"The Circle is complete": Super Return of the Jedi Review

Overall Score: 4.5/5

A-

It's hardly a secret that movie based video games are crap. Generally they have horrible, poorly thought out and half-assed programed gameplay and level designs that seemed like a second thought. This is not one of those games. This is one of the most well done, well balanced 2D platformers I've ever played and possibly one of the best video games directly based on a movie. By that I mean the events of the movie is depicted in the game, rather than being a side story to the movie, or some spin-off.

Gameplay: 4

The gameplay is best described as an evolution of the Super Star Wars Trilogy. Super Star Wars had the most basic of gameplay. You run, you jump, you shoot, you slide, you double jump and you fly an X-Wing in Mode Seven and in pseudo flight sim sequences. There was very little difference between Luke, Han and Chewie, the only real difference being that Luke gets Anakin's old saber a few levels in. Difficulty wasn't too hard. It could be challenging but nothing that'll make you want to snap the controller in half.

Then Super The Empire Strikes Back came along loaded with much more features. Luke started out with his blaster and saber and later gained quite a number of Force abilities (a little too many abilities, you have 8 and have to cycle though them one by one to select one). Han now had grenades he could throw that did heavy damage. Chewie had a spin move that let him spin "though" enemies damaging them as he did so. The Mode Seven levels were back and had the player in T-47 Snowspeeder and the X-Wing. Though they also upped the difficulty and there are portions in the game where even on Easy it can be brutally unforgiving. You'll be memorizing level passwords in no time. Other issues where a lot of the levels were huge and rather maze-like in that areas tended to look the same and it was very easy to lose track of where you were.

Despite the difficulty and unpolished nature of Empire, it still had great features added in. Just needed a bit more polish, and that's what Super Return of the Jedi does. The game is more or less what you would come to expect from a 2D platformer of the era. You run left or right, you can jump and double jump, you can slide, and you have your myriad of attacks and abilities. Each character is slightly different from the other. Luke has the Force, Han has grenades, and Chewie has a spin attack, etc. In between are also vehicle segments where you take control of a landspeeder, a speeder bike and the Millenium Falcon, to mix things up a bit.

Luke loses his blaster, probably because we never see him use one in RotJ, but he keeps his Force abilities. However the list of abilities is paired down to 5 from 8. Here are the abilities Luke has:

• Heal - which converts a portion of your Force meter to health.
• Freeze - which freezes all the enemies on the screen. 
• Lightsaber throw - Luke throws his saber and you can control it around the screen to attack enemies. Pretty much balances out Luke's lack of a gun. 
• Vanish - Luke becomes invisible. 
• Deflect - Essentially an auto-block ability. 

The abilities that didn't carry over from Empire, were slowing down time, flying and mind controlling enemies. This isn't so much a bad thing since the player has to cycle though all of them. Though personally I would have kept Mind Control over Deflect, since Deflect is pretty redundant when you have a block button. Other than his Force abilities, Luke also has the ability to block and deflect attacks back at his enemies. Additionally his double-jump also includes a saber slash.

Han Solo also returns to the game, though he controls mostly identical to Empire. He has his basic moves, his blaster remains upgradeable with the following upgrades, while the stock blaster shot still ricochets off walls.

• Flame - just a basic firepower upgrade.
• Seeker - fires micromissiles that home in on enemies. 
• Rapid Ion - rapid fire and firepower upgrade, Ion shots can also ricochet off the walls the same was as the stock blaster does. 
• Plasma - slight decrease in rate of fire, doesn't ricochet, but massive firepower upgrade. 

Han also retains his grenades from Empire, and the player can control the angle and distance they're thrown to an extent by pressing the D-pad up or down while the grenade is thrown. You can hoard grenades though the levels and dump them all on the boss making VERY quick work of it. While Han's double jump doesn't have an attack integrated in the way Luke's does, you can still shoot and throw grenades mid-jump, and can even execute the double jump while shooting.

Chewie also returns largely unchanged from Empire, the same as Han. His bowcaster is upgradable with the same power-ups as Han's blaster and he still retains his spin attack. In general Chewie plays more or less the same that Han does, but with his spin attack instead of grenades.

Which brings us to Leia. Super RotJ is the first game in the trilogy where she appears as a playable character. Leia appears in three incarnations and in a sense she's a bit of a three-in-one character. Her first appearance is in her bounty hunter disguise. In this form, she controls similar to Luke. She's armed with a staff with similar range to his lightsaber, she has a vertical slash attack with her double jump the same as Luke, and she can also use her staff to block and deflect attacks, like Luke can. Though unlike Luke, holding down the attack button for a few seconds allows her to charge up a powerful energy blast.

Her next appearance is in her slave girl outfit. In this outfit she plays largely the same but there are few differences. Instead of a staff she now uses her leash as a chain whip. She still retains her energy blast, but now she is unable to block attacks as she no longer has a staff, and instead she has a spin attack similar to Chewie's instead. Her double jump attack is also different as it is now a horizontal slash instead of a vertical slash.

