Star Wars: X-Wing
1993 · Space Combat · PC/DOS
Overview
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993) is Totally Games' space combat simulator, in which the player flies Rebel starfighters from the cockpit in polygonal 3D. Its launch shipment of 100,000 copies sold out in a weekend.
Deep Dive
The player flies the Rebel Alliance's A-wing, X-wing and Y-wing in three tours of duty of 12 to 14 operations each, set before and during A New Hope. Missions range from dogfights and escorts to convoy attacks and strikes on capital ships. Energy is divided between lasers, shields and engines, so charging weapons or shields slows the ship down. The ships were drawn as 3D polygons rather than bitmap sprites, among the first games to do so.
Developer Story
Lawrence Holland, who had made World War II flight simulations, designed it with Edward Kilham at Totally Games, and Peter McConnell's score used John Williams' Star Wars themes. It shipped in early 1993, and retailers had ordered nearly 500,000 copies by December. Two expansions, Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing, followed the same year.
Did You Know?
- It was the first game other than an adventure to use LucasArts' iMUSE music system.
- A sixth tour, set at Echo Base, was planned but never made.
- Computer Gaming World named it Simulation of the Year for 1993.
Sources & further reading
- Star Wars: X-Wing (video game) — Wikipedia
