Shoot'em Up! / Shoot'em Up! - 3-D · 1984

Star Wars - The Arcade Game

Published by Parker Brothers

atarimania.com — atari-400-800-xl-xe-games-star-wars-the-arcade-game-5010

Information

Genre: Shoot'em Up! - 3-D
Language: Machine Language
Controls: Joystick
Players: 1
Programmer(s): Stewart, Brad
Year: 1984
Publisher: Parker Brothers
Country: USA
License: Commercial
Medium: Cartridge
Rarity: 6
Serial: 1340

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 4.3/10 · Votes: 56 · Downloads: 4,995 · Hits: 20,867

Additional Comments

Excerpts from an interview with Brad Stewart by Scott Stilphen:

SS: 'When did you start at Parker Brothers? Was STAR WARS: The Arcade Game the only game/project you did for them?'

BS: 'Actually, I never worked for Parker Brothers as an employee. Originally, Imagic had a contract with Parker Brothers to produce Star Wars. Parker Brothers paid Imagic, and Imagic then paid me. When Imagic collapsed, the project wasn't finished. I became an independent contractor to Parker Brothers, and they paid me directly. It was then I discovered the joys of paying my own social security tax. Star Wars was the only game I did for Parker Brothers.'

Screenshots (3)

Star Wars - The Arcade Game — screenshot 1

Star Wars - The Arcade Game — screenshot 2

Star Wars - The Arcade Game — screenshot 3

Cover Art (2)

Instructions (8)

Comments (3)

zoran zemljište — 4 May 2024
A very average conversion, it kind of tries to mimic the graphics and the gameplay of the arcade, but it misses some features like the ground turrets at the wave 2, and the controls are inverted. But it's a functional game with somewhat functional controls and ity has all the three phases, but they don't feel all that complete. Overall grade: C-
sparkle — 14 Oct 2015
instead, see the 1988 remake Star Wars by Domark/Ian Copeland, it plays pseudo vector graphics and better gameplay like the arcade. i'm surprised this note ain't been added across this page (yet).
eppy2000 — 6 Oct 2007
This was an extremely disappointing conversion. I was a big fan of the arcade game and had high hopes. Alas, I felt not enough attention to detail was made for this. The gameplay is pretty terrible; the ship doesn't move in correlation in direction to the control. The stars don't move correctly, and the cross-hair pointer doesn't self center, make it tricky to move quickly from one part of the screen to the other. Another quirk is that the controls aren't "pilot" (e.g., moving the stick up brings the ship down and vice versa). Missing is the music playing throughout, other than a brief piece heard in the beginning. The sound effects are more at home on the 2600. The Death Star approach is a joke (it doesn't even grow in size when you approach it) and the explosion is even worse. It's missing too many elements of the arcade game, the wave counter stops at 99, and after a certain point, the wave 12 trench repeats infinitely. (I scored 44 million on this back in 1984, so I know.) So while the game has the LOOK of the arcade game, that's where the similarity ends. I think I'm also still mad because I paid $45 for this on cart when it came out!