Star Wars is an iconic franchise and has never been a stranger to video games. Sega released Star Wars Arcade in 1993 to good reviews and followed that in 1998 with Star Wars Trilogy Arcade for the Model 3 arcade board. A 3D rail shooter, the game was a massive hit from the moment it hit the arcade scene and delighted fans to no end. The game has two main parts, with three missions reenacting scenes from the original trilogy, an final unlockable mission as well as boss battles against Darth Vader and Boba Fett.
For a 3D rail shooter, the game managed to do some things to set itself a part. It only relied on a single joystick and crosshair with a firing button, but did have what was called a special event button that would light up at certain points and trigger events to happen when pressed. The main draw though was getting to revisit many of the best scenes from the movies, with each of the three main missions taking inspiration from one of the films.
A New Hope’s section of course brought us the Death Star Battle, but this time it felt more intense and more fulfilling than ever to complete. You actually felt there were really stakes here, and each section of the mission escalated itself until the final rush to fire on the exhaust port. Confronting Dark Vader’s TIE Fighter was a treat for fans, and in many ways this is the definitive version of the Battle of Yavin in video game form. But the game stepped things up with The Empire Strikes Back, since while it began as a standard re-enacted of the fight on Hoth, things got bigger quickly. You started out by shooting the AT-ST walkers and taking down the AT-AT walkers, but the second part of the mission changed things up with an escape through the corridors of the rebel base. This section had you shooting storm troopers and wampas, and was a very satisfying divergence. This section played far more like Sega’s light gun games, but with a modified control scheme, and amped up the fun factor.
Return of the Jedi mixed things up by starting with the speeder bike sequence on Endor, with you shooting troopers on their speeder bikes. This section feels more akin to a Space Harrier style of gameplay that was modified for Star Wars, and it fit surprisingly well. Once again the game upped the ante in the second part of the level with the re-enactment of the assault on the Empire’s base on Endor, once again going into a shootout against enemies. shooting any enemies on the way. The third section was the most unique, with the player needing to quickly fire a blaster at an AT-ST walker before it reached you, giving a nice sense of tension. Once all the levels were complete. you unlocked the last mission, playing as Wedge Antilles and destroying the second Death Star. A culmination of everything you have gone through till now, this is a satisfying way to end the experience.
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade was never released on a home console. but it is no longer outside the realm of possibility that it might still happen. Many classic Star Wars games have been getting re-released as of late, and if Disney, Lucasarts and Sega could work together, they could bring this back on multiple home systems for everyone to enjoy. M2 could redo this as part of the Sega Ages series and add in even mor content, or a refined control scheme or any other extras, and fans could once again experience the joy that was Star Wars Trilogy Arcade.
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