Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back (Video Game, 1982) .png
Studio United StatesUnited States Parker Brothers
Publisher Atari
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1982
platform Atari 2600 , Intellivision
genre Shoot 'em up
control joystick

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a film produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. Licensed video game ( Scrolling Shooter ) by Parker Brothers from 1982 for the Atari 2600 and released in 1983 for Mattels Intellivision . The programmer was Rex Bradford .

It was the first Star Wars video game. The background is the Battle of Hoth ( Battle of Hoth ) of the eponymous sci-fi film The Empire Strikes Back ( The Empire Strikes Back ) by George Lucas . The game can be played with one or two players.

Game mechanics

The player takes on the role of Luke Skywalker and controls an armed, flying snow glider ( Snowspeeder ) of the Rebellion to fight also armed, four-legged runners - so-called AT-ATs ( All Terrain Armored Transporter ) - of the Galactic Empire on the ice planet Hoth . The aim of the game is to stop these AT-ATs as long as possible before they manage to destroy the energy generator of the protective shield of the Echo base , the rebel base . The level of difficulty is different and depends on various variables, such as the speed of the imperial runners, their armor and their additional target-seeking ammunition, the " Smart Bombs " .

The player can destroy these AT-ATs by shooting the ruff's head and torso with the laser cannons of his snow glider. Shooting at their legs is ineffective. If the AT-ATs are damaged, they change their color as a damage model from black (undamaged) to several shades such as gray-green, purple, red, orange and finally to yellow (severely damaged), after which it explodes. Irrespective of their condition, the runners can also be destroyed more quickly, with just one shot, by shooting at one of three randomly generated, flashing spots on the runners' hulls, which represent weak points in the armor or open weapon shafts. The player earns points for hits and destruction. In addition to the score, a radar screen is displayed at the bottom of the screen that shows ruff and their distance from one another. When you reach one edge of the card, you come out on the opposite side. You can also regulate the speed of your glider.

The runners also shoot the glider that is being controlled with laser cannons. When hit, the color changes from black (undamaged) to several shades such as gray-green, purple, red, orange and finally to yellow (badly damaged) until it explodes. After three hits, the glider is destroyed, the player has a total of five gliders, i.e. five lives. It is possible to shoot down the shots fired by the AT-ATs with your own laser beams in order to neutralize them. A damaged snow glider can also be landed in the countryside so that it can be repaired automatically.

In difficult levels the runners are heavily armored, which means that the glider can collide with the runners, which can then damage it unlike in previous levels. In other levels, some AT-ATs now and then have Smart Bombs that they shoot down and chase the glider for a while. When hit, it explodes instantly instead of just taking damage.

Every now and then the player gains “the power” ( The Force ) as a bonus . When that happens, the glider lights up in color and is invulnerable for a short time. Star Wars music can also be heard.

The game ends when five snow gliders - i.e. lives - have been destroyed, or when one of the AT-ATs reaches the Echo base and destroys it. In this sense, the game is not winnable (like many other Atari 2600 games), you can only gain time and points by holding them off and fighting. The trick helped to critically damage the front and last runners (yellow damage model), whereby he and the AT-ATs following at a certain distance slowed down, which gave the player more time to attack the runners in between (more specifically). If a ruff reaches the far right edge of the map, it is game over as he destroys the rebel base.

Trivia

literature

  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In: Nick Montfort, Ian Bogost: Racing the Beam. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2009, ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7 , pp. 119-137

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=501
  2. ↑ Nick Montfort, Ian Bogost: Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System . MIT Press , Cambridge 2009, ISBN 978-0-262-26152-4 , pp. 128 .