Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (video game)

The game's narrative is structured into four distinct sections, or chapters. The initial chapter unfolds during the opening moments of The Empire Strikes Back. The character Dash Rendar finds himself stranded on Hoth amidst an Imperial assault. As the player, you assume the role of a snowspeeder pilot during the Battle of Hoth, tasked with destroying AT-ATs, AT-STs and Imperial probes. Following this, you must navigate through Echo Base to reach your ship, the Outrider. After your escape from Hoth, you are required to navigate the Hoth asteroid field and fend off multiple waves of TIE Fighters before jumping into hyperspace.

In the second chapter, Dash is in pursuit of bounty hunters who were sent to capture Han Solo. He battles through various trains, eventually confronting IG-88 on Ord Mantell, and attacks Imperial outposts situated within canyons on Gall, with the ultimate goal of locating and engaging Boba Fett.

The third chapter involves Boba Fett's escape, leading to a shift in the player's objective: protecting Luke Skywalker from an assassination attempt orchestrated by Prince Xizor of the Black Sun's. This involves combating a gang of swoop bikers through the streets of Mos Eisley and Beggar's Canyon. Subsequently, Dash retrieves Imperial secret plans for the second Death Star, which are being transported aboard the freighter Suprosa.

In the final chapter, Dash, along with Luke and Lando Calrissian, journeys to Imperial Center to rescue Princess Leia from Prince Xizor's fortress. This entails infiltrating Xizor's palace via the sewers beneath Imperial City, battling through the castle, and ultimately engaging in a space battle above the planet. The game culminates in a surprising twist, where Dash flies into Xizor's space station to destroy it. The game implies that Rendar dies in the explosion, with a secret ending on harder difficulties revealing he secretly survived; however in the book Rendar does not participate in the stations destruction, remaining outside in his ship with the rest of the fleet.

The player is first exposed to the well-known Battle of Hoth here, which is the only instance in the game where the snowspeeder is used.

• Story: Dash Rendar, the captain of the Outrider and a mercenary, has delivered a shipment of assault blasters to Echo Base. Upon landing, he encounters his longtime friend Han Solo. Their meeting occurs at a crucial moment, as the Empire is approaching, and the Rebels need another skilled pilot. Dash is always eager for a good fight. Han speaks with Luke and secures Dash a position in Rogue Squadron.
• Objectives: The player must destroy Imperial probe droids, AT-STs, and AT-ATs, to provide the Alliance with the necessary time to evacuate Echo Base.

The game marks the initial appearance of wampas here. This level introduces the game's most common 3rd/1st person shooting segments, as well as its first boss encounter: an Imperial AT-ST.

• Story: Although Rogue Squadron has enabled most Rebels to escape, their efforts have not been entirely successful. The primary generator has been destroyed, and Imperial forces have entered the base. Han, Leia, and Luke have escaped, but Dash remains behind. With the generator offline, the shield to Bay 3 (where the Outrider is docked) is sealed. Dash must find a way to open that bay door to escape Hoth.
• Objectives: The player must locate and activate the emergency generators and then reach the Outrider. The player must also be cautious of wampas, as they can be either allies or enemies.

This level introduces the game's flying component, where players control the Outrider's gun turrets to destroy asteroids and TIE Fighters.

• Story: Dash has successfully escaped Hoth, but he is not yet safe. An Imperial Star Destroyer has been detected near Hoth. To worsen the situation, the Outrider is approaching an asteroid field. With his co-pilot droid Leebo piloting, Dash operates the gun turrets to defend against incoming TIE Fighters and Bombers. Only after destroying the TIEs can the Outrider jump to lightspeed and escape the Empire.
• Objectives: The player must operate the Outrider's gunnery controls and destroy incoming TIEs and asteroids. Shooting the red asteroids grants challenge points.

This mission involves running and shooting, made more challenging by a narrow moving train and a difficult boss: IG-88.

• Story: After escaping the asteroid field, Dash learns that IG-88, the bounty hunter tracking Boba Fett, is on Ord Mantell. IG-88 is in a junkyard searching for parts to repair his ship, which was damaged by Boba Fett. Dash lands on Ord Mantell to track down IG-88 and discover Boba Fett's location, knowing that Princess Leia would pay well for information about Han's whereabouts.
• Objectives: The player must move from one train car to another until reaching the end, being cautious of turns in the track. Jumping during a turn can be dangerous. A magnetic field around the train disables all of Dash's weapons except his blaster, but he will gain access to other weapons upon reaching IG-88.
• A notable aspect of this level is its use of the "Hyperspace" music from the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack, which has been edited and looped.

