Star Wars Arcade (1993, Sega)

Ten years after the vector classic, Star Wars returned to arcades in a dramatically different form — Star Wars Arcade by Sega from 1993 swapped wireframe models for full-fledged polygonal 3D graphics and showed how far arcade technology had come. For players used to the vectors of the eighties it was a revelation.

The game ran on Sega’s then-cutting-edge Model 1 hardware, the very same on which the revolutionary Virtua Fighter grew. Fully textured, shaded polygonal graphics made it possible to render space battles with a depth and fluidity never seen before. Star Wars Arcade is a rail shooter from the cockpit view where you tear through space, shoot down TIE fighters, and head toward a grand finale — again the attack on the Death Star, this time in polygonal garb.

The highlight of the experience was the luxurious arcade cabinet. The sit-down cabin version with a panoramic view and quality sound sought to draw the player into the action body and soul, and ranked among the most attractive things the arcades of the time offered. The union of top-tier graphics and impressive hardware made playing a small event.

Culturally Star Wars Arcade shows how the saga managed to return again and again with each new wave of technology. While the 1983 vector game defined the era of lines and lights, this version embodied the arrival of 3D and foreshadowed the direction space shooters would take in the nineties.

Thanks to a later port to the Sega 32X console, the game reached homes too, albeit in a technically more modest form than the dazzling arcade original. For lovers of the brand’s history and of early polygonal games it is a fascinating milestone.

Why play: Star Wars’s polygonal leap into the 3D era on the legendary Sega Model 1 hardware — the attack on the Death Star as a gleaming technological spectacle.