The Empire Strikes Back (Atari, 1985)

[@MelancoliaI]

These old Vector games have a unique aesthetic all their own

[@detonator2112]

Mike Hally is a genius. He designed all the best arcade games ever: Star Wars, Gravitar and Empire Strikes Back are simply amazing. These games are 100% class.

[@ninelivecat]

Kids now days have everything now all at once but in the 80's technology was just emerging so each year brought something new and dynamic In many ways It was probably a more exciting time to be a kid Going to the arcade was a special treat at the weekend and the prospect of seeing a new game.

[@tomy.1846]

Very true! Graphics got better and better, now we have deepfake technology, what's next?

[@ChadQuick270W]

Nothing better than those color vector games. They all looked so damn sharp and crisp. I played a lot of this and Star Wars and Tempest at Aladdin's Castle way back when.

[@jugglingembalmer]

Color vector graphics are so hypnotizing.

[@ab9pdonteh]

@Bazookatone1 The CRT used for this type of thing gives direct control of the gun deflection so it can draw a solid line between two points instead of rendering it to a pixel buffer. That's why you don't see any scan-line flicker even though it's recorded through a camera. It's impossible to reproduce on a regular TV or computer monitor because even a super high resolution will still have to be turned into pixels.

[@MxArgent]

It's pretty damn impressive what the fellows at Atari did with the hardware they had.

[@PuGoRaPTR]

good pfp

[@carlosparacio5679]

This was my FAVORITE arcade game when this came out. It had a special controller yoke that made it so much fun.

[@billthecat666]

I've only seen pictures of this in magazines. Thanks for posting.

[@nicklambert5059]

I never really played Empire but Star wars Arcade machine was amazing and to this day is still a firm favourite with me. 🙂

[@marklubek5151]

The way the atats moved. That was incredible for the time

[@ScareMeSexy71]

the psychadelic colour scheme used to give me such a rush as a kid as did the audio soundbites and the tiny music that was soooooooo loud in 80's arcade

[@Kalphoenix]

I can only imagine how awesome this would have been to play at the time (I think it is pretty awesome now). While we had the 2600, I was a little young with overprotective parents to hit the arcade for some of these fantastic classics. Thank you for the share. Amazing!

[@dunkjf]

Cockpit version of this was awesome in tbe early 80's, so loud "use the force luke" 😂😂👌

[@BeedeePizzle]

This is the Atari arcade version form 1984/85. It is running on a 25'' vector monitor. In the original Star Wars cockpit machine.

[@eol6632]

It's looks better in person. Those wrap around arcade cabs were great

[@techtinkerin]

This was years ahead of its time😊❤️

[@BeedeePizzle]

It was technically a conversion for the original Star Wars boardset, but at the time there was no way to run them both due to security IC's and the like. It wasn't until years later that a mod was developed to run them both on the same board.

[@deoglemnaco7025]

My dad tried to make that happen. Would wind up taking his own life as he couldn’t get it to work

[@mebossyounothing]

wow for 1985 this gfx where outstanding, very nice coded game !!!

[@katakisLives]

Vector graphics rule! I'd love to see them stage some kind of comeback

[@amcaesar]

I can smell the carpet of the arcade right now.

[@stephp6221]

Those aren't the meteorites you're looking for. If I had seen this game, it would have eaten all my quarters.

[@theopenrift]

This is why I wish I grew up in the 80s...

[@MrHavokman]

Love the sounds

[@diggerpete9334]

I remember playing this this very game at the local amusement arcade back in 1985 when I was 17.

[@ednguyen3822]

Wow. Never seen this arcade game before! Must have been really rare!

[@km9OOO]

Looking at the simplistic graphics of games from that era, it feels so ancient, and yet so recent. Kids today are so spoiled.

[@blumbino]

Never got a chance to see or play this as a kid. Only had the Star Wars machine locally. Nice to finally see it.

[@lsk-nf7um]

I remember the first time I played this I was at the mall think I was waiting for a movie Goonies or Fright Night to be 15 and out for summer break again! Good Times.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I loved arcade games that talked and had multiple stages like Gorf.

[@AlexR-ATG]

@danond: Actually, I have star wars rogue squadron 3, and if you play well enough, you can unlock all of the classic star wars arcades. So with that, there might still be hope for these old school games to be known.

[@leefran71]

i only ever saw this once,think it was an arcade in Scarborough,probably mid 80's,only found out many years later that some of the original star wars machines had been modified to play this.I can see why there wasn't that many with this change done,as while it was okay to maybe play once or twice,it's not a patch on the original game.Its still great to see it once again though,thanks for posting!

[@WebVManReturns]

Old Vector based games still amaze me to this day as well as games that look similar like Blaster, Lawnmower Man, and Virtual Boy games.

[@garyhunt9600]

Don't remember seeing this at the arcade

[@AshleyPomeroy]

It was only sold as a conversion kit for the original Star Wars machine, so it was really rare.

