How to play Star Wars: The Arcade Game online
- Climb / dive: down / up arrow, like an aircraft stick
- Steer left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose the starting wave (1 or 3): F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Novice or expert start: F4 toggles the Player 1 difficulty switch. B starts you on wave 1, A on wave 3.
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0ā9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0ā9 loads it
Gameplay
Each wave is one attack on the Death Star, in up to three rounds:
- Space battle. Shoot down TIE fighters and the fireballs they fire at you. Now and then a blue TIE fighter appears. That is Darth Vaderās ship, and it is worth double.
- Death Star surface. Skim over the surface and blast the tops off the laser towers while dodging their fireballs.
- The trench. Fly down the equatorial trench, avoid the catwalks that cross it, and hit the reactor port on the floor with a proton torpedo to blow up the Death Star.
You start with eight energy shields. Each fireball that hits you costs one, and the game ends if you are hit by a fireball, tower or catwalk with no shields left. Wave 1 has no catwalks in the trench, and later waves add more. Each completed wave pays 500 points per remaining shield and gives you three new shields, up to the maximum of eight.
| Target or bonus | Points |
|---|---|
| Fireball | 3 |
| TIE fighter | 100 |
| Darth Vaderās ship | 200 |
| Laser tower tops | 20 for the first, 40 for the second, and so on |
| All 10 towers in a scene | 5,100 bonus |
| Destroying the Death Star | 1,000 on waves 1ā2, 6,500 on wave 3, 9,500 or more from wave 4 |
| āUsing the Forceā bonus | 500 on wave 1, rising to 2,500 or more from wave 4 |
Tips
- Get used to the reversed climb and dive. Practise on wave 1, where the trench has no catwalks.
- Shoot the fireballs. They are worth only 3 points, but every one you destroy canāt take a shield.
- Clear every tower. Each tower is worth more than the last, and all ten earn a big bonus.
- Carry shields forward. Each one left at the end of a wave is worth 500 points.
- Move up to wave 3. The Death Star bonus jumps from 1,000 to 6,500 there.
History
Atariās Star Wars arcade game, designed by Mike Hally, came out in 1983 with 3D colour vector graphics, speech imitating the filmās actors and a flight-yoke controller. Parker Brothers held the home rights to Star Wars games, so it, not Atari, made the home conversions in 1983 and 1984. āThe Arcade Gameā was added to the title to set it apart from Parkerās earlier Star Wars cartridges, The Empire Strikes Back and Jedi Arena.
According to AtariProtos, the 2600 version was programmed by Bob Smith and Wilfredo Aguilar. Surviving prototypes run from December 1983 to a final build dated April 1984. AtariProtos counts it among Parker Brothersā more faithful arcade conversions, although here the Death Star towers fire the fireballs themselves. Parker Brothers also released versions for the Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision and Commodore 64.
