When I was given the assignment of playing “Super Empire Strikes Back”, I was elated. I have always considered the Super NES run of action/platformers to be second only to the Knights of the Old Republic on my internal ranking of awesome Star Wars games and Empire (just like its cinematic counterpart) was the best of the three.

I remember throwing this game in from time to time and running through it in an afternoon. Apparently between the last time I played the game and today I have lost a step or two, because this game killed me in the face.

The first thing you notice when you fire up the game is the sweet Super NES version of the classic Star Wars theme. Even in this limited form it is enough to stir up the Star Wars geek inside me. The cutscenes show their age, but still hold a certain amount of charm. You’ll travel to just about every locale from the movie, starting at Hoth and working your way to Dagobah, and finally ending with the Darth Vader fight on Bespin.

The game plays almost exactly like “Super Star Wars“, but the double jump has received an upgrade and you can no longer choose your character. Much like its brothers, the most impressive part of the game is the number of styles the game attempts. For an old school game, there is a lot of variety. The game includes everything from side scrolling platforming to sweet Mode 7 flying.

However, there was one level that my brain had hidden from my memory banks. Immediately after you get done toppling some giant AT-AT’s with your snowspeeder (in one of the game’s coolest moments), it switches to the worst 2-D shooter ever. Your snowspeeder takes up about a quarter of the screen, and you are trying to dodge enemies that can fly off the side of the screen and shoot you in the back. This section is so terrible that it would not surprise me at all if George Lucas didn’t have some kind of hand in its creation.

Finally you get to change characters and rock out as Han Solo. Han has quite possibly the most awesome somersault roll dodge in history. The move is so over-the-top that I found myself rolling back and forth giggling like the crazy cat lady down the street. Most people would roll one or two times and call it a day. “Super Empire Strikes Back” Han Solo is no quitter. When he rolls, he means it. Han’s roll is so awesome that it invents, and then wins, the World Somersaulting Competition.

The game really distinguishes itself when you get to Dagobah and start getting your force powers. Using Jedi Levitation to become a flying pinwheel of lightsaber death is still pretty awesome.

In the end, the game did not quite live up to my memories.

It is fun and worth a playthrough, but some of the sections are downright painful to play (cough, cough terrible side scrolling snowspeeder section).

On Normal, the game is extremely tough. On Jedi difficulty it is virtually impossible. The game just doesn’t have tight enough controls for some of the platforming sections, and shrapnel from defeated enemies hurting you is just about the meanest thing ever. The game has slipped in my internal rankings of Star Wars games, but it’s only $8 for the Wii Virtual Console, so I say give it a shot.

You’ve spent more cash on a late night run to Taco Bell for Chalupas.

Tags: Han Solo, platformer, shooter, SNES, Star Wars, Super Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.