X-Wings, Lightsabers, and Scorpion Vader: Celebrating 40 Years of Star Wars Video Games

by Chris Baker, Thor Thorvaldson (Illustrator), Jason Babler (Illustrator)

THE ULTIMATE CELEBRATION OF STAR WARS VIDEO GAMES! There has never been a bigger celebration of the history of Star Wars games than X-WINGS, LIGHTSABERS, AND SCORPION VADER. Written by videogame industry veteran Chris Baker—who spent three years at LucasArts himself—the book collects several long pieces he has written on the subject in recent some for Rolling Stone in 2017, one for YouTube channels, and another reflecting upon his time at LucasArts. More than 15 developers contributed exclusive quotes for this book—even the composer for Namco's Japan-exclusive Star Wars for Famicom (where Darth Vader turns into a scorpion!). When appropriate, new content has been added from the original pieces.ANSWERING THE STAR WARS VIDEOGAME QUESTIONS YOU NEVER KNEW YOU HADWhat role did the founders of Pixar have in the first Star Wars game ever?How did Bounty Hunter influence The Mandalorian?What game at one point allowed Luke Skywalker to snap necks?What Star Wars game took inspiration from Battlestar Galactica?What game released to early, with fans completing it years later?How did a tester in QA influence a core feature of Jedi Knight ?The most authentic localization of Japan's Famicom game everIn what form did Battlefront 3 actually come out?What Battlefront game is so obscure, no live gameplay exists on the internet?How did the worst moment in Star Wars gaming history lead to one of its best?What makes the book's title a lie?More information below.

Genres: Star Wars

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 4, 2023

Reviews

[Steven Irish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great game review

Nice photos and good summary. Anecdotes at the end along with 40 Hoth games a great way to finish the book.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Baker, a Star Wars fan that spent a few years at LucasArts, Marvel and Zen Studios; put together a book on his passion. He goes through: some of the best Star Wars games; asks a translator to verify a translation of a Japanese Star Wars game; goes through all the Hoth levels in every Star Wars game which he documented in video form on his YouTube channel, “Chris Baker - SUPERHEROdotVG”; articles he has written; and a few tales of when he met George Lucas. So it is quite varied, and more written for himself; but I enjoyed reading it. For the most part it’s just like other books on gaming where you might get a screenshot or two then a description of the game.

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Celebrating 40 years of Star Wars games, a topic that could probably make for a good/thick book, by collecting some previously released articles that I was able to breeze through after two sittings in one day.