Collection essentials #271: Super Return of the Jedi (SNES)

Naturally they had to complete the trilogy! With the release of this game, all three of the classic Star Wars movies had a video game adaptation on SNES. And this game very much was made in the same style as Empire Strikes Back, with more or less the same basic gameplay mechanics carried over, featuring mostly side-scrolling action platformer levels with occasional vehicle-piloting levels to mix it up. Here’s my post about that game for more info.

Empire Strikes Back featured three playable characters: Luke, Han and Chewie, who had their own levels. The most notable thing about Return of the Jedi is that it ups the number to five, adding Leia and Wicket the Ewok (more in a way because Leia has a few different forms), and it also gives you the option to choose your character before a stage. Certain characters are only selected in certain levels, as you can’t play as a character for a scene that they weren’t present for in the movie. So, for example, only Luke is selectable for the showdown against Emperor Palpatine. Though there is a cheat code that lets you play as whoever you want! The different characters have different abilities. Luke, for example, wields a lightsaber as he should, and can use different force powers by using up his supply of force energy, but he’s gotten rid of his blaster entirely and can’t switch between the two weapons like he could in Super Empire Strikes Back. The other heroes use a blaster and Wicket uses his bow and arrows, and the other characters usually have some other kind of ability as well such as grenades or a “spin” move to deal close-range damage. 

Empire Strikes Back already featured levels that were fairly large and sometimes felt maze-like, and Return of the Jedi definitely brings things further in that direction. Some of these levels feel totally massive. The player may feel lost sometimes, though usually the destination is somewhere to the right, and knowing that will keep you from feeling aimless. 

Super Empire Strikes Back had been one of my first ever video games in my early childhood. And since my dad and I both enjoyed it, it’s pretty much a no-brainer that we would get this game too. I wound up getting it for my sixth birthday, and we have the moment I opened it on home video. You’ll notice two cartridges in the photo as well as two manuals. The ones on the right are the original ones that I got on that birthday, and you’ll see in that “Notes” section the passwords that I sloppily wrote down as a child. The other copy of the game you see here is a reprint that came a little bit later, which used a black-and-white manual to save costs. If you look closely at the cartridges you can see that THQ published the rerelease, replacing the JVC logo.

I loved Return of the Jedi as a kid. Most of Empire Strikes Back and this game are burned into my memory from so much childhood play time. However, strangely, a lot of Return of the Jedi’s levels aren’t encoded in my brain so strongly. I’m not sure why, whether that meant I didn’t like them as much, or if by that time I just had other games that were hogging my attention. What IS burned into my brain is the final level of Return of the Jedi. It’s a first-person mission controlling the Millennium Falcon navigating tight corridors to escape the Death Star, and it is VERY difficult, as you have to be almost perfect. It took me literally years to finally beat it. Which Star Wars SNES game is best? Objectively I want to say Return of the Jedi, as I feel like the variety in playable characters should give it an edge. But I seem to have more fond memories of Empire Strikes Back for some reason I can’t really explain. I think I’d have to play the games over again to really decide which one I think is better, and I certainly may do that sometime in adulthood. Either way, they’re both really good nostalgiassentials.