Star Warsis one of the most prolific franchises of all time, with hundreds of products released, andmany games that are tremendously fun to play. Sadly, some of those oldSWgames are really hard to replay, mostly due to technical difficulties or lack of access to a viable remake.
But, hardcore fans of the franchise know there’s always a way, and this list showcases 5 olderStar Warsgames that are difficult to replay — from acritically acclaimed RPGthat has seen better days, to a masterfully developed third-person shooter that desperately needs a remake.
ThoughStar Wars: Knights Of The Old Republicis still going well today, more so with its most recent release for Nintendo Switch, many would believe it is possible to replay this masterpiece without any issues. But,Star Warsfans should be aware that this comes at a heavy price: technical difficulties, compatibility issues, crashes, bugs, and many other problems.
Unless they manage to come up with the right configuration, follow a lengthy guide, and install a series of particular mods, players will have many issues enjoying this great game using a modern setup. Also, kudos to the modding community for keeping this title at least somewhat playableuntil a remake is done.
Since the plagued-by-cheatersStar Wars Battlefront 2became less viable than ever, many fans re-directed their attention to the re-release of the originalStar Wars: Battlefront 2 Classicafter it was made available on several platforms in March 2024. Sadly, many compatibility issues, matchmaking problems, and, of course, lack of a truly secure anti-cheat system made the active player population dwindle.
This has reduced its active population to dangerous levels (below 500 daily people connected), and in a game where some matches need 40 people to start, that doesn’t seem viable at all. A pity, since neither the remake nor the classic seems to be working at the moment. Players will have to wait for the next online FPS game to come out and see if they learn from past mistakes.
Star Wars: Empire At Waris one of those games that is directed at a very specific audience: those who loveStar Wars and Real-Time Strategy games. This masterpiece narrates the war between the Rebel Alliance and The Empire from another perspective — that of those who work on the sidelines to ensure their faction wins.
And, though this game has brought to lifeone of the best and most mysterious villainsin theStar Warsuniverse, it also became a title that is hard to play nowadays due to the lack of support and the many technical issues it has accumulated over the years. Most of them are related to crashes, save data loss, and campaign bugs that need to be fixed through heavy unofficial patches and modding. Sadly, there are no plans for a remake of this game, so players will have to do with playing the less-than-ideal Steam version.
The main issue with this game is that — unless players own a working PS1, a Dreamcast, or Game Boy Advance (with a working copy of the game) — it is nearly impossible to play it. Of course, there’s always the emulation option, but that also requires very specific PC settings and hardware that is not always compatible with the demands of the emulation engine.
Jedi Power Battleswas the closest to a modern SW action platformer with RPG elements players had, and it was tremendously fun to play with friends. Cooperative didn’t have the split screen mode, but the old side-scroll out-of-screen mechanic required a lot of coordination between players to avoid being knocked out if an ally moved too far away from the playing screen. Still, it was an absolute blast, since players could team up with several members of the Jedi order,including the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi, and smash Separatist Androids like crazy. Many fans would appreciate a remake or a similar game for modern consoles and PC.
1Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire
Emulation Is The Only Viable Option
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empirewas a third-person action FPS available for the Nintendo 64 that portrayed the struggle of Dash Rendar — a pilot, smuggler, and supplier of the Rebel Alliance — who gets entangled in the conflict between factions while meeting his old friend, Han Solo, during the events ofThe Empire Strikes Backwhen he has to board a vacant Snowspeeder to fight against the incoming AT-AT assault.
The gamemixes spaceship piloting in intense flight battleswith a lot of shooting action, and it was considered (alongside titles likeGolden Eye 64) one of the best action games of the era. Sadly, the port for PC available on Steam is less than ideal, and its controls are clunky and hard to use. That, alongside the many technical difficulties, makes replaying it a stressful experience. The game is still officially listed on the Nintendo page, so a release for Nintendo Switch could be planned.
