Star Wars has been a staple of pop culture for decades, and unsurprisingly it has spawned over a hundred tie-in video games. The first-ever Star Wars video game, The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600, came out in 1982, just two years after the film it was based on.
Ever since then, Star Wars video games have been released at a steady rate. These range from film adaptations to wholly unique stories to totally different games with a Star Wars skin slapped over top. Not every Star Wars game has been a huge success, but plenty of them rank among the best video games of all time.
10 Rogue Squadron Is A Classic Even Decades Later (85)
First released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is an arcade-style game that puts the player behind the controls of Star Wars's most iconic starfighters, including the X-wing, A-wing, and Y-wing. It was inspired by a level in an earlier Star Wars game, 1996's Shadows of the Empire. Fans loved this game just as much as critics, and it boasts an 8.5 User score out of 10. The Rogue Squadron series spawned several sequels, some of them even better received than the original.
9 The Old Republic Is The MMO That Has Survived (85)
There have been several Star Wars MMO's over the years, but The Old Republic is the current reigning champ. Developed by the same studio behind several other extremely popular Star Wars games, The Old Republic, or TOR, takes place thousands of years before the original films in the age of the Old Republic. MMOs have a difficult path to walk in remaining popular with their users, as evidenced by TOR's meager 6.0 User Score.
8 KOTOR II: The Sith Lords Followed In The Footsteps Of A Gaming Legend (86 Xbox, 85 PC)
The followup to the 2003 hit Knights of the Old Republic, KOTOR II: The Sith Lords was released just a year after its predecessor. The first game was developed by BioWare, but KOTOR II came from Obsidian Entertainment, the same studio that created Fallout: New Vegas.
At a core level, it is very similar to the original KOTOR, but with an all-new storyline, new lightsaber forms, and the addition of prestige classes. Fans love this game, and it has an 8.7 User Score.
7 LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy Outshone Its Predecessor (86)
Star Wars may not have been the first licensed property to receive a LEGO video game, but it did change the trajectory of LEGO games for years to come. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy was the 2006 followup to 2005's LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. As its title suggests, it featured the three original Star Wars films rendered in LEGO's unique style. Fans were just as happy with this game, and it features an 8.1 User Score. LEGO has continued to release Star Wars games ever since, including the upcoming Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
6 Pinball Games Capitalize On The Star Wars Brand
There are a ton of Star Wars pinball games with surprisingly high Metacritic ratings, including Star Wars Pinball: Balance of the Force (88) and Pinball FX 2: Star Wars Pinball (87), both released in 2013 for the Xbox 360, and ZEN Pinball 2: Star Wars Rebels (88) for the PlayStation 4 in 2015.
These games all have extremely few user reviews, and all of them are extremely low. Games like these provide an interesting insight into the number of products released with the Star Wars label that seemingly fail to find a home with players, despite ostensibly getting favorable critic reviews.
5 Angry Birds Star Wars Combined Two Popular Franchises (88)
Like the pinball tie-ins, Angry Birds Star Wars features a high Metascore, but a low User Score at just 6.6. In the case of this game, however, it is a result of just one highly negative review skewing the average from what would otherwise closely match the Metascore. Angry Birds Star Wars was released for iOS in 2012, right at the height of the Angry Birds app's popularity. The overall positive reviews of this tie-in game suggest that players and critics alike love it when two seemingly unrelated franchises cross over.
4 Jedi Kight II: Jedi Outcast Revolutionized Lightsaber Combat (89)
The Star Wars: Jedi Knight Series has a somewhat confusing naming structure, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best-reviewed Star Wars video game series of all time. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is the third game in the series, a sequel to Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Like other games in the series, it is a first- and third-person shooter game that also features plenty of melee lightsaber combat as well. Fans can now play this game on Steam, the Nintendo Switch, and the PlayStation 4, and it has a User Score of 8.7.
3 Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader Is Even Better Than The First (90)
It's rare that a game's sequel actually outshines the original, but Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader does just that. Like the first Rogue Squadron game, it features fast-paced starfighter combat with several different iconic Star Wars ships.
It follows Rebel pilots Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles as they battle the Empire throughout the original three Star Wars films. Fans are just as happy with this game as critics, and it has an 8.6 User Score.
2 Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II Gave A Name To The Franchise (91)
The sequel to Star Wars: Dark Forces added the Jedi Knight moniker that would eventually be the name of the entire series. Released in 1997, this game continued the story of the first Dark Forces game, following the mercenary Kyle Katarn as he discovers his Force abilities and battles the enemies of the New Republic. Like the other Jedi Knight games, Dark Forces II is available on modern hardware via several sources, and it has an 8.6 User Score.
1 Knights Of The Old Republic Is One Of The Best Games Of All Time (94 Xbox, 93 PC, 88 iOS)
The best-ranked Star Wars game is also one of the greatest video game RPGs of all time. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic uses a modified version of the d20 tabletop game ruleset to guide players through a sweeping story set thousands of years before the Star Wars films. A remake was announced in September 2021, promising to introduce this classic to a whole new generation of Star Wars fans.