Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, also known as Super Return of the Jedi, is a 1994 action video game developed by Lucas Arts and Sculptured Software and published by JVC Musical Industries for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a sequel to Super Star Wars (1992) and Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1993) and is based on the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. Ports to the Game Boy and Game Gear were developed by Realtime Associates and published by THQ in 1995. The game was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in North America on September 7, 2009, and in PAL regions on October 16, 2009, alongside the other games in the Super Star Wars series.
Plot and gameplay
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi follows closely the standard set by the previous two Super Star Wars games, with the return of selectable characters (on specific levels), multiple playable characters and Mode 7 quasi-3D vehicle sequences. The controls are identical to the second game, and this installment also includes its predecessor's password save option. It loosely follows the plot of Return of the Jedi, with some added scenes, such as Luke Skywalker having to fight through the Death Star to get to The Emperor. In addition to the standards Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca, Princess Leia and Wicket appear as playable characters. The re-release is identical to the original version.
Reception
On release, GamePro gave the Super NES version a mostly negative review. Though they praised the musical score, they criticized the game for frustrating controls, overly easy bosses, and particularly the level designs, which they said are repetitious and mostly feel like retreads of level designs from the two previous games in the series. In contrast, Electronic Gaming Monthly praised it for the "excellent" graphics and the need to move carefully through the levels.
GamePro found some flaws in the Game Boy version, such as the rudimentary backgrounds, but rated it "one of the year's most fun and challenging handheld games", particularly due to the diverse gameplay offered by the five playable characters. GamePro gave the Game Gear similar praise, and said the graphics are nearly as good as the SNES version's. Power Unlimited gave the Game Boy version a score of 74% writing: "Quality game with long and difficult levels, although the overview on the small screen is sometimes lost. Also a challenge for the experienced platform player." EGM and GamePro both named it Best Game Gear Game of 1995. IGN placed the game as number 26 on their Top 100 SNES Games of All Time. They praised the game's additional gameplay variety playing up to five characters compared to its predecessors. In 2018, Complex listed the game #67 on its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" saying the game is almost as great but not as difficult compared to its predecessors.