29. Star Wars (NES)
Another platformer. To be fair, it did a decent job of providing some variety and touching on the main characters and locations of the movie, but it's pretty unmemorable (and unforgiving).
The token Game Boy version upped the difficulty as it reduced screen real estate, but possibly the most interesting of the 8-bit versions is the entirely different and earlier Famicom game developed by Namco in 1987. 'Interesting' because it's not afraid of deviating significantly from the source material and having Darth Vader turn into a scorpion, Not 'interesting' because it's any good, sadly.
- Further reading: FLASHBACK: Meet The Crazy NES Star Wars Game Inspired By Alex Kidd
28. Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (Wii)
Taking the multiplayer duel mode from The Force Unleashed and stretching an entire game out of it, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels also stripped out some of the complexity of its progenitor and offered fewer fighters. Anyone looking for their dream 1:1 lightsaber game would also be disappointed — welcome to Waggleton. Not bad, but it had the potential to be so much more.
27. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance (DS)
The first game to tie-in with the Clone Wars animated series, this is a solid, if simple, little game that uses the touchscreen well and really looks and sounds the part as Anakin, Obi-Wan, and co. do battle against the forces of the Dark Side. A nice little bit of drop-in/drop-out wireless co-op made this an undemanding but decent offering on par with the various Lego Star Wars titles available across all platforms.
26. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (Wii)
A sequel generally disliked on other platforms, the Wii version was arguably the pick of the bunch and its multiplayer mode wasn't bad either. Not great, but as we've seen from the Dagobah swamp of dross we've waded through to get this far, plain competency gets you a long way with a Star Wars game. We'll quietly brush the terrible DS version under the carpet, but The Force Unleashed II on Wii didn't make us want to Force-choke ourselves.
25. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (GCN)
The Clone Wars suffers from having only the least desirable vehicles from the entire franchise available to pilot. Perhaps we're biased towards the classic rides, but AT-ETs and Republic gunships don't get the pulse racing like a good old-fashioned AT-AT or an X-Wing. Still, this game offers some decent vehicular combat and a dose of clunky on-foot lightsaber-y stuff, too. There's some more colour once you get off Geonosis, but it's a very beige game in more ways than one.
24. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (DS)
A tie-in with the movie and TV shows surrounding the events between Episodes II and III, it was the same old story when it came to this action platformer. Uninspired, unengaging, unexciting — take your pick. At least the bad games are really bad and evoked an emotion other than disappointment. Republic Heroes is just painfully, crushingly average.
We're off to dig out our thesaurus because we're running out of words for 'unremarkable', and we think there are several more to come before we get to the good stuff.
23. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Switch eShop)
Hold up — we're getting a Force premonition vision! We see... a mediocre third-person saber-swirler. Repetitive. A bit clunky, but not unenjoyable... and a Darth Vader voice-over that isn't quite there.
Handled by developer Krome, the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed featured a bespoke multiplayer duel mode which was uninspiring, but not unpleasant. In fact, the Wii version — which has since been ported to Switch — isn't bad at all, it's just not as smooth, polished or fun as you want it to be. The DS version scaled everything back as you'd predict.
Overall it's fine, but we wanted unlimited power and this just feels a bit, well, limited.
22. Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (Switch eShop)
Jedi Knight II released on GameCube years ago and the more recent Switch release was certainly a Force hit of nostalgia. Showcasing aspects both good and bad of this particular vintage of game, poor pacing can make it a bit of a slog but it features some decent combat and characters. And Kyle Katarn.
If you played the original back in the day, you'll likely be able to weather its antiquated design and enjoy the game for what it is, but new players might lack patience.
21. Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (Switch eShop)
Jedi Academy is a lengthy trek across the (Expanded and non-canon) Star Wars universe that acts as a nice little time capsule back to when Star Wars games were a bit blockier and a bit sillier (perhaps for the better). The multiplayer might not stand up like it used to and the game is certainly showing its age, but it's still got plenty of lightsaber-swinging and all-in-all is a decent chunk of nostalgic Star Wars gaming, even if you can't play as Kyle Katarn.
20. Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (DS)
n-Space is a company with a bulging portfolio of Nintendo DS ports from hallowed franchises, including Call of Duty, several James Bond games, and multiple Disney titles. The studio was also behind the DS port of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed which provided the base engine used in Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron.
