The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games

Image via BioWare

Release date: November 1, 1992

A fanciful reimagining of A New Hope, Super Star Wars for the Super Nintendo turns every minor event from the movie into a massive fight. Luke steps outside his home on Tatooine, and he is accosted by everything from scorpions to massive worms to a fast-moving Sarlaac Pit Monster. Later, you get to choose between Han, Luke, and Chewie. The last level is the iconic trench run, where you blow up the Death Star.

Release date: May 18, 1999

Cheekily referred to as the only good thing to result from The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode I: Racer for the Nintendo 64 places you in the cockpit of a podracer (you could play as Anakin and unlock Sebulba!), where you competed for galactic glory. Like F-Zero, this game created a fantastic illusion of breakneck speed.

Release date: November 8, 2012

This might be considered an odd pick by many gamers. But Angry Birds Star Wars is such a charming, odd-couple pairing, and its addictive gameplay works better than it has any right to. The Luke Skywalker bird has a lightsaber that it pinwheels around itself. The Han Solo bird has a blaster. The Chewbacca bird is the heavy backup, breaking everything in his path. And the pigs wear Imperial helmets. What's not to love?

Release date: November 6, 2007

Again, here is a casual game that "gets" the plucky, adventurous feel of Star Wars better than many other games do. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is actually a rebundling of two prior games: LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. It covers the events of the first six films of the trilogy. Hopefully, after the dust settles on Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, we'll get an updated version of this set that covers all nine main films.

Release date: March 26, 2002

A definitive game in the Star Wars canon, Jedi Outcast teases you with the promise of revolutionary lightsaber combat. But first, you're equipped with guns, and for its first couple of hours, the game is a first-person shooter. But then, you finally acquire a lightsaber and develop your Force powers, and everything kicks into high gear. The following Jedi Knight game, Jedi Academy, had better customization and player choice. But Jedi Knight II wins out for the gravitas of its story.

Release date: September 21, 2004

The Battlefront franchise is often criticized for being too narratively scattered—you shift between playing as a Rebel and playing as a Separatist and playing as an Imperial Stormtrooper. But where the first Battlefront truly excels is as a multiplayer platform. It was a perfect fit for college LAN parties and the first iteration of Microsoft's Xbox Live.

Release date: December 3, 1996

Back in 1996, when the Nintendo 64 first launched, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was one of the initial titles that Nintendo centered its marketing campaign around. The 3D graphics, which every issue of Nintendo Power took pains to highlight, were stunning for the time. You played as Dash Rendar, a Han Solo-ish mercenary whose story took place between Episode V and Episode VI. This sort of mid-quel tale was innovative in 1996; up until then, most Star Wars games were straight adaptations, without alluding to or building an expansive universe.

Release date: July 1994

Released in 1994, Star Wars: TIE Fighter is remembered as the definitive Star Wars flight simulator. And rather than playing as a member of the Rebel Alliance, you play as the Imperial pilot of a TIE fighter, who has bought into the Empire's mission of spreading peace and order throughout the galaxy. Morality is a relative concept in this game, and you engage in the banality of evil, with missions ranging from ship inspection to destroying a rogue Imperial fleet.

Release date: November 18, 2001

A top-flight flight game, Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader recaps the events of Episodes IV-VI, and puts you in the cockpit of Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles (the only Rebel Alliance pilot to survives both sieges to the two Death Stars). Among other ships, you get to pilot both the Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing. It's the best sort of vicarious thrill.

Release date: July 15, 2003

For Star Wars fans who want something a little more contemplative, Knights of the Old Republic is a round-based roleplaying game, which allows the player to upgrade and customize a single Jedi joined by two companions. One of the best decisions the developers made was to set the story 4,000 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, which freed it from the sort of narrative pressure that so many Star Wars games conform and fail to live up to.