There sure are a lot of Star Wars games. Then again, it's kind of a big deal.
A relatively long time ago, in movie theaters both near and far, far, away, a little flick called Star Wars took the world by storm. A franchise was born practically overnight, with comics and novels en route almost immediately. The burgeoning video game industry would follow suit only a handful of years later, with the arrival of Parker Brothers' Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for Atari and Intellivision.
Related:Star Wars: What Became Of The Clone Army?
A key ingredient to Star Wars' success is its ability to make us wish we were a part of the action, as Jedi or Sith, smugglers or bounty hunters, Rebel pilots or Imperial agents. Thus, it is the perfect property for gaming adaptations — a fact quickly established that has led to a dizzying number of Star Wars video games through the decades.
Of course, many gamers live for a challenge. Some may wish to experience every Star Wars game ever created. First, we salute you. That is a heck of an endeavor. Perhaps this list can help. We've grouped every Star Wars game ever made by their in-universe era so that an especially determined fan can play everything from the earliest lore to the latest.
There is one nagging issue. A big one at that. The vast majority of these games are part of the Legends continuity, meaning they aren't in the Disney-established canon. It's important that we denote this, so we'll simply mark Legends or Canon title by title along the way.
If your idea of a good time is hanging out with assassin droids like HK-47 or exploring a vast galaxy that's just filled to bursting with Jedi, the Old Republic's your jam. As it stands, there are exactly zero video games in this era designated as canon per 2014-onward standards; the upcoming remake of Knights of the Old Republic, however, will probably be the first.
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
(Original Release) Xbox, PC, macOS
(Remaster) Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
An instant classic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic brought back legions of beleaguered fans when the contemporary prequel trilogy was often lambasted. A revelation involving the identity of the protagonist has dominated discussion for decades, but BioWare's skill for creating a cast of memorable party members is on full display here as well. Aspyr, the publisher responsible for many of the Star Wars gaming catalog's modern ports — including KOTOR's! — is presently constructing a full-blown remake.
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC 2 - THE SITH LORDS
In-Universe Timeframe: 3951 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin)
The success of KOTOR compelled the quick creation of a sequel that somewhat eschews the first game's classical high-stakes structure for a more introspective, morally ambiguous, spin on the formula. A cult favorite that never hit the mainstream heights of its predecessor, Knights of the Old Republic 2 is infamous for its rushed launch brought about by a combination of LucasArts' demands for a rapid turnaround as well as developer Obsidian's overly ambitious approach. A fan patch, The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification, has been widely praised for reconstructing much of the content missing from the original product due to deadlines.
STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC
Knights of the Old Republic was originally envisioned as a trilogy. BioWare, too busy with upcoming projects like Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age: Origins, passed on developing KOTOR 2, leading to LucasArts tapping Obsidian Entertainment instead. Obsidian might have gone on to create a KOTOR 3, but alas, this never came to pass. Instead, BioWare returned to the helm with the launch of The Old Republic seven years later. An MMORPG designed to compete with the likes of World of Warcraft, The Old Republic remains active. As of this writing, eight expansions have been made, the most recent of which went live in February 2022.
To put it lightly, the number of video games in Star Wars' Rise of the Empire era utterly dwarfs The Old Republic's. LucasArts pumped out prequel tie-in media like there was no tomorrow, and gaming was one of the biggest examples of this approach. Many of the titles in the new canon can be found here alongside the mountain of non-canon content.
LucasArts envisioned Star Wars: Obi-Wan as a PC-exclusive product before swapping to Xbox and canceling the PC version entirely. Obi-Wan follows the adventures of its titular hero leading up to the events of The Phantom Menace. Notable for its advanced (and perhaps frustrating) lightsaber controls, the game received a mixed critical reception.
