Shadows of the Empire - An Extensive Star Wars Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Part of a multi-media project from the 1990's, Star Wars Shadows of the Empire is a robust and exciting romp through the world George Lucas created so long ago. Although it is dated and hasn't aged super well, this game shows the stark difference between the love of the original creators and the contempt the modern handlers at Disney have for the fans the franchise.
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So saying that this takes place between 4 and 5 was a TOTAL mis-speak on my part. I know that it was 5 and 6, I have no idea how that error made it past recording much less editing.
hahah i was so close to being that obnoxious asshole who comes in and HOW VERY DARE YOUs over it.
From my memory the modern pulse canon that was used in star wars jedi knight jedi outcast and maybe battle front one and two is first experience with IG88-d on ord mantel
lol yeah bro. You had me second guessing myself for a minute and I got the game, book and comic back when they came out (yes, I am that old). :D
I saw this as I was typing a "it's 5 and 6" response. Good catch, sorry for my BO and pony tail
oof
Rented this 3 weeks in a row from blockbuster for N64 back in the day. It was such a blast!
Same exact experience. Those were the days
I like to believe that when we die, we go to a Blockbuster in the sky where it is perpetually a friday night at 6PM and you see all your friends from school in the aisles @@SludgeMan90
you can still purchase it on steam for a couple dollars and play on modern PC's.
@@eastsideeric2231 the what?
@@eastsideeric2231 Are you having a stroke?
The IG-88 battle on the N64 was one of the most thrilling video game experiences I can recall, actually fairly scary. Great game, infamously horrendous controls.
Yes I remember getting the spooks playing it late at night in my room in 6th grade lol
It's IG-88s voice and sound effects that terrify. That warble he makes...
What stressed me was when you had to fight that giant robot thing. Saving some disruptor ammo for that boss came in extra handy.
That and the battle against Boba.
That figth was algo hard as F with the N64 controls.
With my control Dash only walked slowly.
I failed that fight so many times that the train section became muscle memory haha
I've played this game 100+ times. The first mission (hoth) is responsible for the entire rogue squadron series
I'm not sure if I even knew lvl 3 was playable in 3rd person
I was so scared of IG-88 and the monster in the sewers as a kid... and the robot in Xixor's palace was a difficult fight. Never did beat it...
Fun fact, the wampa at 21:29 is called a "Cliff Wampa", and according to Wookiepedia is the result of imperial bioengineering as a means of guarding imperial territories... The behind-the-scenes origin is that the devs of Shadows of the Empire wanted to implement them to have fun with the game assets ;)
This is by far the best retrospective on Shadows of the Empire! Well done!
It bridges the gap between 5 and 6, not 4 and 5.
I still have this for the N64 haha. I tried it on the hardest difficulty but was freaking insanely hard. One shot deaths make it next level
man this game was an absolute banger back in the day, good memories
I was born in ‘96 and only played a couple of these ‘90s era Star Wars in my early years, but I remember the vibe just being something they can’t create anymore. So much more expansive/diverse than the current universe. Been wanting to check out and read the Heir to The Empire books to try to recapture this, anyways great video!
It’s interesting because I want to blame Disney but tbh I really feel like that special 90’s Star Wars vibe started to fade after the prequels and 00’s. And I like the prequels, I’m not saying they were a mistake, but they changed the aesthetics so much and fleshed out the lore, it really does feel like a different franchise before and after them. And losing that 90’s Star Wars vibe was a consequence, Star Wars in a sweet spot for worldbuilding then, where the setting was established but there was still a lot of room for expansion and it actually hadn’t been that long since the OT wrapped up so it was still pretty fresh in people’s minds and they wanted more. The focus of the franchise as a current setting was just after the fall of the empire following the OG cast, after the prequels that focus turned entirely to leave all of that behind indefinitely and explore the old republic era, just random new characters, too deep lore trying to explain everything, generic and disconnected aesthetics, it was only technically still Star Wars but didn’t feel or look like it or anything. That was why everything was primed for Disney to get everyone pumped for the force awakens precisely because it returned to the old style and rehashed new hope. Heh, maybe I am saying the prequels were a mistake, they’re not bad but only started feeling like Star Wars after we forgot what the OT felt like.
