Get ready to go to a galaxy far, far away as we look at what I consider to be the top 5 retro Star Wars games. I have already looked at the top 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games and the Top 5 X-Men Games, but now we are looking at one of my other favorite childhood franchises, Star Wars. There have been so many great Star Wars games over the years and narrowing this list down was really hard, but I am pretty happy with my picks.
By the way be sure to check out our Unveiling the Galaxy’s Finest: The Best Star Wars Games of All Time article for more awesome Star Wars games.
Please remember, this is my top 5 Star Wars games, I am sure your list is different so rather than sending a Wookie round to my house to rip my arms off, put your own list in the comments section.
Number 5
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
I remember Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire being a huge deal back in the 90s. At the time, no other book had the hype that this one did and I was so excited to read it. They even made toys for it! The game for the Nintendo 64 was awesome, the Battle of Hoth section blew my mind and was what I dreamed of when I played Super Empire Strikes Back a few years earlier. I will admit that the controls do take a while to get used to and the game is rock hard, but this was such an amazing game and a game that I truly was engrossed in from start to end. No other Star Wars game at the time made me feel like I was actually in a Star Wars movie. This is one that I would love to see get a full remake as it has not aged all that gracefully.
Number 4
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Say what you want about the movie, but I loved Revenge of the Sith and in my opinion, this has the best lightsaber battles of any Star Wars movie! Obi-Wan vs Anakin and Obi-Wan vs General Grievous are epic! The game follows the events of the movie really well and I liked how it used actual movie footage which at the time looked amazing thanks to the DVD quality playback on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game is super fun to play and is a 3rd person action game. I would go as far as to say that this is one of the most underrated Star Wars games. It is fun to play, captures the look and feel of the movie really well and it was one of the best licensed games of its day. Also, this game has a super fun vs mode and you can even play it in co-op!
Number 3
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith DS
To be honest with you, this and the console version are interchangeable for me, and depending on what day of the week it is I could change my mind which one goes above the other. This is also on the Game Boy Advance, but the Nintendo DS version of Revenge of the Sith has more stuff going on. Think of games like Streets of Rage II, but Star Wars and you will have a good idea of what to expect here. This is one awesome beat-em-up that follows the plot of the movie and it lets you play as either Obi-Wan or Anakin and I am sure things change depending on who you pick. It does of course have some touchscreen stuff, but that does not take away from how satisfying this is. I am honestly surprised that it took someone this long to try and make a Star Wars beat-em-up style game!
Number 2
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
I like all of the Super Star Wars games, but Return of the Jedi is my favorite. Super Star Wars had that super frustrating Jawa Sandcrawler section at the start and The Empire Strikes Back was brutally difficult. I feel that Return of the Jedi got the balance of The Force just right. This is still a hard game, but I always felt that this one flowed better and as a result, it was more fun. It is often overlooked as most people prefer The Empire Strikes Back, but to me, this is always the best in the trilogy. I liked how each character felt different and the sound and visuals were fantastic. I remember having my SNES hooked up to my stereo and this was one of the best-sounding games.
Number 1
Star Wars The Arcade Game
Could I be any more predictable? I am going for the original Star Wars The Arcade Game from Atari. I played the hell out of this in arcades as a kid, I loved the sit-down version as it was so immersive. One of these days I will add the Arcade 1Up to my game room! The arcade version is clearly the star here, but I did also have this for the Atari 2600 as a kid and to be honest it is a damn fine port. Sure the controls are a tad on the sluggish side, but at the time it felt like I had the arcade at home. I would eventually get this at home as when Rogue Squadron 3 came out, if you pre-ordered it you got an exclusive preview disc that contained the Star Wars The Arcade Game on it and you could play it on your GameCube. Yes, this is short, but this is such a classic and a game that has never gotten old. I have just as much fun with this today as I did as a child.
So those are what I feel are the Top 5 Star Wars video games. I could honestly do a list of like 10 honorable mentions as there are so many great Star Wars games that I enjoyed all the way up to the PlayStation 2 era, which was my cut off point for this list!
Let me know what your favorite Star Wars games are in the comments section.