Set just prior to The Phantom Menace's climactic Battle of Naboo, Star Wars: Starfighter was lauded for its challenging and complex mission structure. Four protagonists, each from separate backgrounds, ultimately team up together to thwart the machinations of the villainous Trade Federation.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 1: BATTLE FOR NABOO
Following the success of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for Nintendo 64, developer Level-5 was tasked with building a pseudo-sequel that enhanced The Phantom Menace's coverage of the Battle of Naboo. Level-5's affinity for fun, fast-paced starfighter action shines here, even if the game is by no means as well-remembered as the Rogue Squadron series.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 1: OBI-WAN'S ADVENTURES
A pocket-sized retelling of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan's Adventures puts players in Obi-Wan Kenobi's shoes as he fights the Trade Federation and (in the final level) the wicked Darth Maul. In addition to his lightsaber, Obi-Wan also taps into the Force as well as the oh-so-uncivilized blaster.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE
As one would suspect from its title, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace follows the movie fairly closely. Deviations in this action-adventure include a playable Padme Amidala during the scenes on Coruscant and a mission to break Jar Jar Binks out from a prison cell — no doubt leading to jokes that it would have been best to leave him there.
(Original Release) Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PC, Mac, Arcade
(Remaster) PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
A classic. If you were a kid in 1999, you probably didn't care about The Phantom Menace's clunky dialogue and hackneyed plot points. You might not have minded Jar Jar Binks. You fell in love with two things: the lightsaber duels and the podracing. Episode 1 Racer let those kids revel in the latter, and remained fondly remembered enough to receive a port on eighth-generation consoles.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 JEDI POWER BATTLES
Platforms: Sony PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color
If you thought we were done with Episode 1 tie-in games, here we go again. Jedi Power Battles is one of those games where you were the coolest kid on the block if you had it for Dreamcast and only kind of cool if you had the PlayStation version instead. (No one cared if you had it for Game Boy.) The game could have used a bit more time in the oven, perhaps; reviewers criticized it for its sky-high difficulty. But you got to be five Jedi — six with Sega! — so hey.
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 32 BBY - 4 ABY
Sooner or later, things were going to get complicated. The original Star Wars: Battlefront, a multiplatform third-person shooter from Pandemic Studios back in 2004, muddles our timeline by covering events from two eras. For that reason, we'll include it in both.
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 22 BBY - 34 ABY
If you thought the last entry was confusing, get a load of this. We're not talking about Pandemic Studios' sequel to the original Battlefront here. Rather, DICE's 2017 sequel to their 2015 series reboot. When it launched, DICE's Battlefront 2 was lambasted to a downright legendary degree for its dreadful microtransactions. A few years later, those who returned generally agreed that the game's developers had managed to imbue it with an epic turnaround worthy of a redemption story on its own merits.
Platforms: Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter cashed in on the public's love for Attack of the Clones' short-lived Jango Fett by giving him his own starring role. In a time when the notion of a television series dedicated entirely to the more iconic Boba felt like a distant dream, the developers did what they could to bring us closer to that reality. Of note, The Elder Scrolls composer Jeremy Soule contributed the soundtrack.
We're inching closer to the Episode 2 games, but we're not quite there. Racer Revenge is a sequel to Episode 1 Racer, and it may have flown under the radar a bit relative to its predecessor. Disgraced former champion Sebulba wants revenge against Anakin Skywalker, so there's actually a bit of a plot here, silly though it may be.
Jedi Starfighter is the sequel to Starfighter, taking the action from The Phantom Menace to just prior to Attack of the Clones. It controls similarly but introduces Force Powers (yes, in a starfighter game) that add some zest to the 15-level campaign.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 2 - ATTACK OF THE CLONES
You know, in hindsight, it's kind of incredible that of all the AOTC-related video games, it's a GBA-only romp that got to label itself after the film to a tee. Sadly, Attack of the Clones' portable outing reviewed terribly.
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, PC, PlayStation Portable
In-Universe Timeline: 22 BBY - 3 ABY
And we're back. It's another Battlefront... and another game that will show up in multiple eras on our list. Battlefront 2 added a more fleshed-out single-player campaign than the first 2000s entry, with actor Temuera Morrison reprising his role as the Clone Troopers. It's probably the Galactic Conquest mode, however, that sticks with fans the most.