As a portable version of the Battlefront series (the original Battlefront, not the more recent, lovely-looking versions), it's not a bad interpretation, although — surprise, surprise! — the basic gameplay gets a bit repetitive. It's not the ugliest thing we've seen on DS, especially the ship-based sections which look pretty nice, but if Elite Squadron were a child asking if it were beautiful, we'd cunningly change the subject and point overhead at a passing plane. You can't hold a game of this vintage's visuals against it, we suppose, and we'd take brilliant mechanics over graphical finery any day. Mechanically this is solid, which is enough to get it edging towards the top half of a Best Star Wars Games list.
Comments 32
Ooooohhh...I wonder if Limited Run is gonna ship KotoR 2 today. That would be cool.
Empire Strikes Back on Game Boy is one of those games I'm going to die without finishing. It just becomes so unplayable after a while.
Jedi Outcast should have been higher though.
HK-47 alone makes the KotOR series #1 by default.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg1gTas7OAA
Do feel like playing rogue leader again... hope i'll get my wii up and running
Rogue Leader is the best and it isn't even a competition (and I say this as someone who has enjoyed MANY Star Wars games).
It feels just as impressive today as when it released over 20 years ago.
You are strong and wise. And I am very proud of you.
Shadows of the Empire is the only one I ever played in my entire life that was worth remembering.
@Cashews Bounty Hunter is basically Shadows 2.
Lots of good games here, however I've said it before and I'll say it again..... when is there going to be a Star Wars collection with NES Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, SNES Star Wars, ESB and ROTJ and throw in N64 SOTE, RS and Gamecube RS 2 and 3! You have my money already! PS and may the fourth be with you all today. PPS I appreciate the licensing issues involved with my request, however who would have thought we would have a TMNT collection now??!!
I know it'll never happen but I really want an HD Remaster of Rogue Squadron on Switch (or at the very least, put the N64 version up on Nintendo Switch Online along with Shadows of the Empire)!
@DarthFoxMcCloud Yep with you there, it's about time these treasures were remastered on the Switch!
@TheHighGround Hello there
Jedi Power Battles is ranked lower than Yoda Stories? I don’t think so. Yes the GBA game’s criticisms are fair, but it’s in no way worse than Yoda Stories.
Man I want them to release the original Lego Star Wars collection on the switch so bad. Loved it even if it’s a bit dated now.
Surprised the Skywalker Saga isn’t number 1 since it honestly seems like the perfect Star Wars game period to get into. Well for what it’s worth I’ll be celebrating the Star Wars holiday by doing a nice big old session of Jedi: Survivor tonight after work.
What's with the release dates on this article? The Super Star Wars games definitely did not come out in 2009.
It has always kind of bothered me how more developers didn't take advantage of the Gamecube's graphical prowess the way that Factor 5 did with Rogue Leader.
How I wish they would remaster the Rogue Squadron games and make them a trilogy in one cartridge. As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy Star Wars games, this would still be a day 1 for me. Those games were exceptional.
I skipped ahead to make sure RS2 was #1.
I have the bottom 4 games on the list 😆
Flight of the Falcon should be #39. It's 3 levels of unrelated mini-games strung together with mediocre controls and sometimes awful graphics. And when you die you start back at the beginning of the level.
The cover art was definitely the best part of the game.
The other three had their good moments though..
Played Revenge of the Sith (GBA) on an emulator early this year. An absolute blast
Here's hoping for a console re-release of "Star Wars: Rogue Squadron."
Oooookay. I'm going to get the damned Skywalker Saga cause it's on sale, despite not being a fan of LEGO or Star Wars. Somehow (I assure you), it's still your fault if I do this dumb thing and dislike the game.
I know many Star Wars games are on sale on the eShop and I was tempted to splurge...until I realized I have nearly all of them on GOG.
We need a new Rogue Squadron game. Jedi Survivor does bring me some hope, as we are seeing some OK star wars games again, but looking at the past you have to say Disney are making a right mess of their vodeogames. They need to stop outsourcing based on money, and start having a cracking at it themselves based on quality.
@FawfulsFury
General Kenobi!
You are a bold one.
They ever get around to finishing KOTOR2?
@DarthFoxMcCloud I think Rogue Squadron is available in HD on Steam.
Otherwise, just get a Nintendo 64. I'm best best case an RGB modded one and one of these super modules with all N64 games on it. You can than throw away the laughable Switch Online selection.
There's a good amount of worthwhile Star Wars games. Too bad Nintendo gamers can't enjoy Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor, since they are like best of all.
But maybe on the next system.
Glad the Skywalker saga finished behind the original I was really disappointed with it, you spent most of the time running around and the puzzles weren't at the same level.
@Krysus update! It did! Bwuahahaha! I forgot to check the mail Thursday! Super happy!
I recently got Star wars Rouge Squadron on the N64. Holy crap it is decent. I knew it was a good game just didn't realize it was that good
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