Star Wars is one of the most beloved franchises in the world. The first movie was released decades ago in 1977, and since then, fans have been indulged with nine movies, two spin-offs, and a fair few shows connected to it. The good news is that there’s more to come.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Star Wars is more than a movie franchise now. Over the years, it’s also spread into other genres. Star Wars games have done exceptionally well, both as board games and video games.
Early Days of Play
It was in 1982 when the first game, The Empire Strikes Back, was released for the Atari 2600. Extremely simple by today’s standards, it was based on the iconic Battle of Hoth. Against a psychedelic backdrop, a nine-pixel snowspeeder needs to eliminate AT-ATs.
Soon after, the gaming giant, the Parker Brothers, took Star Wars one step further. Using a one-button joystick (remember those, boomer gamers?). Players had to shoot Darth Vader’s forces before jumping through Kashyyyk with Cal Kestis. More games followed, both by Atari and the Parker Brothers.
LucasArts
By 1991, George Lucas, decided to bring the Star Wars video games into the LucasArts brand. First came the release of an 8-bit game called Star Wars, followed by 16-bit adaptations of the original trilogy, Empire and Return of the Jedi in 1993 and 1994. Aside from the Atari 2600, other consoles to get Star Wars games were the NES and SNES.
Say what you will about LucasArts and the games they developed, but they were definitely innovative for their time. However, this did not always work out in their favor. They released a fair few successful games, such as X-Wing, which was released in 1993. But some also failed to hit the mark, like the GameBoy Color game, Yoda Stories in 1997.
One thing’s for sure, LucasArts kept on trying, much to the appreciation of Star Wars fans and gamers. Over the years, they continued to experience a mix of hits and misses when it came to games in this franchise until Disney acquired all things Star Wars.
Electronic Arts (EA) and Today
Disney soon went into partnership with gaming giant Electronic Arts. It had exclusive rights to produce Star Wars games, aside from phone or tablet games, which Disney retained the rights to. The much-anticipated release of Battlefront disappointed fans, as did Battlefront 2.
The difference with the second game was that, after listening to fans, EA made the necessary changes to make it a success. It then went back to the good old days of X-Wing and gave fans what they wanted in 2020 by releasing Star Wars: Squadrons.
What’s in a Game?
Star Wars games, whether video or board games, continue to be released. As the franchise continues to expand in films and series, this shows no sign of abating. But what is it about games that we love?
Escapism is a massive factor when it comes to playing games, as is socializing with other gamers that love the world they’re playing in, Star Wars fans being no exception. But other games have also stood the test of time, like Monopoly and Chess. They’ve even experienced success beyond board games onto online versions.
Classic games, like bingo and card games, including blackjack and poker, have also been met with the same online success. This demonstrates that it doesn’t matter what format they’re developed for, as people just love playing games for entertainment as much as anything else. Like bingo, it’s clear at this point that Star Wars is a hallmark of our entertainment culture.
Star Wars certainly has had an interesting history when it’s come to video games. Throughout it, the one thing that’s been apparent is the persistence and the love of the franchise, from developers and fans, that’s kept it going. Undoubtedly, there’s been a learning curve, but this was needed to get to where it is today. A resounding success in the gaming industry, the Star Wars franchise is a definite mainstay of gaming history.