In-Universe Timeline: 22 BBY - 19 BBY
Republic Commando is a special game. A gritty, wartime tale without a single controllable Jedi in an era where that was pretty rare outside Star Wars' space sim subgenre, the game scored well and developed a dedicated fan following. Despite all that, a planned sequel called Imperial Commando was canceled in early production. And yet, Republic Commando's popularity still summoned forth a relatively recent remaster.
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
They're better known for their Battlefront projects, but two years before that subtitle became a gaming household name, the good folks at Pandemic Studios delivered The Clone Wars. Credit where credit's due: this was also six years before Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the television series, premiered. This was uncharted territory, then, but the writers still eked out a decent campaign focusing on heroes Anakin and Obi-Wan.
STAR WARS: THE NEW DROID ARMY
The New Droid Army is an isometric action game, which makes it perfectly suited to the Game Boy Advance. Most notably, Anakin defeats Count Dooku at the end of the game, which of course led to a grievous (heh) continuity error when Dooku appeared alive and well in Revenge of the Sith. In response, Lucasfilm decided that the Dooku whom Anakin defeated was a doppelganger instead. Ah, the days when everything we now classified as Legends somehow happened all at once. A true multiverse of madness.
STAR WARS: CLONE WARS ADVENTURES
The Clone Wars Adventures might just be the most obscure MMO-style game in Star Wars history. At least, it feels that way today. But the 2010 online adventure game did rather well for itself for a while, reaching ten million registered players before shutting down in 2014. Just before turning off the lights, Sony Online Entertainment made every character a Jedi. That might have turned the tide in certain tragic upcoming events had it occurred in the films.
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: JEDI ALLIANCE
Tying into The Clone Wars TV series gives Jedi Alliance an edge that earlier efforts set during those years didn't quite have. While criticized for its simplistic gameplay, Jedi Alliance holds up somewhat well from a story perspective, proving Nintendo's first dual-screen outing could host some fine Star Wars.
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: REPUBLIC HEROES
Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
On the other hand, Republic Heroes didn't go over very well with pretty much anybody. The action-adventure title's combat, story, camera, and even its music soured players who had hoped for yet another Obi-Wan-and-Anakin outing.
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: LIGHTSABER DUELS
In retrospect, November 11th, 2008 was not kind to Star Wars fans. Launching the same day as the somewhat better-received Jedi Alliance, Lightsaber Duels was a chance for people to experience the Wii's motion sensor potential set to the tune of the coolest blades in fiction. If only it were a better game. There's some joy to be found in its (for the time) impressive graphics, but most players weren't exactly thrilled with the rest of the package.
For as much as it's been mined for both Legends and Canon content through the years, the Dark Times era (from events roughly two-thirds into Revenge of the Sith on through Rogue One) still has plenty of room for video games. These 19 years see the Empire at its height, the galaxy imperiled, and a lot of slaughtered Padawans.
STAR WARS: EPISODE 3: REVENGE OF THE SITH
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance
Revenge of the Sith's video game adaptation will likely go down in history for one specific thing. Namely, it launched two weeks prior to the film it's based on, and it spoils the broad beats of the entire story. The game's console versions sport over 12 minutes of footage straight from the movie. It even offers an alternate ending possibility in which Anakin successfully completes his otherwise ill-fated "don't do it" flip, so even that was out there in the wild ahead of schedule. Gameplay itself is often considered relatively pedestrian, though the lightsaber combat is a highlight.
STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Stadia
Jedi: Fallen Order is almost certainly the biggest deal in new canon Star Wars video games as of 2022. The 2019 action-adventure starring Padawan-in-exile Cal Kestis greatly exceeded Electronic Arts' financial projections, spawning not only an upcoming sequel but a renewed focus on single-player gaming at the storied publisher. Canon Star Wars is utterly ripe for further tales with Cal and his crew.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED
PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, PC, macOS, N-Gage (yes, really)
In-Universe Timeline: 3 BBY - 2 BBY
2008's explosive The Force Unleashed landed players squarely in the shoes of Darth Vader's secret apprentice a mere handful of years before a certain Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star. A massive hit with a memorably dark story, the slash-em-up soon paved the way for a sequel.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED 2
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
It's a shame, but The Force Unleashed 2 just didn't muster the same enthusiasm as its predecessor. Reasons include its shorter length, underwhelming narrative, and more repetitive features. A third game was planned, but Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 froze development in carbonite, presumably forever.
