STAR WARS: DARK FORCES
Platforms: DOS, macOS, PlayStation
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 1 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
Dark Forces is a first-person shooter with strong shades of Doom. Dating all the way back to 1995, it was one of the first games to explore a fully original character. Protagonist Kyle Katarn proved popular enough to star in multiple sequels. He even popped in briefly in Lethal Alliance.
STAR WARS: JEDI ARENA
Platform: Atari 2600
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY, we… guess?
Status: Non-Canon
Pong’s a great game. It holds up well because it’s a simple paddle-versus-paddle struggle. Star Wars: Jedi Arena may look a bit like Pong, but it does not hold up well at all. The goal of the game is to smack a ball with your lightsaber and get it past your opponent’s own lightsaber; we nebulously list its in-universe chronology as 0 BBY because it’s basically Luke’s helmeted hologram training program aboard the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope. The ball periodically goes haywire, shooting blasts all over the place and causing players to contemplate whether life is long enough to spend another waking minute with this video game. We’re paraphrasing, of course.
STAR WARS: THE ARCADE GAME
Platforms: Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, DOS, Macintosh
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
The first video game to adapt George Lucas’ blockbuster ’77 hit is also one of the first Star Wars games in general. That tracks, really. Star Wars: The Arcade Game, referred to at the time as simply Star Wars, was a leading reason to visit the local mall on Saturday afternoons. Later, it became a sterling part of just about every early-eighties home console’s lineup. Colorful vector graphics lend Star Wars something of a timeless aesthetic appeal.
STAR WARS (1987)
Platform: Famicom
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
In 1987, Namco launched a Japan-only sidescroller that took some incredible liberties with the source material. Hoth is called Tina, Kessel not only appears but is covered in Ancient Egyptian ruins, and oh yeah, Chewbacca talks. Imagine if we told you this is somehow canon.
STAR WARS (1991)
Platform: Nintendo, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Gear
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
1991 saw another crack at the original movie, this time with a worldwide release. Star Wars is your straightforward sidescroller; the NES and Master System versions hold up nicely thanks to a rather stoic choice of color scheme. It’s brutal, with three lives and two continues, and the bulk of the game takes place on Tatooine in a weird retelling that puts Luke Skywalker through a hell of a ringer before he ever leaves the planet.
SUPER STAR WARS
Platforms: Super Nintendo, Wii, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
The SNES Star Wars trilogy is remembered (either fondly or with chagrin) for its blistering difficulty. Vibrant visuals keep folks glued to their controllers for these hardy platformers. The first of the trio might not be the most beloved of the bunch, but it’s well worth a look.
STAR WARS GALAXIES
Platform: PC
In-Universe Timeline: 1 ABY – 2 ABY?
Status: Non-Canon
Before The Old Republic, there was Galaxies. Set shortly after A New Hope, Star Wars’ first foray into the realm of MMOs started off slowly before gradually gaining a dedicated fanbase courtesy of some pretty nifty expansions. While ultimately it can be said that The Old Republic has followed a similar path, that game earned no goodwill at all when LucasArts shut down Galaxies’ servers just five days prior to its launch.
STAR WARS: REBEL ASSAULT
Platforms: Sega CD, PC, Macintosh, DOS
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Rebel Assault was the first game LucasArts launched entirely via CD-ROM. The rail-shooter X-Wing adventure is chock-full of live-action FMVs. The game is, perhaps, most famous for including generally dark “what if?” sequences following a game over on each stage. These are a few seconds long, but go the extra mile (parsec?) in making players push forward for the win.
STAR WARS: REBEL ASSAULT 2: THE HIDDEN EMPIRE
Platforms: PlayStation, PC, Macintosh, DOS
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Following on from the alternate-universe events of Rebel Assault, in which the protagonist “Rookie One” replaces Luke Skywalker in destroying the first Death Star, The Hidden Empire is a somewhat darker sequel with a larger campaign that concludes with the destruction of a secret facility and some very deadly TIE variants.
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1982)
Platforms: Atari 2600, Intellivision
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
In a funny twist, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the first Star Wars video game ever made. It was 1982, after all, and Parker Brothers wished to capitalize on the Battle of Hoth. This thing’s nearly impossible to beat without cheat codes, but then, many owners likely didn’t mind. They got to pretend they were piloting a Snowspeeder. How cool is that?
