Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a 1996 action video game developed by LucasArts and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is primarily a third-person shooter, with multiple types of vehicular combat and third-person shooting sequences. A version for Windows was released by LucasArts in 1997.
The player controls the mercenary Dash Rendar to help Luke Skywalker and rescue Princess Leia from Prince Xizor. It is part of the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project and takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Tracks from the multimedia project's soundtrack are in the musical score. The game received mixed reviews from critics and was the third-best-selling Nintendo 64 game for 1997, with more than one million copies sold.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Protagonist Dash Rendar rides a [[Speeder bike|swoop bike in a high-speed chase sequence.|alt=A man rides a hover bike through the streets of a fictional desert city]]
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire plays primarily as a third-person shooter. Players control the protagonist, Dash Rendar. His blaster pistol recharges after each shot, and he can pick up additional powerups for the gun. In later levels, Rendar acquires a jetpack to traverse larger gaps. The jetpack can also be used underwater in the sewer level. He has limited health, which can be replenished with health packs located throughout the game. The player is given a finite amount of lives to complete the game. Additional lives can be acquired, however if the player runs out of lives a game over sequence occurs. Each level is timed and challenge points are awarded for performing specific actions or finding hidden tokens, to unlock rewards.
The game features other non-shooter elements. In the opening level, Rendar pilots a snowspeeder in defense of the Rebel base on Hoth. Rendar controls the turret of his ship, the Outrider, in 360-degree space battles to destroy a specific number of enemy ships. In other space sequences, he pilots the ship, destroying targets with its forward cannons. In one sequence, Rendar makes a high-speed chase on swoop bikes, controlling the swoop and attack to eliminate an enemy gang.
Plot
The story is divided into four chapters. "Part I: Escape from Echo Base" begins shortly before the battle of Hoth, as Dash Rendar and his droid co-pilot, Leebo, arrive at Echo Base to deliver supplies. He briefly talks with Han Solo, who gets him temporary clearance to fly with Rogue Squadron. Dash pilots a snowspeeder into battle, and returns to Echo Base when the shield generator is destroyed, just as the Millennium Falcon leaves. He makes his way through the base, attempting to return to his ship, the Outrider. Dash encounters several wampas on the way, and has to fight an AT-ST, but eventually makes it back to Leebo and the Outrider, and they escape a Star Destroyer through an asteroid field.
"Part II: In Search of Boba Fett" begins after the end of The Empire Strikes Back, as Dash searches for Boba Fett, who holds Han Solo, frozen in carbonite. He hunts and battles IG-88, who is attempting to repair his ship on Ord Mantell after an altercation with Fett. The droid tells him that Fett is hiding on a moon of the planet Gall. Dash finds Fett, and damages his ship, the , but Fett escapes. Believing that the Emperor will let him take Darth Vader's place if Skywalker is killed, Prince Xizor orders Jabba the Hutt to kill Luke Skywalker.
In "Part III: Hunting the Assassins", Jabba sends a group of swoop bikers to Obi-Wan Kenobi's home, where Luke is practicing his Jedi skills. Dash races them to Kenobi's, and eliminates all members of the gang. Luke informs Dash of a secret imperial supercomputer aboard the Imperial Freighter Suprosa, containing unknown important Imperial construction plans for the Death Star II. Dash steals the computer, and battles with a cargo droid in a hangar.
"Part IV: Lair of the Dark Prince" begins with Luke, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, and Dash infiltrating Xizor's palace on Coruscant to save Princess Leia, whom Xizor has taken captive. Dash enters the palace through the underground sewer system, and battles an enormous dianoga, before entering the palace itself. While in the palace Dash plants thermal detonators in an effort to destroy it before Xizor summons his droid, which Dash quickly disposes of. After defeating the droid, Xizor flees to his Skyhook space station. Xizor's forces engage in battle with the Rebellion, but during the conflict an Imperial Star Destroyer arrives firing on both parties. The conflict turns as the Star Destroyer engages Xizor and his forces. Utilizing this distraction, Dash destroys the Skyhooks outer defenses and proceeds to fly inside the station, destroying its core. Dash is presumably killed in the blast, along with Xizor.
A short pre-credits scene shows Luke and Leia on Tatooine, mourning Dash's death. If the game is completed on medium or higher difficulty levels, this is followed by an additional scene of Dash and Leebo, who had jumped to hyperspace to escape the blast. Leebo questions Dash's decision to keep the illusion they had died in the Skyhooks destruction, to which Dash says, "It's good to be remembered as a martyr without actually being dead, wouldn't you say?"