Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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A playthrough of Namco's 1987 license-based platformer for the Nintendo Famicom, Star Wars.

Played on the "pro" difficulty.

The game was only released in Japan, so I've translated all of the text for this video.

Namco's Star Wars was the first of two games for the platform to be based on Episode IV: A New Hope. The second, published by JVC, was released worldwide in 1991 (youtu.be/mam1oj4pkRE).

The Namco game doesn't stick to the plot of the movie, but that's what makes it such a fun oddity. You fight a parade of weird Darth Vader imposters (like a scorpion, a pteradactyl skeleton, a prehistoric shark, and a wampa), visit planets that you didn't get to see in the movie (including Kessel, Iskalon, Yavin, and Hoth, which has been renamed "Tina"), and gain the ability to fly and to create personal deflector shields by collecting crystals that increase your Force power.

It's not held in as high a regard as the JVC game, but Namco's Star Wars is good. It's simpler and more old-fashioned on account of its being four years older and its predating the development of the NES's more advanced memory mappers, but the controls are solid, the gameplay is challenging but fair, the graphics are clean and colorful, and the 8-bit renditions of the movie's iconic themes are sure to bring a smile to your face.

This version of Star Wars is stuck living in the shadow of its flashier successor, but it's a worthwhile arcade-style platformer that reflects Namco's reputation for making high-quality games, and I love how eccentrically Japanese it is.

How could anyone say no to a "Scorpion Vader" who refers to himself as "oresama"?
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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