[@jstephenj]

This game was also released when Star Wars was in something of a dark period, as there were no new movies on the horizon.

[@dougcl_]

If only it would have remained in that dark period.

[@JohnSmith-eq2tf]

Lol

[@gothicfan51]

At the start I was like, "Holy shit, I didn't know A2600 was so powerful. Even NES wasn't" but then I realized this was a arcade.

[@justinmillard8196]

Wow! I’ve never seen this in action before. KZbin suggestions brought me here.

[@italolinarez9978]

Man This looks FUCKING AWESOME!

[@andresrincon5280]

This brings back memorys when we played this in starwars rouge squadron lll rebel strike

[@goatmaster3387]

This is quite an amazing 3d Experience for 1985 Atari

[@videoghostreviews5326]

this looks awesome im totally looking for it now thanks

[@SpecialAgentBillMaxwell]

I never realized there was a sequel to the Star Wars original game. With vector graphics, I mean. I only saw the original vector Star Wars (which was a blast) and the Return of the Jedi game (no vector graphics, but still fun).

[@Colin2084]

The colour vector monitor (be it a WG6100 or Amplifone) is fairly straight forward to fix, now that the Lopts (HV Transformers) have been reproduced. It would not be straight forward to fit a B+W, you need to build some electronics to combine the colours for a start :-( I need to get my cockpit up and running this year ...

[@1simo93521]

Had the star wars games on my Spectrum 128k good times.

[@flowerpt]

I should talk to my local arcade museum about finding this - they have many rare units, and despite the ungodly number of quarters I pumped into Star Wars, I've never had the chance to play ESB!

[@JasonNation72]

@ninelivecat Heck yeah, the Episode IV game was getting reasonable business because of me. I pumped so many quarters back in the day for that game! That does make sense though, don't fix what's not broken.

[@ab9pdonteh]

@Bazookatone1 It wouldn't have to draw in any special order because there's no back-face culling or hidden line removal so it dumps directly to the screen. Any intersecting points will just be a color combination like blue and green lines will look cyan at the intersection. Raster graphics use a Z buffer so it knows how far a drawn pixel is from the camera. If a new pixel is closer to the camera then it knows to overwrite it otherwise it skips it.

[@ninelivecat]

@JasonNation72 No it wasn't mainly because it was a conversion kit for Star Wars 1983 It actually came out 1 year after Return Of The Jedi Arcade in 1985 So a lot of operators probably couldn't be bothered converting over the original Star Wars arcade game which were still probably doing reasonable business

[@JasonNation72]

Wow! I've never seen this chapter of Star Wars in the 80s arcade scene. It must've not been as popular as the '83 version.

[@AldrinAlbano]

The attack on the Death Star (and blowing away Darth Vader's tie fighter) was better but I loved this either way!! The gamers these days have no idea of the FUN of arcades back in the 1980s. It's not the graphics that counts guys, It's the game play!!

[@mikeytee6821]

I hold the world record all time high score with this game.

[@YouthfulElf]

I played this game one time where it was built into a moving seat to make you feel like you were really flying the speeder. I've never seen that again so it might have been a rare set-up.

[@ninelivecat]

@JasonNation72 Yeah also the kit would have been expensive at the time and would have required a good technician to make the changeover a luxury that not all arcades could afford

[@ninelivecat]

@genredleader It was a conversion kit for the original Star Wars arcade game and was released after Return Of The Jedi arcade game in 1985 It wasn't as common as Star Wars or Return Of The Jedi I only came across it once in arcade

[@legocontrollerjr]

even at the age of 15, i want to open an arcade filled with old games like atari and tron, etc. sadly i don't have the money to entertain the modern day kids with the classics. man i love old retro games, heck one of my favs is space paranoids. god i love that game!

[@TheReverb1]

This is the best vector game ever

[@shenmeowzo]

Awesome. Don't think I ever played this sequel.

[@tylerdude1982]

Holy shit, it’s Starfox

[@shoresean1237]

Darth Vader and his Executor were searching for the Rebel Hideout, but instead found the Honeycomb Hideout. It was - Big - Yeah Yeah Yeah.

[@theydidntnameme]

wow ballin!!!!! i wish i was alive to have played that back in the day

[@lohphat]

I remember there was a "Force Bonus" if you could get through levels without firing a shot.

[@leonel1982]

Oh yesssssssss I played the Episode 4 version in a run down arcade in Willmar, MN every chance I could!

[@gortium85]

Awesome!!!

[@OptimiSkeptic]

I'm getting nostalgic over 14 year old comments on a 36 year old video game. FML.

[@agfagaevart]

VECTOR GRAPHICS!!!! Star Wars game emptied my pockets of cash many a time, during 1983.