The wampas make their second appearance in the game here, appearing brown. This level introduces the jetpack and challenges the player against three bosses: an Imperial AT-ST, Boba Fett, and the Slave I.

• Story: Before destroying IG-88, Dash discovers that Boba Fett is hiding at the Imperial moon base on Gall. With the Empire pursuing him, Dash must enter the base on foot through the back entrance in Smuggler's Canyon. Once inside, Dash aims to find Boba Fett and reach Solo before it is too late.
• Objectives: The player must infiltrate the Imperial base, find the jetpack, and reach Boba Fett before he escapes.

The player faces a different challenge in the form of a race/chase stage, where they must navigate narrow paths at high speeds or face death. The Sarlacc also makes its only appearance in the game during this level.

• Story: While hiding in Mos Eisley, Dash overhears a conversation about Jabba the Hutt hiring a swoop gang to kill Skywalker. The mercenaries speed off towards Kenobi's old home. Dash must reach Luke before the swoop gang does to find out why Jabba wants Skywalker dead.
• Objectives: The player must race through the streets of Mos Eisley and Beggar's Canyon, destroying the other swoop bikers by ramming them into walls or obstacles, and then reach Kenobi's place at the end of the canyon. The player must manage their speed to avoid crashing but also go fast enough to clear the Eye of the Needle.
• Trivia: The stage occurs during the day in Easy, Medium, and Hard modes, but only in Jedi mode does it take place at night. There is also a shortcut to avoid most of the Swoop Gang members and finish the stage quickly.

Dash returns to on-foot combat, navigating through hallways, offices, and engine rooms, culminating in a duel with the level's boss: the Imperial loader droid. Despite the level's icon showing Dash with his jetpack, it is not used in this level.

• Story: With the swoop gang defeated, Dash meets with Luke, who tells him Leia is meeting with Black Sun to find out who wants him dead. Spies from Black Sun have given Luke the location of a freighter carrying secret Imperial construction plans. Dash warns Luke to avoid Black Sun, but Luke feels he must investigate.
• Objectives: Dash must navigate through the freighter and find the supercomputer containing the secret plans.

The jetpack returns in this level, essential for navigating the maze of pipes and dianogas, including the boss: the Giant Dianoga.

• Story: Following Xizor's advice, Emperor Palpatine allows the plans for the new Death Star on the freighter to fall into Rebel hands. While the Alliance works to decode the plans, Luke, Chewie, Lando, and Dash travel to Coruscant to locate Leia. Dash must travel alone through the sewer system and find a way into the palace.
• Objectives: The player must help Dash navigate through the sewers to reach the entrance of Xizor's palace, while avoiding the dianogas underwater.

This level requires the player to use the jetpack to navigate poorly designed areas filled with enemies, culminating in a fight with the final boss: the Gladiator droid.

• Story: Dash has now entered Xizor's Palace. Leebo informs Dash of a way to disconnect Xizor's skyhook space fortress from the palace.
• Objectives: The player must place explosives on the service panels of the space elevator connecting Xizor's palace to the skyhook in orbit.

The final level concludes with a dogfight over Coruscant.

• Story: Imperial and Rebel forces have converged on Xizor's skyhook, with X-wings, TIE Fighters, and Xizor's Star Vipers filling the sky. The skyhook must be destroyed.
• Objectives: Dash must destroy Xizor's fleet, penetrate the skyhook's reactor, destroy the core, and escape safely.

The Shadows of the Empire project was initiated in January 1995. Its development coincided with Nintendo inviting LucasArts to create one of the initial games for the upcoming Nintendo 64 console, which promised real-time action within an interactive 3D environment. The developers chose this interactive format over CD-based pre-rendered multimedia productions, such as the earlier Star Wars: Rebel Assault. Given the console's expected release in late July, the first N64 games, including Shadows, were developed using an emulator on an SGI Onyx.

