X-Wing Games from the 90’s: My Fondly Remembered Gateway into Star Wars

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If you heard the voices and sound effects in your mind while reading those sentences, then you probably spent a fair amount of time in the cockpit back in the 90’s.

My introduction to the X-Wing series of computer games was probably in 1992. I don’t remember the exact year – what I do remember is that I wasn’t yet fully hooked back into the Star Wars Universe. I had watched the movies when I was a kid, and it’s possible that I had picked up Heir to the Empire. I can’t actually remember which came first for me – the first Timothy Zahn novel or the game. What I do remember is that I didn’t actually want the game – but I’m getting ahead of myself. Whichever year it was, I was on vacation. I would’ve been in my early teens, and we were out for summer break. My folks decided to take us to visit an old high school friend of my fathers, and I was enjoying the time away from home. During the visit, we happened to swing by a mall that had a software store.

If you weren’t around back then, this may sound like a foreign concept – back then we didn’t have high-speed internet and digital storefronts. The American Mall was still flying high, and we had dedicated computer stores showing all the latest models of hardware, and glorious big boxes packed with floppies and freebies. I don’t remember what the name of the store was – just that it had everything I could possibly want, and I had money burning a hole in my pocket.

My target?

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos.

I was a sucker for Westwood games, and this one. had the most glorious introduction sequence I had ever seen. I picked the box off the shelf, and then ran some quick calculations in my head. I could buy this one – but I’d have money left over. Not enough for a full-price title, but there was a bargain bin. I started rooting around in it and found X-Wing. It was $16.00. I didn’t want it – but I figured I might be able to trade it to somebody for something that I did want.

Once we got home, I installed Lands of Lore. I had to make a stripped down boot disk to eke out enough extended and expanded memory in *exactly* the right quantities (down to tweaking files and buffers) to be able to enable both the voice features, and my mouse and sound card driver. It took forever, but it worked. I LOVED the game – it was a ton of fun to play. But that *other* box was sitting right there, calling out to me. I didn’t particularly want the game. But I DID have it, and it was just sitting there. I’d never played any kind of flight simulator before, and didn’t have a particular interest – but it couldn’t hurt to install it and give it a shot, would it? So, I did.

Some copies of X-Wing came with an exclusive book – The Farlander Papers – which served as a fairly meaty story primer as well as manual to the game.

Mine – didn’t.

It came with a reference card that told you all of the keyboard commands, but not much else. The number of commands was daunting, and without any context for how to use them, I was not starting off on the wrong foot. Worse, I didn’t have a joystick. I was trying to play with a keyboard and mouse. I got pasted – over, and over, and over and over. I HATED this game. But it annoyed me that I wasn’t any good at it. It became a matter of pride. NO computer game was going to beat ME!

At this point, internet access was not yet available – but we did have a guy down the street who ran a local bulletin board system. My family had a little 2400 baud modem that I would use to connect into his system, and he had a little message board and area to post things. Some wonderful person had posted a strategy guide with tips and tricks for how to play X-Wing. Armed with some actual background into the power management system, I came back into the game with a renewed fervor. I still wasn’t doing great – (it’s hard to drag a mouse over a small surface to try and turn a ship) – but I was making progress.

Before long, X-Wing was all I was playing. It didn’t take long to purchase (and break) a joystick – and later, at least 2 or 3 flight yokes. My world became High School, X-Wing until bedtime after school, and occasionally stopping to eat and say hello to my parents. I initially played on their 386-16, but that Christmas they got me a 486-75 (triple-clocked!) – suddenly I could see ships with a high polygonal count and the solar panels of the TIE Fighters actually shaded in! Where my rudimentary knowledge of Star Wars up to that point only recalled the X-Wing and the TIE Figher, I was reminded of other models ships – the A-Wing, Y-Wing, and B-Wing, as well as the TIE Interceptor and TIE Bomber.

All of these and the created lore for the game led me to back to the movies for context, and to read every scrap of material I could get. The Thrawn Novels and X-Wing are what made me a Star Wars fan, and my obsession with the games in the series have continued to this day. Spin-Off novels and comic books by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston fleshed out the adventures of Rogue and Wraith squadron, and their adventures beyond the destruction of the second Death Star.

I know many others also share fond memories, as there have been countless fan films and even a few remake projects underway to preserve this modern classic with updated models – a surprise from EA/Motive a couple of years ago also gave us a spiritual succesor in Star Wars Squadrons, which was surprisingly faithful in many ways to the originals.

What’s the reason for their staying power? I think it mostly has to do with the authentic Star Wars atmosphere, and the intense level of strategy involved in properly utilizing your energy systems. The key to these games is knowing how to properly route energy where it is required in the midst of chaos, and it makes every game feel like a breakneck battle against chaos – you’re always relieved that you’ve survived.

Have you played this old classic, or was Rogue Squadron more your speed? Share your memories down below…

And up next when we reminisce together again: TIE Fighter.