[@BradliusMaximus]

OMG I remember playing this when I was 4!!!! Damnit...nostalgia just made me need a change of pants...

[@4fingas69]

Ahh yes. Gonna find this for RetroArch and ps3

[@lesterroberts1]

I would love to play this!!

[@boiledrootbeer]

This game looks super smooth.

[@PurpleKnightmare]

Wow I've never seen that in any arcade.

[@Colin2084]

Oh... Its unlikely that the tube would be dead... especially if its an amplifone (unless its been ultra reliable and had a long life, or its been physically damaged) - I bought a 19" amp last year, and have a 25" one on hold... Im in the UK and these are harder to souce here than in the USA. You can use a WG6100 as a drop in replacement (and these are a lot easier to get hold of as were used in many more games)... Usually the monitors electronics have died well before the tube....

[@ninelivecat]

I came across it only once It was a conversion kit for Star Wars most arcade operators weren't interested in the upgrade because Star Wars was still quite popular so that's the reason you probably never came across it.

[@dedeman1]

Wow, why did I never see this game? It's not like I didn't spend enough time/money at the arcade.

[@BeedeePizzle]

No, it's on a 25" amplifone monitor in a SW cockpit. You can see some of the vectors (especially on the text) don't line up correctly.

[@TheNatedogg56]

This game would've been awesome on the Vectrex!!!

[@529550]

Its look like a phantastic lasershow...

[@josymon]

Asteroids do not concern me admiral! The best part is surviving that asteroid field.

[@starsiegeplayer]

Never heard of this game before.

[@SmileyCrossbones]

Amazing.

[@Bazookatone1]

Can someone please answer a qustion for me? AS I understand it, this game (and Battlezone, and presumably others) used vector graphics rather than raster graphics, which is why they look so good. Now I understand the principle behind vector gaphics (sort of), my question is, is there a difference in the physical display that vector graphics are shown on, compared to your garden variety CRT, such as in an old TV or computer monitor.

[@kilroy987]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the CRT surface tech is the same, but the way things are rendered differs. A normal CRT screen will refresh the entirely display, usually top to bottom, rendering every pixel. But a vector graphic machine will draw a fast line to render the whole screen from point to point. So the lines look very straight and not pixelated.

[@1337Shockwav3]

This looks really impressive for a Vector game. You happen to know how many different beams are inside the monitor? Thanks for posting.

[@captainspire9094]

All the quarters went here.

[@derekl2882]

As I remember it, the new hope game that preceded this was better.

[@heavenlysheephugshuggingfo1505]

these will make a good game on the app store

[@DarthRushy]

Actually, ESB was originally a "mod". There was some kind of a way to "add" the second game to the first one.

[@Colin2084]

There are 3 different Z level outputs from the PCB... for the Red Green and Blue... You need to combine these to give a single B+W Z intensity... Such as a mixer circuit....So you get your shades of gray... if you just hook up one of the colours, the other two will be blind... make sense ?

[@concord327]

wwwwwwwhaaaaaaaaat> i did not know that this existed- i knew about the Star Wars game and played it every summer for years now I can't find it anywhere- but I didn't know they made an Empire game too! But I do play the Sega SW which is a decent remake of these games.

[@ugirl2]

I remember playing this on chrismass

[@danpolk]

Appreciation of history is lost on the young.

[@parapoliticos52]

It blew the mind of 1983 kids. It's competitors was space invaders.

[@parapoliticos52]

@Christ is lord Space invaders came first to N.America in 1980. It will reach its peak popularity 2 years later.

[@parapoliticos52]

@Christ is lord It doenst matter. the point is it was the most popular and widely played game in 1983 when Star wars game came out.

[@parapoliticos52]

@Christ is lord WRong. There are the revenues of the company that demonstrate how popular or not it was.

[@chosento2988]

@Christ is Lord Thank you for shutting up the know it all millennial...Thank you!

[@parapoliticos52]

She is still wrong. You know that there data for the companies incomes per year, right?

[@beelzeburbia]

"May the force be with you" has geabbed me,then pulled me :D

[@KaitainCPS]

Thanks for that.

[@Stun-69]

Played this in the arcade. Best games ever. Why are these not on IOS yet?!

[@MattMcIrvin]

I don't think I ever saw this one in real life! Clearly a reworking of the 1983 Star Wars arcade game (in which you fought the Death Star trench battle) with different graphics.

[@Concreteowl]

I wish Jedi got the vector treatment.

[@RedneckRealist]

this is amazing!!!

[@jefripayne102895]

Was it just me or was that astroid field pretty tough? I eventually mastered it.

[@ste309w]

I WANT ONE!

[@Kudosmeister]

The poor man's Star Wars Trilogy...

[@SparkyMK3]

I've played the port of this game on Star Wars Rebel Strike, and its nowhere near as smooth or crisp looking as it is here! My my!

[@nrdesign1991]

I think he just synced his camera with the display