@@fromthefire4176 an interesting and definitely well thought out take my friend. I have to admit my interest does sag a little when it comes to old republic stuff for the most part. For sure I think Revan is really cool and some of the other Sith Lords, but that’s about it and I think you nailed the point about it having a disconnected aesthetic. That post OT era definitely inspired a lot of great work. Personally I’m fine with the aesthetic of the prequels, cause to me in comparison it makes sense head canon wise that the Empire’s galaxy would be more sullen but that’s just me. Nice reply 👍🏻
@@fromthefire4176 Well, they continued with post Endor timeline right up to Disney buyout, but it also changed in aestetics when prequels came out. Somehow after over a decade of worldbuilding, everyone started cosplaying prequels to fit in, like it couldn't remain different and still sell itself as starwars.
i find it funny that grown adults nowadays find a controller that we used as a kid so difficult, I feel like games nowadays have power steering to help you all out haha
I adored playing this game with my dad as a kid. It’s funny too, because most of my least favorite parts you listed as highlights and vice versa, so I suppose the game really is a different experience for different people
This game is one of two video game memories I have with my dad. He played GoldenEye with me a couple years later, but he wanted to rope AT-AT's with me in this game and I will never forget it. I wish to God that my dad had embraced my hobbies a little more (and just met me at my level) and these precious few memories are the closest I'll ever feel to that happening. He's retired now and just plays Solitaire on his iPad and all I can think is that so much has happened in casual / regular video games in the intervening quarter century, I just know there has to be a game out there with mechanics that he will find satisfying and we could maybe bond over.
Such is this life.
In response to your controller comment: this game was actually very easy to control with the original N64 controller. By the time this game came out most players of that system were well experienced in how the control setup worked so it was almost intuitive. When I played this back in the day when it came out I had no issues whatsoever falling off cliffs, looking up or anything like that. Granted this is coming from someone who played it when it initially came out so there is possibly a bias there, but I think the majority of the original players had no issues with the controller setup. Which cannot be said of some other N64 games where the control setup was horrendous even with the original controller.
Very good Retrospective, Evan. The best on this (by the way very great) game on UA-cam in my opinion. Glad you even mentioned Joel McNeely's fantastic score for the multimedia project. Please keep on the good work! :)
Thanks for the review. I remember playing 85% of this game when it came out. What blew me away was the sound track. I have often recalled some of those missions mainly because of the fantastic score.
My dad loved this game. He probably played it more than I did. We never did beat it though. I don’t think we ever got passed the IG boss fight.
Lucasfilm has more success WITHOUT making a single movie, than Disney did with all of the sequels.
Except this is not even close as the sequels have raked in total over $10 billion in profit from box office and merchandise.
I remember in 1st or 2nd grade bringing the instruction booklet of the game to school and looking at it during recess. I unfortunately never got past the speeder level but have fond memories of it. I didn't realize the book and comics when along with the game ill have to pick up the book.
Thanks for the wonderful retrospective
I agree about the outrider, loved it since i was a kid
been playing this game since new on N64, first time ever seeing and knowing of the cut scenes
Played this game at my cousin's back in the 90s. Couldnt get past Hoth, granted I was like 5 or 6 when I played it. Years later I got an N64 and this and got as far as Ord Mantell.
Thanks for the video! It's interesting that John Knoll and other people at LucasArts launched the idea. I always wanted to ask them whether they intentionally imitated the look of the Jem h'adar in DS9 for Prince Xizor. If you're familiar with the X-Wing/Tie Fighter video-game series, then you'll have noticed how the design of so many ships/space stations was taken from Star Trek (e.g. the Preybird Fighter and the Klingon Bird of Prey). These Star Trek reminiscences in '90s Star Wars have always fascinated me and it's a very under-researched topic.
Playing the game on the N64, like most games back then, was something that became 2nd nature the longer you played.
By the last level I was navigating through space fighters like it were a dream.
While battling Imperial walkers on Hoth in the rebel snow-speeder, the classic John Williams' musical score is playing in perfect sync with the action - it was like actually being in the battle of Hoth - never will forget the experience! I don't think any game has matched that thrill since.
I look forward to when he is playing X-Wing Alliance, which was released shortly after the release of the Special Edition movies.
He's gonna love the ship variety and the many smaller call backs to earlier games, such as this one and the hidden references to novels and comics.
Great video! What a fun nostalgic ride. Thanks for making it! And well done!
As my first ever console game, I must point out how revolutionary it was. The snowspeeder section was the blueprint used for Rogue Squadron gameplay, and without it there wouldn't have been the progression of console flight sims that we have.