STAR WARS: MASTERS OF TERAS KASI
Platform: PlayStation
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Excitement abounded when Star Wars’ first full-fledged fighting game arrived, but sluggish controls wore the experience down for many. Teras Kasi is nevertheless something of a cult classic, not least of which for its delightful Legends fanservice (yes, Mara Jade is in this game).
STAR WARS: DEMOLITION
Platforms: PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
What happens when the creators of vehicular combat series Vigilante 8 are tapped to produce a game whose premise involves the Empire banning podracing and Jabba the Hutt finding a more murderous replacement? Mayhem, that’s what happens. Mayhem and Star Wars: Demoltion.
STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
Platforms: Nintendo 64, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
In 1999, The Phantom Menace brought audiences the first Star Wars movie in 16 years. Two years prior, many of those same moviegoers flocked to theaters to see Star Wars: Special Edition. And just one year before that, the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project made 1996 one for the history books. A novel, a comic, this video game, and a veritable ton of action figures all told the same basic story: Dash Rendar, an old rival of Han’s and just as roguish, saves Luke and eventually Leia from the nefarious Prince Xizor.
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT (2015)
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 5 ABY
Status: Canon
DICE and EA’s initial Battlefront reboot had everything going for it. Riding high on the waves of unparalleled anticipation for Episode 7 helped it on its way to over 14 million copies sold. While its online-only nature disappointed some, the arcade-style shooting and gorgeous graphics both impressed. Better yet, since it didn’t arrive with its sequel’s lootbox controversies, it reviewed solidly and didn’t turn into a Reddit meme.
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT (2004), STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 2 (2005), STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 2 (2017)
Platforms: Varied
In-Universe Timeline: 32 BBY – 34 ABY
Status: Non-Canon (2004), Non-Canon (2005), Canon (2017)
What a mess of an entry, but we had to clump these together somewhere. Each of these three games, the two mainline titles from Pandemic Studios and the second (and potentially final) title from DICE, encompass multiple eras, including this one.
STAR WARS TRILOGY ARCADE
Platform: Arcade
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
During the late nineties, your arcade wasn’t truly epic unless it had Star Wars Trilogy Arcade. With four levels, the rail shooter puts players up against the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Hoth, the on-ground lead-up to the Battle of Endor, and the starfighter-side Battle of Endor itself. You can complete the first three levels in any order; after the second one, Boba Fett shows up as a boss fight. After the third level, it’s Darth Vader time.
STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON
Platforms: Nintendo 64, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
The X-Wing series was LucasArts’ more technical, free-roaming starfighter sim. Rogue Squadron was the publisher’s no-holds-barred action-arcade extravaganza. Wedge Antilles really makes a name for himself with these games, but there’s nothing more instantly recognizable than the Hoth mission. Swirling around AT-ATs never felt better.
STAR WARS TRILOGY: APPRENTICE OF THE FORCE
Platform: Game Boy Advance
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Another entry in this vast swath of games set at roughly the exact same time, Apprentice of the Force is a fairly nice-looking GBA-only platformer that encompasses all three films albeit only through the eyes of Luke Skywalker.
STAR WARS: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON
Platform: Game Boy Advance
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
If you bought a Game Boy Advance in the winter of 2003 and thought to yourself “what I really need is a three-dimensional space shooter starring Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon,” you were rewarded with what is, unfortunately, a bit of a dud. Flight of the Falcon’s noble intentions aside, it stands at a 39 on Metacritic for good reason.
STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON 2: ROGUE LEADER
Platform: GameCube
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Rogue Leader is, quite simply, everything a sequel needs to be. It’s Rogue Squadron, but bigger, prettier, more involved, and overall a more polished experience through and through. This was a must-grab GameCube game.
STAR WARS: REBELLION
Platform: PC
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY
Status: Non-Canon
It’s too bad Star Wars: Rebellion was a critical and commercial dud. The notion of a 4X real-time strategy game with the Star Wars label was, back in 1998, pretty revolutionary. Plus, Rebellion had such a cool motto on its cover: “To control a world. To command a galaxy.”
STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON 3: REBEL STRIKE
Platform: GameCube
In-Universe Timeline: 00 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Factor 5’s Rogue Squadron trilogy has gone down in history as one of Star Wars’ most famous game series. That said, the third game, on its own terms, was the nadir. The notion behind being able to leave one’s starfighter behind and engage in combat on foot was perhaps too bold to ever work as well as the developers doubtless imagined. Instead, while the aerial and space-based fare remains riveting, many fans consider every moment on the ground to be a moment wasted.
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT: RENEGADE SQUADRON
Platform: PlayStation Portable
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Two years passed since Pandemic Studios’ Battlefront 2, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that the highly-anticipated Battlefront 3 might never come to pass. Instead, we got Renegade Squadron, a PSP-exclusive that plays out more or less like a stripped-down variation on its elder siblings. The comic-look cutscenes during the single-player campaign look lush, though the campaign itself is shorter than one might have hoped for, especially now that the multiplayer is mostly inaccessible.
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1992)
Platform: Nintendo
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
The Empire Strikes Back for NES follows Star Wars’ own NES game, but there’s no NES Return of the Jedi. The developers got too busy with Super Star Wars and never looked back. Given the lasting popularity power of the Super trilogy, it could be said that they made the right choice here.
SUPER STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Platform: Super Nintendo
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the Rogue Leader to Super Star Wars’ Rogue Squadron. It enhances an already premium package on every front. Nintendo Power ranked it the fourth-best video game of 1993. If there’s any complaint to be made here, it’s that the relentless difficulty of the first game has been made all the harder. But for some, that’s the whole point.
STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER
Platform: PC, Macintosh, DOS
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
We’re pushing the comparisons to their brink here, but TIE Fighter’s three-for-three on the “Rogue Leader to Rogue Squadron” analogy. Unless you utterly loath the idea of playing as an Imperial, there’s nothing X-Wing does that TIE Fighter doesn’t meet and exceed. This space sim is faster, tighter, and more rewarding. It comes packed with one of the most praiseworthy Legends timeline stories around.
STAR WARS: X-WING VS TIE FIGHTER
Platform: PC
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
X-Wing vs TIE Fighter gave internet-connected PC players precisely what they wanted: the chance to go head-to-head against other players. Multiplayer wasn’t only the meat of this game; it was this game. The lack of campaign ruffled enough feathers, however, that the excellent Balance of Power expansion pack arrived several months later with a fine string of levels that, while good, aren’t quite as fondly-recalled as TIE Fighter’s.
STAR WARS: X-WING ALLIANCE
Platform: PC
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY – 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
X-Wing Alliance is the final installment in Totally Games’ award-winning X-Wing series, and it was not until 2020’s Star Wars: Squadrons that there had been anything quite like it. This swan song follows TIE Fighter’s campaign-heavy approach and does so with aplomb.
STAR WARS: FORCE COMMANDER
Platform: PC
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY – 6 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Force Commander didn’t blow the roof off the PC strategy gaming sector in 2000, but it did a serviceable job sating fans who desired a 3D real-time Star Wars with strong multiplayer elements and a decent UI.
STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI: DEATH STAR BATTLE
Platforms: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ZX Spectrum
In-Universe Timeline: 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
Following the successful Atari adaptations of the first two original trilogy films, Parker Brothers went on to forge the first Return of the Jedi video game adaptation. This one centers on the Battle of Endor in a two-stage lineup: first, players must defend against waves of TIE Fighters, then they fly through to the Death Star 2’s core and blow it to heck. Pulling that off awards you with increasingly high difficulties of the same two stages.
SUPER STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI
Platform: Super Nintendo
In-Universe Timeline: 4 ABY
Status: Non-Canon
We’ll be honest here — our screenshot does not do this game justice. Played on a proper screen, Super Return of the Jedi holds up nicely. It’s easily the prettiest of the Super Star Wars trio, with advances in lighting and saturation techniques everywhere you can see. It’s also the easiest, but considering how much fight the first two have in them, that’s hardly saying Super Return of the Jedi is a walk in the park.