Her third appearance is in her Rebel Commando gear. Her form here is a bit of a disappointment. She loses her energy blast, the double jump slash attack, and her secondary abilities. She plays basically like Han, but without the grenades. There's also a weird thing where her standing shot is at the same level as her crouching shot, where as Han's shots travel lowers when he shoots from a crouch. I would have done something like an overcharage shot as her secondary ability. Have a power meter that drains when she fires a powered up shot.

Last we get to Wicket the Ewok. Wicket himself isn't really all that special either. He's more or less like Rebel Commando Leia. Though the arrows he shoots do stick in walls and Wicket is able to jump on them and use them to reach areas he couldn't from regular jumping. Though like Commando Leia he lacks a secondary ability. I would have given him a large, comically large, stone hammer, that has limited range, has a little bit of a wind up, and does heavy damage like Han's grenades.

The game also has several power-ups scattered across the level, they come in the form of permanent (well permanent till you die) power-ups and limited time ones. The permanent ones come in the form of health bar pick-ups that, naturally, extend your life meter. The other permanent pick up is in the form blaster upgrades. One last one, exclusive to Han, are his grenade pick-ups. The limited time use ones come in the form of a personal shield that makes the player invincible to all damage for a few seconds. There's a thermal detonator pick up that will clear the screen, but you have to set it off within a few seconds of picking it up otherwise it goes away. There are also point boost pick-ups that come in the form of Vader's helmet, these can be stacked, 2x, 4x, 8x, etc. Other pick-ups are health and Force replenishment pick-ups, as well as 1-ups. Though out the level are also Alliance emblems, these act like coins in Super Mario, collect 100 and you get an extra life. 

Like it's predecessors, Super RotJ retains it's vehicle levels as well, though aside from the speeder session in the first level, and the speeder bike level in the middle, the vehicle levels are exclusively the Falcon. The speeder sections are similar to prior games, making use of the SNES's Mode Seven, though unlike the X-wing the levels are largely linear, in that they're designed to box the player in to moving in only one direction.

While the X-wing is gone, there are three different level styles that we use the Falcon in. The first time we ride out in that barely functional bucket of bolts is as a glorified turret section. The second time we ride that hunk of junk into battle is in a Mode Seven level like the X-wing levels of the prior games where we're flying along the Death Star II's surface, fighting TIE Fighters and Interceptors. The third time we fly out in the fastest ship in the fleet is a very impressive sequence, impressive for the SNES. This time we're in a 1st person, pseudo-flight sim sequence from the Falcon's cockpit, flying inside the Death Star. Though the game play in this sequence is largely as a glorified rail shooter. The player is essentially flying down a tunnel and the only thing the player has to worry about is rotating the ship to keep from hitting the sides and to dodge obstacles that protrude into your path.

Lastly are the level designs themselves. As opposed to Empire, the levels in Super RotJ aren't as long or repetitive. It's no where near as easy to get lost as it is in Empire. In fact, they struck a great balance between making the levels large enough to have lots of places to explore, while not being to huge and maze-like.

Overall the gameplay is amazing and feels well polished, however Rebel Commando Leia and Wicket were a bit of a stumbling block in that there could have been more done with them. On the Shield Generator level where Commando Leia is playable, Han and Chewie are also playable, making it kind of pointless to use Leia.


Stability: 5
As with other games of the era, Super RotJ doesn't have an issue with stability. All the features work the way they should, the passwords work, there aren't any weird crashes, or collision glitches in the levels. Basically everything in the game does what it needs to do.


Plot: 4

By and large the plot follows the events of the movies. Granted things have to be changed a bit here and there and new "scenes" added in to make levels out of, but it is a faithful translation of the events from movie into game. For instance, the second level of the game takes place in the Tatooine desert and it's the path to Jabba's Palace. Another example is the level where Luke infiltrates the Imperial base on Endor to get to the Death Star, and the levels on the Death Star itself. Which isn't a bad thing considering that the only thing Luke did on the Death Star II was get taken to Papa Palpatine's office.

The plot is moved along though cut scenes that are essentially 16-bit renders of screen shots from the movie with scrolling text at the bottom. These cut scenes are essentially lifted directly from the movie. In a sense you could think of Super RotJ as a retelling of the movie. If the game stuck strictly to the movie, then it wouldn't be a very long game.

Though given the certain liberties taken with the plot, I always thought there was a BIG missed opportunity at the end. Towards the end, one of the levels is entirely a duel (boss fight) between Luke and Palpatine, what I would have done is yes have a duel with Palpatine and Skywalker... but with Anakin Skywalker. I would have given the player a chance to control and play as a redeemed Anakin, still in his Vader armor. I'd have basically given him the same abilities as Luke, just with different animations.