Also, I really think the N64 cutscenes are better - they're artistically done and have a unique soundtrack that still very much holds up compared to the extremely dated computer graphics of 1997. It is very much dark comic in style and made the game both unsettling and fascinating to play through.
I recently tried to beat it with my own USB N64 controller on Jedi and it is still insanely difficult to control, but what's really cool is that you can also play in 1st person view, top-down for jumping segments, and even cinematic camera view just for fun.
Got this for Christmas in the late 90s for my N64. That was a helluva time to be a 12 year old. I loved this game. Played it over and over until I had a handle on those horrible controls. I love this game for the nostalgia alone, but getting good at it took a ton of trial and error.
I absolutely love the enemy animations that would play in reaction to getting shot.
I remember having a pop-up book comic about the space battle between Boba Fett and IG88, with him delivering Han Solo to Jaba at the end
These videos are really high quality. You're going to get tons more subs soon. Have some engagement.
I had this game 23 years ago and the fight with IG88 was the part I remembered most. It was really fun in its time
I would love a remake of this game. I played it a lot as a kid and always enjoyed it.
Now that's the real full ground-up level remake every developer is way too afraid to undertake. So many facets of this game all but require the N64 controller, and more specifically, a single axis of control.
You should do a Dark Forces or KOTOR one next. Love your breakdown. Subbed!
I really want to actually. Stay tuned.
Youre putting out amazing content. Keep it up, your channel will grow for sure. ❤
I knew I recognized the voice. The voice actor for the main character of this game voiced Canderous Ordo in KOTOR and Mandalore in KOTOR 2. Props to me and my brilliant ears.
I remember playing this on 64. And years later reading the book.
That Boba Fett boss fight was the end game for me. I could never beat him
So many great comments talking about how terrifying the Ig88 fight was as a kid, Good times great soundtrack.
The KOTOR music you inserted to dodge the copyright actually fits the scenes really well...
Man my brothers and I played the hell out of this game on N64. Such great memories. This is my first time ever seeing the cutscenes.
You keep saying how short the game was but I remember it taking forever and it being hard but fair.
Also all these years after playing the game, reading the book and collecting the toys I mispronounced his name as Psy-zor. 😅
this game scared me so bad as a kid. i could only play a few levels. my step bro would play the rest. i loved watching! The sewer levels still invoke nightmare vibes for me
I do NOT throw this around lightly but you totally hooked me with the first 20 seconds!!!!!
Damn that starting line slaped hard.
Thank you so much for saying AT-AT the correct way!
I've subbed man, what a great video. This game was my childhood, I used to play this game when I was around 7 or 8 years old, this game was amazing back in the day as a massive star wars fan. The only level I used to dread as a child was the sewers, that was a rough level. Great video, I'm going to check more of your stuff out.
When I played part 4 on the N64 for the 1st time I was awed about Coruscant design. Unberkwnonst to me it was the very first time we got to see the Capital World on the Empire and that was a few years before Episode I release, just mind blowing!
Blew my mind seeing this on the N64 in a local store. Actually played this before trying Mario 64.
Recently completed the GOG PC version
14:30 The N64 stills in the cutscenes also actually look more atmospheric, especially this one. You see way more of the characters facial expressions
I loved how this game had so many different sorts of gameplay stages. was pretty unique, kinda wish this game would get a full on remake one day but since Disney owns star wars that probably has a zero chance at happening.
6:04 according to Doug Chiang, it was the other way around. The outrider/YT-2400 was designed first for the upcoming Special Editions, and was suggested for use as Dash’s ship in SOTE
This whole game was a pleasure to play on the N64
Man I love your content so much. Keep it up!
I rented this game from the local video rental soooo many times. It was a mom and pop shop so when they were phasing out N64 games they just let me have this one! 😂
Just curious, maybe it's a PC port thing. But I know for a fact that the N64 version has a First-Person Perspective that you can swap to. Both in the on-foot and vehicle missions.
That might solve some of the aiming issues your having if it's present in the PC port
The Ord Mantel was so hard. IG-88 was terrifying.
Awesome video Mike! That's for all the hard work!
Playing this game on Jedi difficulty was nearly impossible. Made it to the Boba Fett battle and was proud enough at that accomplishment. Getting past Hoth was bad enough.
You have no idea how long it took me to beat Boba Fett, how many times I ran out of lives when I got to him..
Same here. I think I beat him by accident
At 9:10 - your problem here is that the FPS is set too high. In your footage, it looks like the game is running at double speed. Shadows was meant to run lower than 30 FPS. In the settings on PC, you can set it to 30 FPS. Try that, and Dash will stop slipping on the slopes. Higher FPS makes this game break.
