Super Star Wars

The Good
Having played this game during it's original release it was a pleasant surprise, even after 20 years to see how great the graphics and sound have held up. The stunning artwork and style put into every level supported by smooth animation and incredible sprite detail is truly as amazing in the 21st century as it was back in the mid 90's. This game has always represented what the SNES can do on screen especially with the amount going on. The colour usage is vast and helps give the developers the chance to create truly expansive levels that can still make a strong impression with first time gamers today. The sand crawler ascent level is my personnel favorite for this.

Another, equally strong area the game has are it's sounds, both music & FX. Every Star Wars game gets an instant boost with the wealth of iconic and recognizable sound effects be it blaster or light saber. The SNES still manages to push this further with an impressive music score to tie in with the action and effects.

Shooting and jumping feel great from the start, this is essential with the frantic, non stop action at the core of this title. The story continuity is true to the film, with filler levels being well designed and creatively placed. The difficulty, like most "hardcore" games is polarizing as you will see in my negative comments. When you do complete a tough level after multiple attempts you feel great, if only for the Chance to blink and exhale.

The Bad
The main negative point to highlight with Super Star Wars is the relentless difficulty level. To say the game is unforgiving would be an understatement. To say the game was both unforgiving, punishing and sometimes unfair would be a lot more accurate.

The flaws with this come from the level design and enemy placement rather than bad enemy AI. If you exit the screen and re-enter it, even after only a second your defeated foes will be back for another attempt at you. This sort of programmer laziness should have been left with the 8-Bit era, not carried on with one of this consoles flagship 3rd party titles.

The levels themselves are designed in such a manner that multiple attempts, no matter your skill level with a character are required. This takes the fun out of progression because you are constantly paranoid for what lurks ahead. Even with this fear in place the blind jumps/leaps of faith are far too numerous, In the early levels especially (Level 2, the sand crawler exterior is the worst for this).

To top off the adverse difficulty through a restart from the beginning of the level is what meets you after death, very little in the way of checkpoints. Sometimes 20 minutes of intense game play stand between you and the next safe point to re-spawn. Expect to feel angry and demoralized in equal measures with this title.

The Bottom Line
As much as I wanted to like this game with it's fluid and impressive visuals, supported strongly by iconic music and classic Star Wars sound effects, I sadly couldn't.

The high difficulty levels with over the top action based game play take away what could have been a strong sub-genre for the SNES and the Star Wars franchise in general.

Super Star Wars is great to watch someone else play and does everything a showcase title should but I doubt many playthroughs were completed without frustration being a strong memory for gamers in the 90's and now.