Mark Haigh-Hutchinson led the project. Art direction was based on concept drawings by Doug Chiang and Michael Butkus, who contributed art for the entire project. Jon Knoles further developed the designs for the protagonist, Dash Rendar, and the antagonist, Prince Xizor. Paul Topolos created concept and storyboard art, with dialogues written by Knoles.

A story outline was completed by April 17, 1995, detailing elements such as the Battle of Hoth, the mission to Ord Mantell, and the infiltration of Suprosa. The designers chose to include a playable version of the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back to allow players to fly in real-time around and between Imperial Walkers for the first time (unlike the cinematic rail shooter appearance in Star Wars: Rebel Assault), and to depict Rendar as a heroic figure fighting for the Rebel cause.

To incorporate the new starships into the game, Jon Knoles created schematics from Doug Chiang's one-dimensional sketches, which were then used to build the digital models. The schematic of the Outrider was finished on February 22 1995. The N64 engine could handle 4,000 polygons per frame in real-time, so they limited the detail to less than 100 polygons per ship to allow more ships in the same scene. The Millennium Falcon, due to its complex design, was an exception, made of 250 polygons. The Falcon and the Outrider, being asymmetrical and round, were the most challenging to design.

The team used several software tools to design the spaceships, creating three versions of each ship model with varying levels of detail. Distant ships required less detail, so a Star Destroyer might be composed of just two triangles to save resources and allow more objects in the scene. The same ship would transition to a medium-distance or close-up model based on the distance. One of the challenges was ensuring a smooth transition as the camera approached an object.

Andy Holdun designed the 3D models of starships with Knoles, and Chris Hockabout created surface textures for the 3D objects. Hockabout used D Paint Animator and its "cells" to collect textures in one file. They also used another graphics program with a library of high-resolution texture files that could be lit from different angles. Some ship models used photographic references from physical models for textures, such as the Falcon. A small statue of Dash was made by LucasArts, and its dimensions and proportions were scanned to develop further consistent designs.

Knoles typically developed the basic level ideas, which were then discussed with Dark Forces veteran Jim Current to enhance action and puzzles. Current designed the environments using AutoCAD. Unlike the Jedi Engine, which did not allow for angled surfaces, the N64 engine allowed for more complex forms, such as round arches and polygonal-shaped corridors.

NPC A.I. was improved compared to Star Wars: Dark Forces, with enemies having some "awareness" of their surroundings and their actions during confrontations with Dash Rendar. Haigh-Hutchinson, who oversaw the Battle of Hoth level, programmed the Walkers to be aware of the Rebels' distance, direction, speed, and laser speed, and to fire anticipating shots. The hostiles' basic A.I. behavior balanced predictability and controlled random factors. During space battles, the system could display a large number of ships by sharing processing and memory resources, such as different ships sharing the same decisions, following the decisions of a single squadron "leader," or copied instances of ships elsewhere.

An unused matte painting made for Return of the Jedi, showing Luke's X-wing and the Millennium Falcon parked on Tatooine, was digitized and used for the epilogue cutscene. A digitized layout of Mos Eisley made by ILM for the Special Edition of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope inspired Bill Stoneham in designing the 3D environment of the town for Part III of the game. ILM produced concept art for the "conehead" swoop drivers for the Special Edition, and similar models appear as enemies in the same level of the game.

The game decided to confirm Dash's survival after the battle of Falleen's First (whose death is left ambiguous in the novel and comic) because killing the player's character after their survival adventure would be unfair.

The PC version of the game, due to its support for a specific set of 3D graphics drivers and filters, presented unique and demanding graphic card requirements, exceeding those of other LucasArts titles of the era. Its video driver specifications have become incompatible with newer hardware generations unless patched or run through a PC emulator. Modern iterations of Microsoft Virtual PC, VirtualBox, and VMWare Workstation have all discontinued support for the required video drivers. However, the open-source PCem emulator offers a compatible 3D accelerated driver.

Significant differences exist between the N64 and PC versions of the video game. The PC version boasts sharper and smoother visual gameplay, attributed to its use of a 3D card, surpassing the N64 version in graphical fidelity. The cutscenes also diverge slightly; the PC version features full-motion cinematic sequences complete with sound effects and voice acting, whereas the N64 version presents only drawn sketches accompanied by text at the bottom of the screen.

