LucasArts: Limitless Adventures in the 1990s

The 90s is making a big resurgence lately. Girls walking around with chokers and baggie jeans, Xbox and Nintendo re-releasing the 1997 hit Goldeneye, and Netflix doing a spin-

off of "That 70s Show" called; you guessed it, "That 90s Show". Whether you love the nostalgic vibes or feel corporations are just abusing 30 somethings urge to feel childhood again with a price tag, the 90s are in.

I was born in 1987 and was the ages of 3 to 12 during the Nineties so I guess you can say I was an 80s baby but a child of the 90s. I have a lot of fond memories of that time period. A good majority of that time was spent wrapped up in games made by LucasArts. For those that don't know LucasArts was a software company and part of George Lucas' media companies. They made a majority of the Star Wars themed games, but also had other original titles as well. In the mid to late 90s Star Wars made a humongous resurgence. First with the digitally remastered original trilogy and then the build up to Phantom Menace. I was completely consumed by it and quickly transformed into the Fan Boy you see today. It was only natural I would jump into video games based on Star Wars. I want to say the first game I got my parents to buy was Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. I remember making that decision solely based on the box art. Kyle Katarn battling the Dark Jedi Jerec while Stormtroopers rain fire down from above.. Light me up a cigarette.. I've touched on this game in a previous post, but what a masterpiece. Pretty sure this was the first game where you could become a Jedi and progress from apprentice to master. It also had like a moral system. If you did bad, like kill NPCs you would move closer to the dark side, and would help you unlock those powers. Depending what path you chose impacted what ending you got. Pretty standard stuff by today's standards, but back in the day that was really innovative.

In the box of DF2 came a little LucasArts catalogue that showcased other titles available for PC or Console. I studied that little booklet like it was some kind of ancient tablet that would grant me eternal youth. It was the basis for all future birthday and Christmas presents. X-Wing, Tie-Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter, Dark Forces, Mysterious of the Sith, the Star Wars games kept coming. One really interesting title was Star Wars: Rebellion. It was like this real time strategy game where you took the helm of either the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance. The goal was either to free the galaxy or conquer it. I feel it was really innovative for its time. You could send someone on a diplomatic mission to win favor for the Rebellion on a neutral planet or spark revolution on planets loyal to the Empire. You could blockade planets, invade planets, engage in space battles, it was a really interesting game. You even had familiar faces from the film at your disposal. I liked how at a point you can send Luke to Dagobah for his Jedi Training.

Who could forget N64 fan favourites Rogue Squadron and Shadows of the Empire. The latter being this interesting media combo of read the novel, and the comics, and play the game. Shadows was a ridiculously fun game. As a kid my cousin had the game and I only had the demo on my PC. The demo gave you the first level which is the infamous Battle of Hoth. I played that over and over and over. The euphoria of piloting a snow speeder taking out probe droids, AT-STs, and roping the AT-ATs was a high I do not think I can ever top again. Honorable mention to that swoop mission racing down Beggars Canyon was another adrenaline filled level with lots of crashing and uses of newly learned curse words. There were a few Star Wars games I never got to play like Master's of Tera Kasi and the Rebel Assault series which I hope one day to try. Technically, this game came out in 2000, but I have to mention Star Wars Jedi Power Battles. A co-op game where you and a buddy can team up as Jedi to take on the Trade Federation.. umm yes please!!! This was a random rental that turned into a classic amongst my friends. It was until many years later I found out how superior the Dreamcast version was in comparison to the PlayStation version.

LucasArts wasn't just a game studio to pump out Star Wars titles. It produced other original non-Star Wars games that live in our hearts and minds to this day. Many of those games are the graphic adventure games that LucasArts was famous for. They where like story driven puzzles where you needed to use items around you and your god given know how to figure out how to progress from one puzzle to the next. Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam & Max where the earlier titles I never tried. My first exposure to these games was 1995's Full Throttle. Where you play as Ben, whose motorcycle gang has been framed for a murder by this corporate thug voiced by none other the great Mark Hamill. After Full Throttle I also played Curse of Monkey Island and one of my favorite games of all time 1998's Grim Fandango. That whole game is just amazing from the story of being a Grim Reaper Travel agent selling souls travel packages to the after life to the amazing voice talent of Tony Plana. What's really great is many of these point and click adventures have been remastered and made available on modern systems so that the new and old can continue to enjoy them. (Trust me you don't want to try and get your Windows 95/98 game running on your Windows 10 OS)

LucasArts was a huge part of my childhood and some of my favorites gaming memories where playing these titles. It's impossible to cover every title and there are some I completely missed out on like Outlaws. If you have any fond memories you want to share about these or any games drop me a line on the blog or on Twitter.

Stay Safe Gamers!

References used for this article include Google.ca and Wikipedia.org

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