Star Wars (1983 video game) the Arcade Game is a first person space shooter released by Atari in 1983. Based on the iconic Death Star assault from the original movie, you play as Luke Skywalker in an X-Wing. You battle through waves of TIE fighters before flying onto the station’s surface and into the famous trench run.
1983 was also the same year Return of the Jedi (the movie) was released. In fact Star Wars the arcade game was released the same month as the movie. So the original Star Wars trilogy concluded and then we got the first arcade game.
There had been some Star Wars Atari 2600 games before the arcade game came out. To be fair nearly everything possible has been released on the Atari by 1983! But, the Atari Star Wars arcade cab to me was the first proper Star Wars video game and what an experience it was. Back then it felt like a completely immersive experience playing the classic sit-down cockpit version of Star Wars.
Let’s take a look at the history of the famous Star Wars arcade game.
Development of Star Wars (1983 video game)
Originally the game started development in 1981 as a first person 3D space game in full color which was called Warp Speed. Plans though would eventually change, and the game would be developed into the first official Star Wars arcade game experience.
More Movie Game Action:
The Star Wars (1983 video game) Arcade Cabinets
When it comes to the actual physical Star Wars arcade cabinets you have two cabinets. There’s the gorgeous and absolutely amazing sit-down cockpit arcade cabinet that screams ‘this is my childhood’. Tie Fighters, X-wings, the Death Star and Darth Vader all feature on the arcade cabinet artwork. I can’t express how much I love this arcade cabinet.
The stand-up Star Wars arcade cabinet has different but very awesome artwork to look at and it is absolutely stunning. I love the design so much that my MAME arcade cabinet in my games room was based on this design.
Star Wars Arcade Cab Dimensions:
Standup Cabinet: Height: 182.9cm, Width: 64.1cm, Depth: 83.2cm.
Cockpit Cabinet: Height: 141cm, Width: 64.1cm, Depth: 186.7cm.
The Atari Flight Yoke Controls
The control system is a flight yoke with four triggers all of which are just used to fire. The Yoke isn’t unique to Star Wars and featured on other Atari arcade games such as Firefox (yes the Clint Eastwood film remember that one). It was also featured on the Return of the Jedi arcade cabinet too that followed in 1984.
Have you tried to play this game on emulation with a control pad or arcade stick? Nothing really compares to or replicates the Atari yoke which means playing it on the original arcade cab. Although Arcade1Up have released a Yoke controlled scaled down arcade cab in the States.
Playing The Star Wars Arcade Game (Gameplay)
When you start the game you can choose which difficulty level. I’m usually a wimp and always want the best value out of my arcade credit so we’ll always select easy. You start off with the dogfight in space where R2D2 controls the X-wing so you don’t need to worry about which direction you’re going in. You just need to shoot the TIE Fighters and their fireballs. Yes, the Ties shoot fireballs at you, not lasers but that’s because lasers would have been too difficult for the player to shoot (plus I think it was easier for the developers too).
Survive the Tie Fighter onslaught and you head towards the Death Star. Don’t forget to look out for the May the Force be With You message on the surface of the Death Star as you zoom in (a neat little touch by the programmers).
Once you’re on the Death Star surface you can now control the direction of the X-wing. As well as controlling where you’re going you also have to shoot the artillery bunkers which as the game develops, they become towers as you play through the game. I’ve always thought this was a well-thought-out part of the game, adding extra gameplay relevant to the film and utilizing the vector graphics quite well.
Once you have completed the Death Star surface you begin the famous trench run. You again control your ship so your control in the
Direction as you make your way down the trench as well as the shooting. In the early stages this is quite easy just dodging and shooting the fireballs coming at you but as you go on further through the game you need to dodge the barriers and shoot the fireballs too.
Plus, there is a bonus on this level that is up for grabs if you use the Force which means you don’t shoot anything other than the exhaust port. If you achieve this, you will get bonus points which is easy on the easy level but as you go through the game it becomes a lot harder believe me.
Once you’ve hit that exhaust port you then have the glorious explosion where it appears that your X-wing is flying in Reverse away from the explosion (so you as the player can see what’s happening). From there you go again and it gets harder and then you go again and so on.
This game has literally been played for over 48 hours on one credit by players chasing the world high score record over the years.
Arcade Conversion Kits for the Empire Strikes Back
A Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back conversion kit followed which included snow speeder levels with AT-AT’s and piloting the Millennium Falcon which although that is quite cool. I personally never enjoyed this version as much as the original, but it is still a fun conversion that I play a lot more nowadays.
Return of the Jedi Arcade
This ROTJ arcade game was also released in 1984. I always enjoyed playing this cab as a kid. A tricky scrolling shooter rather than vector based like its predecessors featuring levels set on Endor where you control a speeder bike and AT-ST and a level set inside the Death Star where you control the Millennium Falcon.
Star Wars (1983 video game) Arcade Home Ports
Home ports galore followed where it found its way onto most home computers. Back in the day I actually had the Acorn Electron port and then the Hit Squad budget release of the game for the Commodore 64. I prefer the C64 port but at the time I really enjoyed the Electron port and it was great to have a version to play at home.
In my games room I also have the compilation version for the ZX Spectrum in my games collection that includes the original Star Wars arcade game conversion along with the Empire Strikes Back and ROTJ arcade games too.
All the arcade games were also included in the 2003 Nintendo GameCube game Rogue Squadron 3 rebel strike. The arcade games can be unlocked with the following passwords:
To unlock the Star Wars Arcade Game:
Enter RTJPFC!G and then enter TIMEWARP
To unlock Empire Strikes Back Arcade Game:
Enter !H!F?HXS and then enter KOOLSTUF
To unlock Return of the Jedi Arcade Game:
Enter !?ATH!RD and then enter GAME?YES
Note: you will need to enable the Star Wars arcade game cheat first to get the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi codes to work.
Star Wars the Arcade Game by Arcade1up
In 2019 Arcade1up released their Star Wars arcade cab that includes the Star Wars, Empire and ROTJ arcade games. This scaled down cabinet is based on the original stand up cab design and comes with a flight yoke controller too.
Unfortunately these are not available in the UK but I have imported one from the USA and you can find out more in the video below.
You can find the full spec on the Arcade1up website.
I absolutely love Star Wars the arcade game. It’s the first arcade game I can really remember playing and it was a massive part in getting me into gaming. When I was a little kid and we went to the coast I always had to play this. I always rushed to get into that sit-down cab and have a few games of Star Wars, I adored it. Nowadays I usually play the cab at gaming expos and I am always playing my Arcade1Up Star Wars cab at home. I get that lovely nostalgia hit that you get when playing the game.
The graphics and game play may have aged quite a bit but to me this game will always be regarded as an absolute classic. An early 80s arcade classic that will never be forgotten. One of my favourite games of all time.
You can find my video on Star Wars the Arcade Game from my YouTube channel below. If you like it please do take a look at some of my other videos and why not subscribe too.
For more arcade game fun why not check out these other articles I wrote:
- Burger Time Arcade
- Robotron 2084
- Time Pilot Arcade
- The Joy of Old Arcade Games
- Arcade Collecting
- A Look at All of the WWF Arcade Games
Keep it Retro.
Daz
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