Play Star Wars - The Arcade Game Online

You’re a pixel-sized X-wing weaving through laser fire in a blocky Death Star trench—somehow, those beeping TIE fighters still feel terrifying. Miss the exhaust port by a hair and you’ll slam into the wall, but you’ll jump right back in anyway.

Released: 1983

File size: 5.64 KB

Game Overview

Star Wars - The Arcade Game on the Atari 2600 is one of those rare ports that actually makes sense on the system. Yeah, the graphics are blocky—what do you expect from a console that predates the NES by two years?—but somehow, it nails the tension of the Death Star trench run. You're just a tiny X-wing sprite dodging turbolaser fire, and those TIE fighters somehow feel faster than they look.

The sound effects are hilariously primitive (that laser noise is basically a beep with delusions of grandeur), but after a few runs, you stop noticing. What you do notice is how weirdly addictive it gets. Missing the exhaust port by a pixel and crashing into the wall never stops being annoying, but you’ll keep hitting reset anyway. It’s like the Atari distilled the arcade experience into something brutally simple but weirdly satisfying.

If you’ve got a soft spot for retro games that don’t hold your hand, this one’s a time capsule worth dusting off. Just don’t blame me when you start hearing those beeps in your sleep.