Shadows of the Empire

[tapedeck]

I remember getting this shortly after buying my N64 and actually adoring it. Sure it had flaws - namely the on-foot sections being quite tedious and the speeder bike level being 'fuglier' than Jabba the Hutt.

Still, the atmosphere was brilliant. It truly captured the Star Wars vibe and I enjoyed the story so much I even bought the book.

 

And clearly, Hoth looked astounding back in 1996. And without that one level (and the last, sublime level) we wouldn't have had the Rogue Squadron/Leader games.

 

Anyway, this game was brought back to my attention by THIS ARTICLE which highlights the pre-production process (when everyone was working on SGI systems as the N64 dev systems had yet to be shipped). And it's a bloody good read and actually very interesting - Especially when talking about the choices they made and the NTSC-PAL conversion. (It was perfect and made Nintendo's efforts (Waverace I'm looking at you) look lazy.)

 

Still, I enjoy the memories this title gave me. It was my first 3D Star Wars game and like I said, the atmosphere was there in spades.

 

Anyone else remember this (only 13yrs ago!) - did anyone else even like it? It was definately a 70% title/marmite game.

Edited April 7, 2009 by tapedeck

[Cube]

I loved the game, especially the level with the jetpack (where you fight Boba Fett and Slave 1). Although I really, really hated the junkyard train level.

[darksnowman]

What? It's 13 years old?

 

 

Feels like practically yesterday.

 

I actually got SotE with my N64 as Mario 64 was sold out. I wanted Mario but still got a good bit of enjoyment from SotE- being my first N64 game it was always gonna blow me away! Hoth was the peak of the whole game, which is disappointing seeing as it was the first level but there were still other memorable moments. I didn't mind the Ord Mantel junkyard (or however you spell it) and my least favourite part was probably the sewers.

 

Wompa stompa!

[Patch]

Still, I enjoy the memories this title gave me. It was my first 3D Star Wars game and like I said, the atmosphere was there in spades.

 

Anyone else remember this (only 13yrs ago!) - did anyone else even like it? It was definately a 70% title/marmite game.

 

Yes!

I remember this being given 70% scores. Because of that, I was really torn about whether I should get it or not, given that I was a huge Star Wars fan back then.

 

Eventually I caved and bought it. Thankfully I fell in love with it like a chimp who loves slightly-too-small T-shirts (er...). It was easy to see the faults, but you're right - the atmosphere and music were spot on. Great memories.

 

The name 'Dash Rendar' still creases me.

[Strange Cookie]

Ah, good times... This and Mario 64 were my first N64-titles. However primitive now, the first and last levels blew my mind.

 

Can't say I really understand what the good man is saying, though. Delta-thingies here and R4000-stuff there. Not sure what is Star Wars and what are development-tools.

 

Having dinner with Miyamoto. What I wouldn't give to have that. Interesting conversations (with an interpreter, though), sharing opinions, discussing working at Nintendo (how much does he earn anyway?), stalking him when he's finally going to make Luigi's Mansion 2, saying nice stuff. Well, mostly nice. He still has Wii Music to answer for.

[...]

This game was crap. I bought it one day in 1997, one fateful day when I desperately wanted a new game to play and there werent' any new releases since the console's launch. So I ended up wasting the money on this turd. Oh, how I regretted it....

[Portlett]

at the time I really enjoyed this game, it was the first N64 game I got into I guess when I used to stay at my bros house. It brings back good memories but it is pretty dated now.