The player controls an X-wing fighter from a first-person perspective with colour 3D vector graphics. His goal is to destroy the Death Star through three attack phases. In the first phase he is in a dogfight with enemy TIE fighters. The second phase takes place on the surface of the Death Star. The player must destroy laser turrets and make it to the trench that contains a ventilation tube, which is the weakness of the Death Star. In the third phase the player flies through the trench, avoiding turrets, and must fire a photon torpedo into the ventilation tube. If the player is successful, the Death Star explodes and the game restarts with a higher difficulty level.

- TRIVIA -

The basic game engine for Star Wars was converted from a 2-year old space game project called 'Warp-Speed', which was designed to develop 3-D image capabilities. The controls were adapted from the controls used for Army "Battle Zone".

Star Wars was the first Atari game to have speech. The game featured several digitized samples of voices from the movie. The most memorable was the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, after losing the game, stating 'The force will be with you--always'.

 

Hidden In game Message : Right after hitting the exhaust port on the 1st Death Star, the message 'May the Force be with You' appears on it. The next time around, all the programmer’s names appear. Successive rounds alternate the message.

Approximately 12, 700 units were produced.

A sequel was planned as 'Star Wars II' the same year (idea form only) with a serial communication concept (link between 2 or more cabinets) - this idea never was born.

The default high score screen of "Cyberball 2072" features names of many Atari arcade games, including STAR WARS.

A Star Wars units appears in the 1984 movie 'Gremlins'.

- SERIES -

1. Star Wars (1983)
2. Return of The Jedi (1984)
3. The Empire Strikes Back (1985)

- STAFF -

Designed by : Mike Hally (MLH)
Programmed and developed by : Greg Rivera (GJR), Norm Avellar (NLA), Eric Durfey (EJD), Jed Margolin (JED), Earl Vickers (EAR), Rick Moncrief (RLM)

- PORTS -

* Consoles :
Atari 2600 (1983)
Colecovision (1984)
Atari 5200 (1984)

* Computers :
Commodore C64 (1983)
Amstrad CPC (1987)
Atari ST (1987)
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1988)

Source M.A.M.E