| Star Wars Trilogy Arcade | |
|---|---|
 North American arcade flyer | |
| Developer | Sega AM Annex |
| Publisher | Sega |
| Directors | Kenji Sasaki Takahiro Kakizawa Motoshi Takabe |
| Designer | Nobuhiro Morishita |
| Programmer | Takahiro Kakizawa |
| Composer | John Williams |
| Series | Star Wars |
| Platform | Arcade |
| Release | |
| Genre | Rail shooter |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Sega Model 3 |
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade is a 1998rail shootervideo game developed bySega AM Annex and published bySega forarcades. It is based on the original trilogy ofStar Wars films, and was released shortly after those films'special editions. Accompanied by theStar Wars Trilogy pinball game, it is the second in Sega'sStar Wars Arcade series, preceded by 1993'sStar Wars Arcade and followed by 2000'sStar Wars Racer Arcade.
Operating on Sega's Model 3 arcade system board and developed by Sega'sAM Annex subsidiary,[2] the gameplay has two main themes: three missions that reenact key scenes from the originalStar Wars film trilogy, plus a final unlockable mission; and two boss battles againstDarth Vader andBoba Fett.
Normal gameplay involves the player moving acrosshair around the screen using ajoystick and pressing the fire button atop the joystick to shoot. A "special event" button lights at certain points of the game and when pressed, triggers an event to happen onscreen. The player selects which film's mission to play first and each mission has three parts.[3]
The mission fromA New Hope reenacts the final space battle atYavin, withLuke Skywalker piloting anX-wing fighter againstTIE fighters. The second part of the mission involves flying along theDeath Star's surface, shooting TIE fighters and XX-9 heavy turbolaser turret guns, and confronting Darth Vader's TIE fighter. The third part of the mission pits the player within the battle station's trench, using proton torpedoes aimed at the exhaust port to destroy theDeath Star.[3]
The Empire Strikes Back mission reenacts the film's opening battle onHoth. The first part of the mission involves shootingAT-ST walkers and probe droids, and helping other snowspeeders to take down the giantAT-AT walkers. The second part of the mission reenacts the escape from Hoth, running through corridors of the rebel base, shootingSnow Troopers andwampas while traveling to theMillennium Falcon. The third part of the mission takes place in the hangar, again shooting snowtroopers and one last wampa before escaping.[3]
TheReturn of the Jedi mission begins with a reenactment of thespeeder bike sequence onEndor from the film, where the player must shoot scout troopers on their own speeder bikes. The second part of the stage has the player moving towards the Empire's base on Endor, shooting any enemies on the way. In the third part of the mission, the player must rapidly fire a blaster at an AT-ST walker.[3] The game's final mission, which is unlocked after clearing the other three missions, directs the player asWedge Antilles flying anX-wing, first engaging TIE Interceptors while the Rebel and Imperial fleets clash, then flying through the second Death Star's reactor shaft to reach the reactor.[3]
Two boss stages are accessed immediately after beating the conventional missions, although the player is not required to win either to finish the game. In both stages, the player controls Luke Skywalker wielding a lightsaber. In the first boss battle, after clearing two missions, the player has to reflect Boba Fett'sblaster shots back at him, in order to knock Fett into theSarlacc pit behind him. The second, after clearing all three missions, involves the player dueling Darth Vader on the second Death Star.[3]
Christopher Michael Baker of AllGame rated the game at 4.5 out of 5, finding it virtually flawless, with excellent graphics, sound, and play control. The joystick controller was said to provide a reactive feel which meaningfully mimics alightsaber, but the game's only flaw is a minor imperfection in play control during the two bonus stages against Boba Fett and Darth Vader.[4] Destructoid's Anthony Burch found the game at a balance between gameplay (focusing on shooting and lightsabers) and story (focusing on the immersive cinematic reenactment of being part of theStar Wars universe). He said that the game's mission designs generally range from "awesome" to "more awesome", and theA New Hope missions follow1983'sStar Wars arcade game exactly. He found the bonus missions' play control to be "clunky and linear" but nevertheless to feel like a realistic lightsaber could, and to generally be a "delight".[6] The French magazinePlayer One rated it at 61%, saying that the film settings were well chosen, and compared the lightsaber fight choreography to the pioneeringDragon's Lair (1983)—but complained that the production quality seemed rushed.[5]
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