365//365: Day 142 – Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES) [Comparison Series]

For this installment of the Comparison Series, we will take a look back at one of the most entertaining franchises – the Star Wars Trilogy. No, not the movies, but the Super Nintendo installments, aptly titled Super Star Wars, Super Empire Strikes Back and Super Return of the Jedi. These three games are often forgotten about in the great debate involving video games based off movies. No one seems to remember how impressive these games were, for its powerful MIDI compositions of the beloved Star Wars tunes, to the gorgeous and colorful visuals. For the most part, these can be considered the greatest trilogy of video games based off a trilogy of movies. But which one of these games was the most well rounded title? Was it Super Star Wars? Was it the one based off what could be described as one of the best sci fi movies of all time, in the form of Super Empire Strikes Back? Maybe it’s the one with the larger cast of character to choose from in Super Return of the Jedi? Lets take a closer look at each title throughout the next three days. As always, during the last day of the Comparison Series, a winner will be select for Audio, Visuals, Gameplay and Replay Value, with each games score following each ranking.

Today’s game will be Super Empire Strikes Back.

The Empire Strikes back is widely considered the best of the Star Wars Trilogy. Many Star Wars games released are either based off The Empire Strikes Back, or has the infamous Battle of Hoth featured in the game. From top to bottom, it’s one of the most respected and appreciated science fiction films of all time. After Super Star Wars’ impressive, though somewhat flawed debut, it was assumed that Super Empire Strikes Back would be The Empire Strikes Back of the series (ironic, isn’t it?). Oddly enough, for the most part, it is.

Some one's been hitting the HGH....

From a visual standpoint, everything from Super Empire Strikes Back is definitely a step up from the already commendable, though slightly repetitive visuals of Super Star Wars. Backgrounds, even in the icy depths of Hoth and its caves, retain a good amount of detail to make the stages you thought would look bland, into something that’s worthwhile. Even the snowspeeder stages retain a pleasing look to them, although they do have their own setbacks that will be addressed in due time. It’s definitely a step or two above Super Star Wars, though they still share the same amount of slowdown when things get a bit rough on screen.

Super Empire Strikes Back retains the same controls as the first title, which will lead to some issues as you progress. The platforming portions are still plagued with inconsistency when jumping from small platform to small platform, even with the ability to double jump. Not only that, but there are multiple point in the game, including the very beginning and very end, where some jumps are an almost leap of faith. Holding L or R to pan the camera up or down slightly doesn’t remedy the fact that its extremely difficult to place your jumps without repeated trail and error attempts. The controls outside of the finicky jumping segments are solid enough, however.

One of the least entertaining reenactments of the Battle of Hoth, though no where as blasphemous as the The Empire Strikes Back on the NES.

Audio wise, Super Empire Strikes Back does trump Super Star Wars ever so slightly. While the sound effects are stock use from the previous title, some of the tunes have been altered a bit, like the opening theme, which sounds a bit closer to the movie. The rest of the music featured retains a near faithful translation to MIDI, with a few of them (boss battle theme, The Imperial March) sounding surprisingly well put together. It’s amazing how good of a job the translation of the music has been for the series thus far.

With the addition of Force powers later on in the game, you are given several different powers that have their uses, though don’t necessarily add anything versatile enough. The Heal power is invaluable, and a force power you’ll end up using quite a bit. More on why in a minute. The invisibility force power is nice, though your force power drains far too quickly to make it a feasible power. Elevation lets you float and levitate upwards, which can save you from instant death falls, if you didn’t already blow all your Force power on healing yourself.

One rather significant change between Super Star Wars and Super Empire Strikes Back is the inability to choose what character you can play as during the game. Which in hindsight, makes sense, since the characters were all separated throughout portions of the movie.

Which leads to what I wouldn’t call a negativity, or a downfall, but a roadblock that most people will crash head into – the difficulty. From the first stage, Super Empire Strikes Back pushes your skills to the max. A majority of the difficulty is artificially produced, such as the instant death spikes in the first several stages, as well as towards the end of the game, where you’ll be jumping through trial and error, thanks to bad platform placement in relation to your camera placement. The rest of the game is difficult thanks to enemy placements, and the number of enemies around. They could technically be considered artificial difficulty as well, but with the powers you get later on, your improved lightsaber strength and abilities to reflect projectiles back towards your enemies, it’s a bit more of a fair difficulty boost.

The flight stages were a bit underwhelming when compared to the first game, although they were still moderately entertaining.

Despite the shortcomings, as well as the fact that you can only play as Han Solo and Chewbacca on designated levels, Super Empire Strikes Back is actually a really well made product. The visuals are top notch, the audio has been touched up as well, and Luke Skywalker finally plays more like Luke Skywalker, and not Han Solo with a lightsaber. It will challenge you, even on the normal difficulty settings, so be ready for a good challenge….so long as you’re also ready for some cheap deaths early in the game, as well as towards the end.

Check back tomorrow for the final part of this Comparison Series, as we take a look at Super Return of the Jedi, the score for each game, as well as which game has the better Visuals, Audio, Controls and Replay!