If Star Wars (1991) took A New Hope and turned it into a weird, hard platformer with a surprisingly personal grudge against the player, then The Empire Strikes Back (1992) looked at that formula and decided it needed more snow, more punishment, and a slightly darker mood. That was not a terrible instinct. Based on the 1980 film, the game launched on NES in 1992 and later came to Game Boy, with the NES version credited to Lucasfilm Games and Sculptured Software, and the Game Boy version credited to NMS Software. As part of our Complete List of All Star Wars Games Ever Made (1979–Present), this one matters because it continues a very specific and very early-90s idea of what Star Wars should feel like on home hardware. It also sits naturally in the Star Wars Games (1990–1999) hub, right after Star Wars (1991), because together they form a sort…
