In the four short years it has been around, Limited Run Games has already established itself as one of the coolest boutique video game services in the industry. The distributor specializes in making physical versions of video games, particularly indie games that would otherwise be download-only. It’s for those who want a tangible disc, or a cartridge even, instead of relying on the cloud to protect our purchases. And it’s not just for new games, either. Limited Run Games also helped with the 25th anniversary re-release of the infamously awful political firestorm of an FMV game Night Trap.
And now Limited Run Games is returning to the retro well for something even more exciting than Dana Plato fighting vampires. Starting this Friday you can pre-order brand new cartridges of classic Star Wars games.
Limited Run Games partnered with Lucasfilm to release retro Star Wars games on cartridges that work with the original intended hardware. That started last June with Star Wars on the Game Boy and NES. This month sees the release of the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, for those same two legacy systems.
However, we now know that N64 classic Shadows of the Empire is also getting the same treatment. While maybe not a great game, Shadows of the Empire was still a huge deal in the heady days of 1996. Since the prequels were still years away, Shadows of the Empire was pretty much the first new Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi what with all of its tie-in novels and comics and cards and toys. And who doesn’t love legendary characters like… Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor. At least this Star Wars game didn’t prompt legal action. It’s not that hard, EA.
This is an actual $45 purple Nintendo 64 cartridge, and so you need to make sure you have an actual working Nintendo 64 to play it. Fortunately, Limited Run Games is also offering all sorts of HDMI adapters to make playing this old game as seamless as possible on your new TV.
As the name implies though, Limited Run Games only makes a finite number of physical product. After they’re gone, that’s it. So if you want these classic Star Wars games look out for pre-orders starting this Friday July 26. For more Star Wars games check out the full demo for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and learn what podracing is by watching us play Star Wars Episode 1: Racer.