I read this book last year. It was awesome. I love Vader's hatred for Good riddance Xizor.
I’m kind of impressed now that I won this game at nine years old
I read this book way back when it released. Never had an N64 so I don’t think I knew about this.
thank you so much for that opening 😂
I'm getting a lot of hate for it lmao
@@evprince well you shouldn’t, literally everything you said was true. How alot of us fans feel I imagine
Steve Perry of Journey wrote Shadows of The Empire?! Noted.
I don't know if I'm having a "Mandela Effect", but as someone who played the hell out of this game when it first came out, I could swear all the cut-scenes were just pictures with text dialog, and am having trouble remembering any of the ones shown here. I wonder if they were added to a later release of the game. Maybe I'm wrong, but none of these feel familiar to me.
Nope, you're right. The N64 version couldn't handle the full CG cutscenes. So they had to do the pictures you're remembering. The CG was used in the PC version of the game.
Played this on n64 😂 good memories
agreed, a game should be fun within 5min of starting it, if the credits take up that 5min it drops its quality to a B by default, making at the very best a ABA title... this game was gold, played good with lil bugs, good story, controls an innovation for the time and made good sales for the time. omo AAA by the standards of that grade system. loved shadows all them years ago.
Now, You need a X Win Alliance Review top SEE the conection with the Suprosa run...
Oh yeah, this game was hell on the N64. This was one of the few games I was actually allowed to play (my brother was greedy and would never let me play the system), and playing it with the controller was horrible, and the cut scenes on it were text and image only. Though the vehicle missions were fun with the controller. Everything else was hell
Also, the auto-aim was a leftover solution from the N64 before they ported it to PC, since it was so hard to move with the thumb stick and also aim with it, so the solution was bad auto aim
HAHAHA HOLY SHIT THAT INTRO!!!
it would be excellent if they remade this game. not just a remaster, but something on the level of the Panzer Dragoon remake.
Outride is goated
I enjoyed the book 😊
I like playing this game in first person
But back then we didn't know any better, so the controls didn't seem so troublesome at the time. The first dual-stick game I ever tried was Halo, and it was nothing short of comical. But in retrospect, I can't believe how we made due.
I remember there was a cheat where you could control enemies. Nothing like stomping storm troopers with big ole blocky pixelated wompa 😂
The non-animated cutscenes from the N64 are better.
I wish they remade this game it was awesome
I think the PC port of the game is a little bit faster and snappier.. might be slightly buggy than I remember, I remember movement and aiming being a lot slower. The last level is one of my favorites. I'm surprised I hated the sewer levels, but I think the auto aim was just better on the 64.
I remember when I figured out the "debug mode" on console and just gave myself the jetpack and infinite nukes whenever i want early, and I've never had so much fun exploring levels and places I wasn't supposed to. What a great series.. favorite 64 star wars game besides Rouge Squadron. Great video!
Edit: I'm also kinda sad I didn't get to see the 3 Wampas in the first level lol
Low-key as a kid that was one of my first challenges.. facing my fears fighting them was PTSD inducing as a 4 year old 😆
Anyway long story short I play dead space and bloodborne like it's nothing and watch ghost videos with a more critical thinking mind.
I wasn't scared of the wampas they are just code.. I was scared I couldn't beat them of failure.
So I F@#$%& them up!!!
great first impressions for me too lol
Should try star wars obiwan XB or the og ps1 phantom menace game or jedi power battles on Sega or ps1
I was spoiled with great stories as a child. and complain all you want about the controls. at least they are unique. every game now plays the same.
Exactly. That's a big part of what motivates me to do this channel. To share these old stories.
I played this when it came out, and to this day, I can't decide if I like Dash Rendar, or despise him: he's cool in the way that 13 years old think, and, well...that's Star Wars, in the best ways, and the worst...
Definitely play it in first person. I did that recently on n64 to get the proper ending
Too bad Shadows is no longer canon. I enjoyed both the game and the book as a kid when it came out. This book actually got me started reading the other offerings in the Expanded Universe.
Why does Luke’s lightsaber look orange on the cover of the book ???? Can someone please explain to me if Luke uses an orange saber in this story
Artistic licence.
It’s funny. I played the crap out of this game back in the day, but I don’t remember the cutscenes at all. Were they on the N64?
great star wars game what system is this on now?
