy its internal reactor and make it out before the entire thing explodes if you are successful you get a nice animation of his destruction the graphics are fantastic with smooth 3d polygons and actual music from the movie there is even a little bit of recycled dialogue from the films as well there was one home conversion done and that was for the 32x which at the time was pretty good nowhere near as smooth or as detailed as the arcade game but to see a model one game up and running on a souped-up sega genesis is very cool in my opinion some of the content specifically the cut scenes are missing from the home release and also some of the voices but it's a pretty good attempt the arcade cabinet was absolutely massive with a giant 50 inch green and two molded seats apparently there were only a dozen or so of these arcade games that were imported into the us so obviously they are quite a bit rare in 1998 just in time for the release of episode one sega released star wars trilogy arcade this time around the hardware has been upgraded to run on the model 3 system board which also hosted daytona usa too and also virtual fighter 3 among others [Music] when the game was being designed sega had wanted the three main stars of the film to come back and record new dialogue for the game mark hamill and carrie fisher were both on board to do this but the only holdout was harrison ford who refused to participate at this point plans fell apart so sound alikes were used instead this time around the game is solely a single player affair in which you take on the role of luke skywalker as you reenact scenarios from each of the three original movies let me just start out by saying the graphics are phenomenal and it really puts the model 3 hardware to good use it's almost as if you're watching the actual movie during certain cutscenes the sound effects and music in particular are very well done with nice crisp voices along with the sound effects movement throughout the game is automatic with you controlling the crosshair for targeting and shooting the various enemies in the game when the game first starts up you have the option of choosing which mission you want to play the first one is star wars yavin which is an all-space combat mission in which you have to pilot the x-wing this section is split into two stages with the first stage seeing you take on a giant wave of tie fighters the second stage sees you take on the death star with you making the nostalgia-inducing trench run along with the visual assist from the millennium falcon if you are successful you see a nice cut scene of the death star blowing up [Music] at various points in the game as indicated by a flashing icon you can press the event button which will summon help from your fellow allies such as x-wings and in later games ewoks the second mission takes place on hoth and on the first stage you have to destroy a number of imperial walkers or ats teams there are also imperial probe droids for you to shoot as well you eventually have to assist your squadron taking down attacks after tow cables have been shot at their legs just like in the movie you have to shoot the neck after it's been grounded to destroy it the second stage of this mission sees you have to escape echo base and safely make it to the millennium falcon the gameplay switches to a first person shooter in which you have to take out a multitude of snow troopers and wampas during this level r2d2 and c-3po are by your side and you essentially have to clear a path for them as well the final part of this mission has the millennium falcon directly in your sights but is surrounded by snow troopers after dispatching them you are faced with one final wampa on a side note the wampa has to be shot in the head between 30 and 40 times before it's destroyed and here i thought my wife had a hard head after doing this you are treated to a nice cut scene of the falcon taking off the third mission starts out as a bonus mission set on tatooine in which you get to wield a lightsaber as you try to deflect the blast from the bounty hunter boba fett just like in return of the jedi this takes place on jabba the hutt barge you need to deflect boba fett's blast back onto him knocking him down into the sarlacc pit after the bonus stage you take to a speeder bike on the moon of endor as you attempt to shoot all the enemy speeder bites you see you also have to avoid crashing into the trees as well as the ats tees that are in your way after you make it to the end of the first stage you traverse on foot slowly making your way to the shield generator you have to shoot all of the storm troopers while escorting c3po r2d2 and wicket the ewok to safety once you make it to the generator you have to destroy one last ats team once this is complete the shield generator blows up and the level is complete [Music] the second bonus stage of the game sees you take on darth vader in a lightsaber duel in the emperor's throne room while he stands by and watches the final stage sees you pilot an x-wing as you have to destroy the main reactor of the second death star the level starts out in outer space with you having to defeat a number of tie fighters after this you follow the millennium falcon down into the surface of the death star blowing up various tie fighters and towers after you complete this section you go deep inside blasting your way to the main reactor after blasting it with a few proton torpedoes you will eventually destroy it a nice cut scene shows the second death star blowing up and the empire is defeated at last [Music] [Music] overall this is a fantastic game and any fan of the original trilogy of movies needs to experience it for themselves unfortunately it's never been converted to any home system and the cabinet is a bit of a rarity out in the wild you can play it on the model 3 emulator so google it if you are curious in 1999 to cash in on the excitement surrounding episode 1 star wars racer or more affectionately known as star wars pod racer was released the original title was star wars pod racer until lucasfilm learned another company owned the trademark they could use the word pod just not anywhere in the title of the product this arcade game has the ability to link up four machines which sees you recreate the legendary pod racing scene from episode one if you've ever wanted to take on the role of a tiny whiny snot knows the little punk who has serious mommy issues and a mad on for tuscan raiders i hate them then this is the game for you not only can you take on the role of little annie [Music] but also subulva ben quadonaros and gascano each of the characters you select all have their own podracers each one with different attributes there are four tracks in the game to race on including bantatrax smuggler's cove pixilito and bunta eve classic thanks to the increased power of sega's hickory arcade board the graphics are even better along with smoother animation if you thought the speeder bike scene in star wars arcade trilogy was way too fast wait till you get a load of this one if you love racing games and are a fan of the star wars mythology you definitely need to check this out it feels like you are actually in the movie playing yes a bulba trying to take down little annie once again the cabinet for this arcade game is massive and the molded seats actually look like the pod racer that anakin used in the movie this was released for a number of home systems such as nintendo 64 dreamcast windows and recently a remastered version was released for the nintendo switch and ps4 the trilogy of sega's star wars arcade games are something that needs to be experienced in an arcade to truly enjoy each one is fantastic in its own right and in my opinion they kept getting better and better both in terms of performance and also playability from the tie fighter and death star battle of the original sega star wars arcade game to the absolutely fantastic star wars trilogy arcade game and finally the best part of episode 1 which was the pod racing scene is represented absolutely perfect in sega's final star wars arcade game if you ever see these games in the wild and always wanted to step into the shoes of luke skywalker or even little annie you owe it to yourself to give these games a try you'll be glad you did if you enjoyed this video be sure to comment share leave a like and also don't forget to subscribe one more thing if you would like to support me on patreon please click the link below thanks for watching

Channel: PatmanQC - History of arcade game documentaries

Views: 41,483

Keywords: NES, arcade, SNES, amputee, Xbox, PlayStation, Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, retro, video, gamesAtari, Colecovision, Intellivision, Jaguar, entertainment, system, Game, Boy, Genesis, Mega, drive, CD, X68000, Amstrad, spectrum, MSX, 2600, 5200, 7800, 400, 800, 1200, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, 360, switch, GameCube, wii, wii-u, Luke Skywalker, pRINCESS lEIA, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Emperor, death Star, THE eMPIRE STRIKES BACK, return of the Jedi, EWOKS, R2-D2, C3PO, Jabba the Hutt, BobA FETT, Yoda, TATTOOINE, pod racer, Anakin

Id: KlOODvgXuzk

Length: 17min 44sec (1064 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020