Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

aka: Star Wars: Teikoku no Kage
Moby ID: 3105
Nintendo 64 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire tells the story of Prince Xizor's quest to replace Darth Vader as the leader of the Sith, and wipe out the Rebels' chances of victory. The only man that can stop him is the interstellar bounty hunter Dash Rendar. The game is based on the novel of the same name, with locations including ice planet Hoth, Mos Eisley and the sewers of Imperial City, all in full 3D.

Levels each have very different objectives, ranging from piloting snowspeeders on Hoth and racing speeder bikes on Tatooine to shooting stormtroopers and droids on foot throughout the galaxy. Dash primarily uses a blaster with unlimited ammo, but can also find more powerful weapons with limited ammunition. Each level has optional "challenge points" that are hidden throughout the level, and finding all of them will unlock a cheat dependent on which difficulty setting the save file is on.

Spellings

  • スター・ウォーズ 帝国の影 - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Nintendo 64 version)

139 People (88 developers, 51 thanks) · View all

Game Designer
Lead Artist
Lead Animator
Project Leader
Senior Programmer
Technical Lead/Programmer
Programmer/Lycanthrope
Aesthetic Technology/Robin's Dad
Level Designers
3D Artists
3D Animator
Texture Artist
3D/Background Artist
Storyboard Artist
Music Editor/Sound Quality Control
Sound Designers
Composers
Lead Tester
Production Manager
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 51 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 76 ratings with 11 reviews)

Solid Star Wars action, and the game that spawned Rogue Squadron

The Good
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire starts you off with a kick, flying a Snowspeeder in the battle of Hoth. From there gameplay progresses through several first or third person shooter levels, with a couple of turret shooting missions and a swoop race through Mos Eisley for changes of pace. Each shooter level has a large boss at the end, and provides a wide variety of different weapons. The high points of the game are the Hoth, Mos Eisley, and Skyhook levels, which involve flying a Snowspeeder, Swoop, or YT-2400 in battle. The action and control during these levels is extremely similar to Lucasart's Rogue Squadron series of games. In fact, Shadows is the game that spawned Rogue Squadron, and is certainly worth playing even if only for that fact alone.

The Bad
The worst part of this game is the repetitiveness of the shooting levels. Although the level design is all right, the hybrid design leaves both first and third person shooter fans wishing for slightly better gameplay. Although the third-person view is default, I found the first-person view to be easier to play with, however, the total lack of crosshairs makes aiming more difficult than it should be. In fact, the awkward control and clunky aiming are the primary contributers to the irritating nature of the shooting levels.

The Bottom Line
If you've enjoyed the Rogue Squadron games, this is the game that started it all. It's not perfect, but it is a lot of fun.

Nintendo 64 · by Shadowcaster (252) · 2002

Great game that follows the novel

The Good
I remember the first time I played this game and I was reading the novel at the same time. I'd play for a while and then I'd read and try to stop at the point I was at in the video game. This video game takes place at the beginning of Star Wars Episode 5: The Emperor Strikes Back and in between episode 5 and episode 6. You play as Dash Rendar, a Han Solo smuggler type of guy, and battle through 10 levels of increasing difficulty. You get to use different kinds of guns, sometimes you get to use a jetpack, and you get to pilot a Snowspeeder, a Swoop Bike and Dash's ship, the Outrider. There are bosses at the end of each level, except the ones where you're in a vehicle. The bosses are tough and the levels can be challenging and tricky. The music is good, some of it's straight from the movie.

The Bad
Compared to the other games from 1996 - Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, ect. this game has fairly poor graphic's, but I can live with that. Also, after you beat it it's not that much fun anymore - sure you can go back and collect all the Challenge Point's, but that's not that fun.

The Bottom Line
A good game than any gamer should get.

Nintendo 64 · by darthsith19 (62) · 2006

A long time ago in a store not so far away, this might have been worth it.

The Good
This game was the first Star Wars game to come out for the N64. The game pitted you as Dash Rendar, a friend of Han and Luke's as you fought along aside them in a timeframe between Ep. 5 and 6.

The first level of this game really gives you high hopes, with you flying around with other landspeeders trying to haplessly destroy AT-ATs as they approach Echo Base. This level was truly amazing. You could shoot AT-STs and wrap up AT-Ats. To a Star Wars nerd, this is pure bliss. However, this level ends a bit short and you are left with the rest of the game.

The other really exciting part of this game is that last level. Skyhook battle is open, surrounding a giant space station. Nearby is a giant star destroyer, constantly letting out tie fighters, as the skyhook lets out their fighters. In between all this is you and rogue squadron. This provides for a nice three-way war. Buddies help a bit, but not as much as you do. And besides that, there is not much to do except destroy a never-ending wave of tie fighters or else do your mission.

The last, and most valuable part, of the game which I liked was it told you where Luke goes between Ep 5 and 6. Multiple cutscenes have him fighting along side you, but too bad you never get to do it in real play. However, you could have just read the books too.

Sound is a classic, with classic blaster noises and screams. Music is brought straight from the movies with nice tones like the asteroid field music. They made good choices when it came to sound.

The Bad
The rest of the game is mediocre. It's a generic third-person/first-person shooter (they are switchable in game by tapping a button). Besides a blaster, Dash gets a seeker missile, an automatic pulse rifle, a flame thrower, and a pulse bomb which wipes out everything within seeing range. Yeah, thats it. 5 Weapons.

Enemy AI is stupid. Guards patrol nicely when your not around, but when they see you, they NEVER move. The only time they will move is if they've seen you and you go out of range. Then they will get in range again, and stand completely still to shoot. Not much of a challenge there.

The other two vehicle levels are not much to boast. The asteroid field leaves you on a rail cannon, unable to drive. The skiff bike chase is repetitive and annoying.

Graphics are nice (I mean that), however there is a lack of detail in the environments. Why would the rebels even want Echo Base if there wasn't any computers in sight? Most of the levels are just hallways. Boooring!

The Bottom Line
Overall, only about half the game is worth seeing, and even those parts have been vastly improved upon. The Rogue Squadron series improved upon Hoth (number 2 had the best version) and everything else in the air. The Clone Wars improved upon ground vehicles. Even the story has been out for years in the book. The music can easily bought as the Star Wars soundtrack (the background music is taken directly from it)

Unfortunately, at its time of release, had lots of potential, however, it has been left back in light of more updated games.

Nintendo 64 · by Matt Neuteboom (976) · 2005

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Trivia

Dash Rendar

Dash Rendar is the only character developed from the Star Wars franchise that actually made it "back" to the movies. You can see his modified starship, the Outrider YT-2400 lifting up and taking off from Mos Eisley as Luke and his gang enter the city in the new revised sequence featured on the Star Wars: Special Edition. Also, Dash Rendar in the Nintendo 64 cutscenes looked more like a brown-haired, younger and rougher George Lucas with a rough shave instead of a beard. In the PC edition, he looks more like the original concept art for the character.

Rogue Squadron inspiration

In the first level of the game, where you fly a snowspeeder in the Battle of Hoth, was the inspiration for Rogue Squadron.

Version differences

The PC version is a revised edition of the N64 version (the major difference between the two versions being 3D cutscenes for the PC).

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • March 1997 (Issue 92) - N64 Game of the Year runner-up + Best Music runner-up + Action Game of the Year (Readers' Choice) + Best Music (Readers' Choice)

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Additional contributors: Apogee IV, chirinea, Joshua J. Slone, Alaka, LepricahnsGold, vedder.

Game added January 21, 2001. Last modified March 9, 2024.