Graphics and Visuals: 5

The game is easily one of the best looking 2D platformers on the SNES. The sheer attention to detail shows that this game isn't just a typical movie cash in. For instance, most characters have an idle animation when the player lets them stand there long enough. Though while Luke will just shrug, Leia takes her bounty hunter helmet off for a breath of fresh air, and Chewie just starts howling, Han and Wicket actually have multiple animations. Han will do a the shrug that he does in the movie where him and a group of Ewoks ambush the group of Imperial Troops outside the Shield Generator, and he'll swap out the power pack in his blaster. Wicket will either pull out a fruit to eat (that he finishes in like 2 bites) or he'll pull out the battle horn. Though it isn't just idle animations, the sprites themselves are pretty detailed. Detail to the point that even Leia's butt is

rendered on her slave girl sprite when she does her spin attack. The vehicles are are also detailed, with the Falcon rendered with panel lines on it's sprites. On the speeder bike levels, Luke and Leia's clothes are animated and flutter in the wind.

The level designs, in terms of visuals, are no slouch either. The level featuring the Tatooine desert has those humidity lines/haze in the background giving a feeling of oppressive heat. Along with the rocky designs, we also have rocks in the foreground, adding a feeling of depth to the stage. But unlike other games that have a foreground (Jurassic Park 2, on the SNES) the foreground details don't block anything important. Jabba's Palace also does the same thing, though instead of rocks in the foreground it's various patrons and clutter hanging from the ceiling. While the foreground sometimes does block enemies or power-ups from view it's not a major thing as the enemies never stay still, and nothing blocked is important to getting to the end of the level. The ceiling foreground rarely dips further than the HUD at the top of the screen. The later Endor Imperial Base level also has the same sense of depth, but this time instead of the effect being due to a foreground, the background is animated to give a sense of depth. In these levels you have trees in the background that scroll at a different rate than the Death Star II or the Shield Generator dish, resulting in the Imperial machines scrolling behind the trees, giving the sense of depth.

The vehicle levels have also been given the same level of detail. The "walls" on the speeder bike levels aren't just an endless green blur, vertical browns were added in for the massive tree trunks. On the Death Star II's surface you'll see missing panels on the stations surface as well as out of place orange-red panels, giving the sense that the station is still incomplete. The "tunnel" in the final two levels take design elements directly from the movie. You'll find exposed power conduits and what not in the level, that if you look closely you'll see the Falcon fly by in the movie. Even the "low bridge" segment where the Falcon loses it's Direct TV dish, is present and more than likely you will bang into it and take a little damage (though it is possible to slip by and not take damage, just barely though). That's what Han gets for letting a guy who keeps around a lot of Colt 45 fly his ship.


Art and Music: 4.5

The art of the most part is largely inspired from the movie. Many of the bosses in the Tatooine levels you'd notice as background characters in Jabba's Palace. The same goes for the Endor and Death Star levels, though there are some strange looking bosses. One boss looks like a two sided Lamba-class shuttle, with two cockpit sections on opposite sides of the vessel. Of  course, in other cases the bosses are major characters like Jabba the Hutt, Darth Vader, and Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself.

Then you get these mecha bosses that show up on Endor and on the Death Star II that just feel totally out of place in Star Wars. They look very anime inspired and look more like they belong in another LucasArts game, Metal Warriors. 

As mentioned earlier some liberties had to be taken with the source material to make a video game out of. Essentially what this resulted in was several locations in the game getting a re-imagining. Probably the location to get the biggest overhaul was the Rancor Pit. In the movie the Rancor Pit was largely just a big concrete basement level room. Not really all that much you can make a 2D action platformer game level out of. So what the devs at LucasArts instead did was re-imagine the Rancor Pit as a sort of Indiana Jones style crypt. Complete with bones of the Rancor's meals.

Another set of levels that got an overhaul were the Death Star II levels. This time around, events on the Death Star II were reimagine to appear that rather than letting himself get captured, Luke infiltrated the station and fought his way to Palpatine. The first level consists of a lot of catwalks and exposed machinery lending to the impression that the station is still a work in progress. While the later levels, ascending Palpatine's tower look far more completed, as if it was one of the first areas of the station to be completed.

The music is largely taken straight from the movie, with a few tracks being remixed to make them longer for use as background level music. There really isn't all that much to say about the music, other than they help to set the tone and add to the immersion of the game, helping to make the player feel like they're playing events in the movie.

Final Verdict: A great game for fans and gamers in general.
This game is hands down one of the best movie based games out there. There are several reasons for it. First, the right kind liberties were taken from the source material to make it into a game. The key events of the movies were preserved, but the surrounding events were re-imagined in a way to make for good level designs. It's not too unlike how many anime shows would be turned into a movie by re-imagining events (Macross and Escaflowne have done this) but keeping in key elements/events intact.

Second, this game was the last of a trilogy of games. A trilogy that didn't just rinse and repeat. Instead LucasArts took the base game (Super Star Wars), improved on the formula by adding more gameplay elements (Super The Empire Strikes Back), and finally refining those added elements (Super Return of the Jedi).

What we get at the end is a very polished game, that shows a movie based game really can be a more than just a cheap, cynical cash grab. Even if you're not a fan of Star Wars, the gameplay is enough to carry the whole package. If you're looking for some old school platforming to play, then you will enjoy this game, it is as I have foreseen.