In the PC version, if a player creates a save file named " _Credits" (with a space before "Credits"), the game's credits will roll as expected, but with the humorous addition of peculiar subtitles that satirize the "Swedish" subtitles from the beginning of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Within the Nintendo 64 version of Shadows, the supercomputer that houses the Death Star II plans, when viewed from a considerable distance from Dash's point of view, bears a striking resemblance to an actual Nintendo 64 console with a Shadows game cartridge inserted.

Later on, musical pieces from the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack were integrated into the game, alongside several cues from John Williams' The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack:

• The Shadows of the Empire Main Title/Title Screen theme used in the N64 version is, in fact, a previously unused musical cue from The Empire Strikes Back. This cue can be found within " Main Title/The Ice Planet Hoth " on the film's soundtrack.
• The "Battle of Hoth" level incorporates the primary musical cue derived from " The Battle of Hoth ".
• In the N64 release, each level where Dash Rendar is controlled on foot begins with a short musical cue from the Return of the Jedi soundtrack, specifically from the track "The Battle of Endor". In both versions, this cue also plays after Dash respawns after losing a life while on foot.
• The levels "Escape from Echo Base" and the N64 version of "Imperial Freighter Suprosa " utilize the musical cue "The Battle of Yavin (Launch from the Fourth Moon)" from the A New Hope soundtrack.
• The "Asteroid Chase" level, as well as the initial stage of the N64 version of "Skyhook Battle," feature a musical cue taken from "The Asteroid Field."
• The "Ord Mantell Junkyard" level incorporates the " Hyperspace " musical cue from the soundtrack.
• The "Gall Spaceport" level uses the " Departure of Boba Fett " cue from the film. It is noteworthy that the track "The Battle of Gall" from the official Shadows of the Empire soundtrack is not used within the game itself.
• The "Mos Eisley and Beggar's Canyon" level features a segment of "Beggar's Canyon Chase" from the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack.
• The PC version of "Imperial Freighter Suprosa " uses "The Walls Converge" from the A New Hope Soundtrack.
• The "Sewers of Imperial City" level uses "Into the Sewers".
• The "Xizor's Palace" level uses the second part of Xizor's Theme.
• With the exception of the AT-ST encounter in "Gall Spaceport," all boss battles utilize the secondary cue from "The Battle of Hoth."
• The first stage of the PC version of the "Skyhook Battle" level features a musical cue from "Mynock Cave," while stage 2 of both versions uses a cue from the middle of "The Destruction Of Xizor's Palace."

The PC version's game disc is a Mixed Mode CD. When inserted into a CD player, it will play the game's soundtrack. This soundtrack includes 13 tracks taken directly from the game. Ripping the disc reveals that these tracks are composed by John Williams. These tracks are not identical to those on the official soundtrack, but they share similarities.

Despite the game developers' efforts to avoid contradictions with the novel, several significant differences exist between the game, novel, and comic book adaptations.

• Although Dash plays a minor supporting role in the comics and novel, he was selected as the playable character in the game.
• In the novel, Luke recalls Dash successfully destroying an AT-AT during the Battle of Hoth. However, the game reveals that Dash destroyed three of these vehicles.
• Dash Rendar manages to either evade or eliminate most, if not all, of Jabba's bounty hunters before they can reach Ben Kenobi's hut.
• He encounters Luke Skywalker outside the hut, either standing (N64) or also riding a swoop (PC), and Luke is already aware of the Suprosa.
• There is no mention of the Bothan agents, and Luke and Dash depart for the Suprosa from Tatooine instead of Bothawui.
• Dash boards the Suprosa alone and must fight his way to the supercomputer.
• In the game, Dash plants explosives to destroy Xizor's castle, whereas in the novel, he joins Luke, Lando, and Chewbacca in infiltrating the castle. It is Lando Calrissian who throws a thermal detonator down the garbage chute, triggering its collapse.
• If the player completes the game on medium difficulty or higher, the game reveals that Dash escaped the skyhook by jumping to hyperspace and deciding to remain hidden for a while. This scene is only accessible if the player flies the Outrider out of the skyhook. He comments that it is advantageous to be known as a martyr while still alive. Dash's survival aligns with the sequel and other related sources.