STAR WARS: EMPIRE AT WAR
Star Wars' first real-time strategy game, Empire at War has proven popular enough through the years that despite its online infrastructure shutting down in 2014, the Steam version brought it right back in 2017. Modders continue to poke around with it, giving the game the sort of longevity its developers likely only dreamed of back in 2006. Fans still crave a sequel.
VADER IMMORTAL: A STAR WARS SERIES
Platforms: Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR
David S. Goyer wrote the story of this three-part virtual reality adventure about a Force-sensitive smuggler enlisted by the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. The plot's been praised, and the combat's considered fun (if not particularly deep), but let's face it, the real reason people play is so that they can swing around an imaginary sword in their bedrooms without waking the neighbors. Probably.
LucasArts struck gold when they hired Totally Games to develop this stunning space sim. X-Wing took the subgenre beyond arcade-like blasting, adding a bevy of systems that turned this title into a strategic dogfighting must-purchase that would only see greater heights with upcoming sequels.
Platforms: Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable
A couple of months before A New Hope, the Legends timeline sprung a story of a mercenary named Rianna Saren who fights on behalf of the Rebellion and steals the Death Star plans. A decade after its release, Lethal Alliance's thieving heroine would be replaced by Jyn Erso, but if there's one thing that still holds true about this handheld-only entry, it's that it's the only Star Wars game with a Twi'lek protagonist. You can hold us to that. Probably.
Related:Star Wars: The (Canon) Timeline Of The Galactic Empire
Star Wars is a divisive franchise. There will never be an end to arguments over whether the prequel and sequel eras are worthy. In that sense, it's nice to come "home" to games set during the era of the original films, when the worst someone would say was that Return of the Jedi could have been better. Many of the oldest games will be found here, of course, and plenty of iconic ones at that.
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 1 BBY
Dark Forces is a first-person shooter with strong shades of Doom. Dating all the way back to 1995, it was one of the first games to explore a fully original character. Protagonist Kyle Katarn proved popular enough to star in multiple sequels. He even popped in briefly in Lethal Alliance.
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY, we... guess?
Pong's a great game. It holds up well because it's a simple paddle-versus-paddle struggle. Star Wars: Jedi Arena may look a bit like Pong, but it does not hold up well at all. The goal of the game is to smack a ball with your lightsaber and get it past your opponent's own lightsaber; we nebulously list its in-universe chronology as 0 BBY because it's basically Luke's helmeted hologram training program aboard the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope. The ball periodically goes haywire, shooting blasts all over the place and causing players to contemplate whether life is long enough to spend another waking minute with this video game. We're paraphrasing, of course.
STAR WARS: THE ARCADE GAME
Platforms: Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, DOS, Macintosh
The first video game to adapt George Lucas' blockbuster '77 hit is also one of the first Star Wars games in general. That tracks, really. Star Wars: The Arcade Game, referred to at the time as simply Star Wars, was a leading reason to visit the local mall on Saturday afternoons. Later, it became a sterling part of just about every early-eighties home console's lineup. Colorful vector graphics lend Star Wars something of a timeless aesthetic appeal.
In 1987, Namco launched a Japan-only sidescroller that took some incredible liberties with the source material. Hoth is called Tina, Kessel not only appears but is covered in Ancient Egyptian ruins, and oh yeah, Chewbacca talks. Imagine if we told you this is somehow canon.
Platform: Nintendo, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Gear
1991 saw another crack at the original movie, this time with a worldwide release. Star Wars is your straightforward sidescroller; the NES and Master System versions hold up nicely thanks to a rather stoic choice of color scheme. It's brutal, with three lives and two continues, and the bulk of the game takes place on Tatooine in a weird retelling that puts Luke Skywalker through a hell of a ringer before he ever leaves the planet.
Platforms: Super Nintendo, Wii, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4
The SNES Star Wars trilogy is remembered (either fondly or with chagrin) for its blistering difficulty. Vibrant visuals keep folks glued to their controllers for these hardy platformers. The first of the trio might not be the most beloved of the bunch, but it's well worth a look.
