Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Return Of The Jedi

Description

The player controls an on-screen ship in one of three different stages -- Speeder Bikes, the Millenium Falcon and an AT-ST walker -- in a third-person perspective, shooting enemies and avoiding obstacles to reach the end of each stage.

Return Of The Jedi was produced by Atari in 1984.

Atari released 139 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Return Of The Jedi was produced include: Cloak & Dagger, Arabian, Crystal Castles, Cloud 9, Alpha 1, and Firefox

Specs

Name	Return Of The Jedi
Developer	Atari (United States)
Year	1984
Type	Videogame
KLOV/MOG #	9305
Class	Wide Release
Genre	Platform
Monitor	Orientation: Horizontal Type: Raster: Standard Resolution Color: Color 19-inch Electrohome G07
Conversion Class	unique
Game Specific	Return Of The Jedi Pinout
# Simultaneous Players	1
# Maximum Players	1
Game Play	Single
Control Panel Layout	Single Player Ambidextrous
Controls	Steering: X/Y-directional yoke with common triggers and thumb buttons
Sound	Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp)
Cabinet Styles	Upright/Standard Environmental/Cockpit - UK - Light blue
Control Panel	Return Of The Jedi Control Panel Image
Side Art	Return Of The Jedi Side Art Image

Game Introduction

In the first stage of the game, you pilot a Speeder Bike where you must avoid enemy bikes and trees in an attempt to reach the Ewok village where you receive a 10,000 point bonus. The second stage has you controlling the Millennium Falcon as you dodge obstacles and TIE Fighters to reach the reactor and blow it up. The next round has you flying a Speeder Bike again, followed by the driving of an ATST Scout Walker. After another round of Speeder Bikes, you enter a "split-time" mode, where you alternate between the ATST and the Millenium Falcon's assault upon a Star Destroyer. The game switches between these two modes every few seconds.

Unlike the previous Star Wars titles released by Atari, this game does not implement a "first person" cockpit perspective, but instead uses a pulled-back 3rd person perspective that is very similar to that of Sega's Zaxxon.

Game Play

If you play the game all the way through, it stops and there is a nice little ceremony where Yoda tells you, "You are now a true Jedi Knight", and you get a little golden star beside your name on the scoreboard.

Return Of The Jedi KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.43 (6 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.36

Overall Like	3.50
Fun (Social)	2.50
Fun (Solo)	3.33
Collector Desire	3.60

Technical Rating: 3.50

Gameplay	3.17
Graphics	3.67
Originality	3.60
Sound/Music	3.83

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

Images

Trivia

The "name entry" music is Ewok Celebration - often referred to by fans as Yub Nub - which is heard in the final scene of the original 1983 release of the film.

Cabinet Information

This game used a cabinet design that is very similar to other dedicated Atari classics like Firefox and Major Havoc. Decals of Luke Skywalker on a speeder bike and Darth Vader's helmet are on the upper section of the cabinet that contains the monitor. There is no artwork on the lower section of the cabinet.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Return Of The Jedi Census

There are 15,268 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,671 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,977 machines (7,000 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 108 known instances of this machine owned by Return Of The Jedi collectors who are active members. Of these, 97 of them are original dedicated machines. One is a conversion in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 10 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 5 active VAPS members with a Return Of The Jedi machines for sale.

Wanted - Popular - There are 15 active VAPS members currently looking for Return Of The Jedi.

This game ranks a 28 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 27 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

There are no physical DIP switches found on the game board. All game settings are modified in test mode and then saved to an EEPROM. The game has a large amount of digitized speech and sound effects that are generated by the TMS 5220, the same speech IC used in Atari's Gauntlet.

Legacy

Manuals

Return_of_the_Jedi_-_1984_-_Atari.pdf - Return Of The Jedi Manual — **Return_of_the_Jedi_-_1984_-_Atari.pdf**
(80 pages, 6.7 MB File)

Foto-Finder® (Books)

The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 174; Color photo Price guide: No
Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 174; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

3D Model (External): Upright (49fd436f1eaf12771d9de88c1cabaeb7)

eBay Listings

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