Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

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Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Boxart for the re-release from THQ
Developer(s) Sculptured Software
LucasArts
Publisher(s) JVC, later re-released by THQ
Release date(s) NA 1 June 1993
JPN 17 December 1993
EU 24 February 1994
Genre(s) Run and gun
Mode(s) Single player
Platform(s) Super NES
Media 12-megabit Cartridge

Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, sometimes called Super The Empire Strikes Back or simply Super Empire Strikes Back is a platform game for the Super Nintendo or Super Famicom which follows Super Star Wars and precedes Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It is largely based on the second film of the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

[edit] Plot and gameplay

Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back follows closely the standard set by Super Star Wars, with multiple playable characters and Mode 7 quasi-3D vehicle sequences. Controls are very similar to the first game, but with an enhanced double-jump. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca returned as playable characters with Luke given the ability to switch between his lightsaber and blaster as his main weapon. Darth Vader appears as a boss. The Imperial March theme in the game is different than the original song.

  • Hoth 1 - Luke Skywalker (Music - Imperial March)
  • Caves 1 - Luke (Music - the Cave)
  • Hoth 2 - Luke (Music - Imperial March)
  • Caves 2 - Luke (Music - the Cave)
  • Hoth - Down the hill - Luke (Music - Imperial March)
  • Snowspeeder Side Scroll - Luke (Music - The Cave)
  • Snowspeeder Battle (Music - Snowspeeder Theme)
  • Outside the AT/AT - Luke (Music - The Cave)
  • Inside the AT/AT - Luke (Music - The Cave)
  • The Rebel Base 1 - Han Solo (Music - Title Theme)
  • The Rebel Base 2 - Han (Music - Imperial March)
  • Asteroids - Millennium Falcon (Music - Title Theme)
  • Dagobah 1 and 2 - Luke (Music - Dagobah)
  • Cloud City 1 - Han (Music - Cloud City)
  • Ughnaught Factory - Chewbacca (Music - Imperial March)
  • Carbon Freezing Chamber - Han (Music - Imperial March)
  • Cloud City 2 - Chewbacca (Music - Cloud City)
  • Approach to Cloud City X-Wing Bespin (Music - The Cave)
  • Reactor (neck of Cloud City) - Luke (Music - Imperial March and The Cave)

In response to the challenging difficulty in Super Star Wars, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (as well as its sequel Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi) also included a password system so users could effectively save games and continue their progress later without needing any onboard cartridge memory. Like the other two however, Super Empire Strikes Back is still regarded as an extremely challenging game to complete. Many levels are often quite long and include several enemies of all type, and typically incorpate some type of boss at the end of several levels, many which are extremely difficult, and will require the entire level to be replayed if the player is defeated. While the Dagobah and final reactor levels are of moderate difficulty and most Hoth stages are medium to medium high in difficulty, most Cloud City stages bring with them a very high level of difficulty, and extremely challenging bosses.

Perhaps the most difficult stage in all of the game is the Cloud City 1 Stage with Han Solo. The level is perhaps the longest and most ongoing stage in the entire game and throws a variety of difficult enemies to fight. Just when the player finally thinks it's over, the player is faced with a highly challenging boss, and must start the entire level over if the player is defeated.

[edit] Trivia

  • Advertised as a 12 megabit game. For a relatively brief period in gaming history, some particularly large games were advertised based on their contents in megabits, some of which required special cartridges to hold. Other games advertised in this manner included Strider, Streets of Rage, and Final Fantasy VI (then III) . Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the next in the series, was advertised as 16 megabits.
  • Like Super Star Wars, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back also had an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System version, without the "Super" in the title.
  • Released in Japan by Victor Interactive Software as Super Star Wars: Teikoku no Gyakushuu.
  • If a player inputs a password for a stage after any of the Dagobah stages, he will have all the force powers, even if they were never collected.

[edit] External links