In-Universe Timeline: 1 ABY - 2 ABY?
Before The Old Republic, there was Galaxies. Set shortly after A New Hope, Star Wars' first foray into the realm of MMOs started off slowly before gradually gaining a dedicated fanbase courtesy of some pretty nifty expansions. While ultimately it can be said that The Old Republic has followed a similar path, that game earned no goodwill at all when LucasArts shut down Galaxies' servers just five days prior to its launch.
Platforms: Sega CD, PC, Macintosh, DOS
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 3 ABY
Rebel Assault was the first game LucasArts launched entirely via CD-ROM. The rail-shooter X-Wing adventure is chock-full of live-action FMVs. The game is, perhaps, most famous for including generally dark "what if?" sequences following a game over on each stage. These are a few seconds long, but go the extra mile (parsec?) in making players push forward for the win.
STAR WARS: REBEL ASSAULT 2: THE HIDDEN EMPIRE
Platforms: PlayStation, PC, Macintosh, DOS
Following on from the alternate-universe events of Rebel Assault, in which the protagonist "Rookie One" replaces Luke Skywalker in destroying the first Death Star, The Hidden Empire is a somewhat darker sequel with a larger campaign that concludes with the destruction of a secret facility and some very deadly TIE variants.
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1982)
In a funny twist, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the first Star Wars video game ever made. It was 1982, after all, and Parker Brothers wished to capitalize on the Battle of Hoth. This thing's nearly impossible to beat without cheat codes, but then, many owners likely didn't mind. They got to pretend they were piloting a Snowspeeder. How cool is that?
STAR WARS: MASTERS OF TERAS KASI
Excitement abounded when Star Wars' first full-fledged fighting game arrived, but sluggish controls wore the experience down for many. Teras Kasi is nevertheless something of a cult classic, not least of which for its delightful Legends fanservice (yes, Mara Jade is in this game).
What happens when the creators of vehicular combat series Vigilante 8 are tapped to produce a game whose premise involves the Empire banning podracing and Jabba the Hutt finding a more murderous replacement? Mayhem, that's what happens. Mayhem and Star Wars: Demoltion.
STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
In 1999, The Phantom Menace brought audiences the first Star Wars movie in 16 years. Two years prior, many of those same moviegoers flocked to theaters to see Star Wars: Special Edition. And just one year before that, the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project made 1996 one for the history books. A novel, a comic, this video game, and a veritable ton of action figures all told the same basic story: Dash Rendar, an old rival of Han's and just as roguish, saves Luke and eventually Leia from the nefarious Prince Xizor.
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 5 ABY
DICE and EA's initial Battlefront reboot had everything going for it. Riding high on the waves of unparalleled anticipation for Episode 7 helped it on its way to over 14 million copies sold. While its online-only nature disappointed some, the arcade-style shooting and gorgeous graphics both impressed. Better yet, since it didn't arrive with its sequel's lootbox controversies, it reviewed solidly and didn't turn into a Reddit meme.
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT (2004), STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 2 (2005), STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 2 (2017)
In-Universe Timeline: 32 BBY - 34 ABY
What a mess of an entry, but we had to clump these together somewhere. Each of these three games, the two mainline titles from Pandemic Studios and the second (and potentially final) title from DICE, encompass multiple eras, including this one.
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 4 ABY
During the late nineties, your arcade wasn't truly epic unless it had Star Wars Trilogy Arcade. With four levels, the rail shooter puts players up against the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Hoth, the on-ground lead-up to the Battle of Endor, and the starfighter-side Battle of Endor itself. You can complete the first three levels in any order; after the second one, Boba Fett shows up as a boss fight. After the third level, it's Darth Vader time.
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 3 ABY
The X-Wing series was LucasArts' more technical, free-roaming starfighter sim. Rogue Squadron was the publisher's no-holds-barred action-arcade extravaganza. Wedge Antilles really makes a name for himself with these games, but there's nothing more instantly recognizable than the Hoth mission. Swirling around AT-ATs never felt better.
