The Return of the Jedi arcade game was initially released to video arcades back in 1984. The game's levels are all situated during the events of the Battle of Endor. Excerpts of digitized voice lines from the film's actors are played at specific points within the game. The Ewok Celebration song plays in the background while the player's scores are being recorded on the high score screen.
Later, the game was ported to various home computer systems, including the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. It also made an appearance within the Arcade mode of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, similar to the other two Arcade games, Star Wars: The Arcade Game and The Empire Strikes Back. However, in contrast to the other two, it is not unlockable through normal gameplay, and unlocking it requires a two-part passcode. The passcode needed is "!?ATH!RD GAME?YES".
The game consists of eight levels, with each level being divided into three distinct phases: The first phase puts the player in control of Princess Leia riding a speeder bike, while being chased by Imperial speeders attempting to shoot her down. In the second phase, two different sequences alternate: In one sequence, the player controls an AT-ST as Chewbacca and must dodge falling tree trunks, while in the other sequence, the player pilots the Millennium Falcon as Lando Calrissian, escorted by two X-wings, engaging groups of three TIE interceptors each, flying in close proximity to Imperial Star Destroyers. The final phase involves entering the second Death Star with only the Falcon, where the player must destroy the reactor while evading pursuing TIE interceptors.