Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

"A fun and adventurous end to the SNES Star Wars Trilogy!"

The Star Wars Trilogy is probably the most recognizable movie trilogy of all time. The Super Star Wars SNES Trilogy however, tends to be overlooked as mere 2D action/platform games. This is not the case. These games are incredible, but the best of the bunch is Return of the Jedi.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in ROTJ are the best seen out of any of the games in the Super Star Wars Trilogy. Incredible attention to detail has been made in recreating the environments seen throughout the film. One of the most stunning levels, graphically, is the last level in which you're flying the Millennium Falcon through the super-structure of the unfinished Death Star. The Mode-7 scaling is put to its limit in this level.

Sound/Music: 10/10
What can I say about the sound and music? Simply that the sound effects, from a lightsaber slash to Darth Vader's mechanical breathing, have all been painstakingly reproduced by Skywalker Sound to give the game the authentic Star Wars sound. The music is just as great! While not John Williams the producer of these works has done a fine job recreating the music with the limited technology of the SNES. I wonder if they would've used John Williams actual score had this game been made for the PSX or N64?

Originality: 7/10
Well, what do you expect from a game that draws its story straight from an existing movie? But, they do a good job of having creative levels which, in a way, expand on what you see in the movie. For example, the first two levels involve Luke, Leia and Chewbacca making their way to Jabba the Hutt's palace, something we never saw in the film. Kudos to LucasArts for doing this.

Difficulty: 10/10
This game is not the most difficult of the series (The Empire Strikes Back has earned the most difficult title) but it still proves to be tricky. There is absolutely no way you'd be able to beat this game on your first try. You'd be lucky to get through the first five levels on your first try! But, as with most action/platform games, perseverance pays off, as you gradually get deeper into the game, you begin to respect how difficult it really is. Plus, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment when you do beat it.

Replayability: 6/10
This one was weird for me to rate. I mean, I'm a diehard Star Wars fan so I would personally give this game a 10/10 on replayability, but since I need to be unbiased in a review I took into consideration that most people don't like Star Wars all that much, and would only play this game once, if just for the challenge alone. So basically replayability boils down to this: if you love Star Wars you'll play this game over and over again, if you're not very fond of Star Wars you'll only play it a couple times just for the challenge.

Fun Factor: 10/10
This is the most important thing when it comes to rating a game. Even if you don't like Star Wars, you'll still find this to be an incredibly fun game to play. If you love Star Wars, this will be like reliving the action from one of your favorite movies. This game is for anyone! Highly recommended to Star Wars fans especially!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/12/01, Updated 09/12/01