STAR WARS TRILOGY: APPRENTICE OF THE FORCE
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 4 ABY
Another entry in this vast swath of games set at roughly the exact same time, Apprentice of the Force is a fairly nice-looking GBA-only platformer that encompasses all three films albeit only through the eyes of Luke Skywalker.
STAR WARS: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 4 ABY
If you bought a Game Boy Advance in the winter of 2003 and thought to yourself "what I really need is a three-dimensional space shooter starring Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon," you were rewarded with what is, unfortunately, a bit of a dud. Flight of the Falcon's noble intentions aside, it stands at a 39 on Metacritic for good reason.
STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON 2: ROGUE LEADER
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 4 ABY
Rogue Leader is, quite simply, everything a sequel needs to be. It's Rogue Squadron, but bigger, prettier, more involved, and overall a more polished experience through and through. This was a must-grab GameCube game.
It's too bad Star Wars: Rebellion was a critical and commercial dud. The notion of a 4X real-time strategy game with the Star Wars label was, back in 1998, pretty revolutionary. Plus, Rebellion had such a cool motto on its cover: "To control a world. To command a galaxy."
STAR WARS: ROGUE SQUADRON 3: REBEL STRIKE
In-Universe Timeline: 00 BBY - 4 ABY
Factor 5's Rogue Squadron trilogy has gone down in history as one of Star Wars' most famous game series. That said, the third game, on its own terms, was the nadir. The notion behind being able to leave one's starfighter behind and engage in combat on foot was perhaps too bold to ever work as well as the developers doubtless imagined. Instead, while the aerial and space-based fare remains riveting, many fans consider every moment on the ground to be a moment wasted.
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT: RENEGADE SQUADRON
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 4 ABY
Two years passed since Pandemic Studios' Battlefront 2, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that the highly-anticipated Battlefront 3 might never come to pass. Instead, we got Renegade Squadron, a PSP-exclusive that plays out more or less like a stripped-down variation on its elder siblings. The comic-look cutscenes during the single-player campaign look lush, though the campaign itself is shorter than one might have hoped for, especially now that the multiplayer is mostly inaccessible.
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1992)
The Empire Strikes Back for NES follows Star Wars' own NES game, but there's no NES Return of the Jedi. The developers got too busy with Super Star Wars and never looked back. Given the lasting popularity power of the Super trilogy, it could be said that they made the right choice here.
SUPER STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the Rogue Leader to Super Star Wars' Rogue Squadron. It enhances an already premium package on every front. Nintendo Power ranked it the fourth-best video game of 1993. If there's any complaint to be made here, it's that the relentless difficulty of the first game has been made all the harder. But for some, that's the whole point.
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY - 4 ABY
We're pushing the comparisons to their brink here, but TIE Fighter's three-for-three on the "Rogue Leader to Rogue Squadron" analogy. Unless you utterly loath the idea of playing as an Imperial, there's nothing X-Wing does that TIE Fighter doesn't meet and exceed. This space sim is faster, tighter, and more rewarding. It comes packed with one of the most praiseworthy Legends timeline stories around.
STAR WARS: X-WING VS TIE FIGHTER
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY - 4 ABY
X-Wing vs TIE Fighter gave internet-connected PC players precisely what they wanted: the chance to go head-to-head against other players. Multiplayer wasn't only the meat of this game; it was this game. The lack of campaign ruffled enough feathers, however, that the excellent Balance of Power expansion pack arrived several months later with a fine string of levels that, while good, aren't quite as fondly-recalled as TIE Fighter's.
In-Universe Timeline: 3 ABY - 4 ABY
X-Wing Alliance is the final installment in Totally Games' award-winning X-Wing series, and it was not until 2020's Star Wars: Squadrons that there had been anything quite like it. This swan song follows TIE Fighter's campaign-heavy approach and does so with aplomb.
In-Universe Timeline: 0 BBY - 6 ABY
Force Commander didn't blow the roof off the PC strategy gaming sector in 2000, but it did a serviceable job sating fans who desired a 3D real-time Star Wars with strong multiplayer elements and a decent UI.
STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI: DEATH STAR BATTLE
Platforms: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ZX Spectrum
Following the successful Atari adaptations of the first two original trilogy films, Parker Brothers went on to forge the first Return of the Jedi video game adaptation. This one centers on the Battle of Endor in a two-stage lineup: first, players must defend against waves of TIE Fighters, then they fly through to the Death Star 2's core and blow it to heck. Pulling that off awards you with increasingly high difficulties of the same two stages.
SUPER STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI
We'll be honest here — our screenshot does not do this game justice. Played on a proper screen, Super Return of the Jedi holds up nicely. It's easily the prettiest of the Super Star Wars trio, with advances in lighting and saturation techniques everywhere you can see. It's also the easiest, but considering how much fight the first two have in them, that's hardly saying Super Return of the Jedi is a walk in the park.
The Legends continuity primarily explored this most modern era of the Star Wars universe through the Jedi Knight series. The new canon has only done so through a couple of games. Hop over to Disney+, meanwhile, and you'll see a burgeoning collective of television shows set in the years after the triumph over Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. With the massive impact that The Mandalorian has had on the franchise's future, we'll surely see more New Republic games in the years to come.
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 5 ABY - 6 ABY
Star Wars: Squadrons holds the distinction of being the only canon game entirely set after the original trilogy. For that, plus cool roles from fan favorites like Hera Syndulla, it's already worth a glance. What makes Squadrons truly shine among a certain subset of fans is that it brings back the less arcade-style, more calculated space combat that had largely fallen by the wayside all the way back in 1999 after X-Wing Alliance.
STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT: DARK FORCES 2
In-Universe Timeline: 5 ABY - 10 ABY
Kyle Katarn's journey continues from Dark Forces in this 1997 shooter. Discovering his connection to the Force, Katarn heads to the so-called Valley of the Jedi, avenging his father's death in the process. Jedi Knight's winning combination of strong story, stellar gameplay, and major improvements over Dark Forces have made it one of the most endearing, enduring, Star Wars games. An expansion set five years later brings together various facets of the franchise with the introduction of Mara Jade.
STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT 2: JEDI OUTCAST
Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PC, macOS
Kyle just keeps on coming with Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, the continuing exploration of the decade and more after ROTJ according to the wide-eyed wonders of the Legends timeline. Response was again quite positive, and Jedi Outcast made the jump to PS4 and Switch in late 2019. Microsoft even made sure the game is backward compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, ensuring a smooth transition.
STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY
The last of Kyle's tales might be the weakest, but that doesn't make it bad. Jedi Academy was praised at launch for letting players utilize lightsabers from the beginning, rather than needing to wait for a few levels to get to the good stuff. The multiplayer maintained a solid community for several years, so it was a relief to see the game ported to PS4 and Switch, where it's enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence. The only thing audiences are (broadly) less enthusiastic about is the story, which doesn't quite match the highs of what came before it.
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
In-Universe Timeline: 22 BBY - 34 ABY
Once more, with feeling. Here's Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017), filling your monitor screen one last time. Iden Versio's redemption story opens with the destruction of the second Death Star and then weaves its impressive tale through the next few years. The campaign's lone DLC then hops all the way ahead to just prior to The Force Awakens, earning this game not only the distinction of showing up in three out of four of this article's lists but even letting it close us out entirely.
We know there are a few holes here. Who shot first? We did. If we've skipped a Star Wars game, there are three possible reasons for it. First, it was some sort of short-lived browser-based tie-in, like the Star Wars: Rebels flash bits back in 2014. Alternatively, it's clearly in a realm of its own — the free-to-play mobile games are one example, though with the terrific sales and reception of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the LEGO games are perhaps the more relevant. These games, while delightful, adhere to neither the Legends canon nor the new one.
The third possibility is that, yes, we forgot a game. As you can see, there are... more than a few Star Wars titles. If you feel like there's a glaring exception of some kind, let us know!
Next:Star Wars Battlefront 2: Who Is Iden Versio?
Quinton's a Specialist Publisher who thinks rather highly of cats, canyons, and café con leche. Follow them @QuintonWrites.