Platform: Sega Genesis 32x

Developer: SEGA AM3

Publisher: Lucasarts, SEGA

Release date: 1994

Genre: Shooter, space-shooter, sci-fi shooter

Nerd Rating: 5 out of 10

Reviewed by Nerdberry

Even the hardest of Sega fans know the 32X was a total POS. But if you own one, you’re proud and you’re not backing down. Am I right?? So you’re probably scouring the web looking for the best Sega Genesis 32X games ever made. Am I still right? Well this game isn’t it. But in all fairness, it’s not a terrible game, just a middling one. And as an import of the uber popular arcade game, it’s a fairly decent console port!

Arcades were all the rave in the ’70s, ‘80s, and ’90s, and the arcade version of Star Wars Arcade brought the movie magic into the players’ hands and butts (read on).  There was nothing like it! There were a couple different cabinet models, one of which you could sit in (hence the “butts” mention a couple sentences back. The other was a standard stand-up model. In 1994, Sega jumped on it and said “Hey, our 32x system sucks. But if we import the Star Wars arcade game and use it as a launch title, people will think we’re cool!” So they did.  And quite simply, the game was awesome!  … For 1994 that is.

Some games can stand the test of time – See any Super Mario Bros game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, see Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Sega Genesis, see Super Mario 64, etc. – But Star Wars Arcade for the 32x is not one of them.  This game is from my personal collection, which means I bought this game way back in the ‘90s to play it, not just to collect it.

The game starts off with a story line in yellow text that fades away into the background, just like the movies.  This was friggin’ cool.  This was like getting to be a part of the movie!  Like actually being in the Star Wars Universe!  Today I picked up the controller and started to play.  I have to admit, I did start to get a little chubby nerd-on.

The first stage starts off with you in the cockpit of an X-Wing (if you play single player) and you get to fly around in space in an asteroid field and shoot down Tie Fighters.  The graphics are about as good as you would expect: Simple, less-than-optimal polygonal shapes that appear and disappear in thin air when they reach a certain distance on the screen.  The A.I. for the enemies is not very advanced, yet the challenge comes from trying to defeat the enemies in a certain time-frame.  On the first stage it is very easy, as you get about 2.5 to 3 minutes to kill 15 enemies.  In the 2^nd stage, you are fighting the same enemies except with imperial starships in the background shooting non-threatening lasers at the speed of an injured squirrel trying to

get off the highway.  In the 3^rd stage, you’re back in the asteroid field shooting down more tie fighters, except this time you have to get 25 in the small 3 minute time frame. Not very easy!  The next stage brings you to the Death Star.  No, you don’t get to travel down in the ditch and yell “I used to bulls-eye womp rats back home in my T-16 back home.”  You are battling just above the Death Star.  It’s okay.  Nothing exciting, except in 1993 this was probably the Bee’s Knees.

The levels get progressively more difficult from stage 4 on.  Not due to the increase in A.I. difficulty (although the gun turrets and random lasers out of nowhere do start to land their mark a little more often), but due to the scarcity of the tie-fighters you need to kill in the allotted time frame.  Not only is it difficult to actually hit them (the targeting system isn’t very accurate), but they just randomly disappear sometimes!  The most frustrating thing is when you have maybe 6 enemies left and 10 seconds to go until you die… ALL SIX WILL JUST FLY OUT IN FRONT OF YOU! As if to tease you into thinking you can somehow hit all six of them in 7 seconds.  Bastards.

All-in-all:

Graphics: The graphics don’t stand the test of time, but they’re pretty good for 1994 on a home system.  Not bad at all.

Sound: The sound is pretty crappy, as is all sound on the 32x.  The opening track sounds like a Sony Walkman with one of those single speakers on the front and a pair of 2 year old Rayovac AA batteries trying to squeak out the last bit of juice they have left.  The sound effects are decent, but really lacking any depth.  Just a simple repeat of laser after laser and the same explosion sound.  Occasionally when you get hit, R2-D2 yells out.  It was comical the first couple times.

Playability (How fun is it now?): Not too enjoyable.  It’s a series of meaningless tasks that are identical level after level.  The only difference is an occasional background change and the number of enemies I have to kill.  It’s definitely still playable and might be fun for someone looking for a nostalgic moment from the early 90’s when they were up the street at the local arcade (or the Boys n’ Girls Club where I was introduced to arcade machines).

Replayability: Not very high.  One time I died, it said I was only 35% through the game, and the thought of having to start from the beginning killing tie-fighters for another hour or so just sounds… awful.

OVERALL:  Given all of the factors of how fun it was back in the day and how it plays now, with the graphics, sound, playability, replayability, etc…

                                         Nerd Rating: 5/10

P.S. = If you’re reading this, and you went to the Boys n’ Girls Club in Wake Forest, NC between the years 1991 and 1998, you probably still owe me a quarter for Super Street Fighter II.

Submitted by NerdBerry