PC!
cool did they put it onto steam recently?@@evprince
Why cant we play Shadows of the Empire now? Like seriously where is the version we can play right now??? I WANT TO PLAY IT NOW!!!
It's on Steam.
My brother actually had that toy. I was wondering where that ship was from.
0:07 to 0:21: Yeah, we call that "Legends" now
While its no star wars jedi: fallen order, or KOTOR, and has many flaws, it was still a good game for its time, and i was so excited when it came out...
Very solid retrospective video. I enjoyed watching it… there’s a couple things you should know, and would’ve been great if you were able to tackle in the vid, it might also help give more insight for your experience playing the game… in a number of the 3rd person sections, a lot of the challenge points are placed in clever spots that significantly up the difficulty with the traversal, for example the crack on Echo Base that opens up. There’s a challenge point and extra life that appear after the floor splits up enough. And there’s a lot of other spots like that in the game where challenge points appear and encourage you to really take risks and explore off the beaten path…. also, you played the PC version that has cutscenes. The game was originally made for N64, controls and all, and had very different scenes that were motion graphics, which had more faithful renditions of all the original trilogy characters, and really allowed Dash Rendar and Xizor to mesh well into the universe. Also in the game, there’s only one big track from the SOTE officially soundtrack that made it into the game, the theme of Xizor’s palace. The rest of the game soundtrack is pulled straight from the original trilogy music, a lot of which is Empire Strikes Back music… Also Luke’s design in the game is more like ROTJ instead of how he is on the book cover is because the design may have been changed mid-development. It’s possible it was a reused model from another Luasarts game of the time, like Masters of Teras Kai’s or something else released around the time (the N64 cutscene shows him in that same scene with the Jedi cloak he has in ROTJ too!). The same thing happened with Dash, who originally was going to have long hair and a few other clothing differences, but didn’t because of how difficult it was to make for the game’s engine… Hope that gave some more info for you if you didn’t already have it. This game is great to play and experience, despite all the flaws it has. Definitely shows its age in many ways, but I’d love to see the story revisited again in some way within new canon/a remake of sorts.
Keep up the great work with your videos!
Should have consulted you before making this dang man. Great insight! Thanks for sharing.
@@evprince No probs, hope it was interesting and helpful!
All I have to say is Lucas era books and games will always be cannon. The Disney stuff is not cannon. Mike drop…….
100%
"Shadows of the Empire" really should have a well written miniseries done by the Andor team, it's the original in-between story of Star Wars; taking place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Would be great until they made Dash a gay woman of color.
@@Rschr101😂😂😂 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭
Imagine playing this game back in the 90s way before Disney screwed up the series?.. I played this back when it came out on the n64.. And it was amazing, I still loved Star Wars, and i didn't find the controls that bad at all.. You just need to practice..i mean, it did have auto aim.
A fun game.
To be honest, the controls on the original N64 were not that bad, the footage you show here has it appear very jerky due to the mouse inputs, but on N64 the lock-on Dash often had for hitting enemies was pretty good, all things considered.
I am more a tabletop person now. Rebellion (and it's expansion Rise of the Empire) is literally Star Wars in a box. It allows you to write the story of the trilogy.
My first battle at Naboo was humiliating against Ackbar as I lost 2 Star Destroyers and Ackbar just lost an X wing group.
I sent Boba Fett to capture Luke at Dagobah, but Han rescued him. But I managed to capture Mon Mothma and turned her to the dark side.
I did not destroy an entire planet, but used a single reactor ignition to blast a large number of ground troops.
The game requires a very large table and takes an entire day to play for 2 players.
I also play The Clone Wars where missions are actually episodes from the show. It is more casual and quick to play. You can even play solo.
Those 2 were made with love and that is deeply appreciated. These games are engagi g and components are a delight. I cannot recommend them more.
43:4 Its one of those games that when it was good, it was great, but when it was bad, it was awful. And I echo the sentiment at the beginning of the video too. When I was young, I couldn't stand most of the Expanded Universe. In hindsight, I realize I was misguided and after seeing what Disney has done to the series, I appreciate it much more. Whenever I hear about how much passion and effort was put into Star Wars in the immediate years following the OG Trilogy, I just sit and wonder how it must feel for some of those people who worked on this that didn't end up being billionaires like Lucas, cuz at least he has plenty of money to console himself over the defilement of his series. Its like imagining how JRR Tolkien would feel if he somehow came back to life tomorrow and the first LOTR thing he saw was Rings of Power.