Whenever the Super Star Wars Trilogy is mentioned today, it's usually not that long before the game's difficulty is brought up in conversation.
Developed in the early '90s by LucasArts and Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo, the trilogy of games, which includes Super Star Wars, Super Empire Strikes Back, and Super Return of the Jedi, has earned a reputation over the years for being notoriously difficult. This is in part due to the overwhelming amount of enemies found within these games, which constantly swarm the player at every possible turn, and respawn almost as quickly as they are dispatched.
Because of this, it's often been hard to recommend the otherwise stellar group of titles to anyone except the most skilled players, with the expectation being that most will simply get stuck on the first few levels and will be too frustrated to push on through to enjoy its incredible soundtrack and wonderful 16-bit representations of the original trilogy's events.
Recently, though, the ROM hacker BillyTime! Games (whose work we've covered on the website a few times in the past) has come up with a solution, creating a set of overhaul patches for all three games. These aim to make the experience a whole lot fairer for newcomers, as well as those who don't exactly have the quickest of reaction times, and include nerfs to the amount of spawns, as well as the ability to inflict twice the amount of damage, among other features.
They are available to download now from the ROM hacking website ROM Hack Plaza, and, in the case of Super Empire Strikes Back and Super Return of the Jedi, also include a pair of optional patches which attempt to streamline the level order.
Here's what you can expect:
Super Star Wars (Link):
*Reduced Weapon Penalty on death (No Degradation on Easy Mode)
*Infinite Lives when playing Easy Difficulty
*Nerf Spawns on Tatooine levels
*Less Jawas on landspeeder stages
*Reduced health for Kalhar Boss Monster
*2x Damage
*Reduced Tie Fighters and Towers in Death Star
*Reduced Length in Death Star Trench Run
*Continues Increased from 3 to 99
*Skip Sandcrawler Stages (Optional)
*Health Regen (Optional)
Super Empire Strikes Back (Link):
*Reduced damage from all sources in side scrolling levels
*2X damage
*Reduced weapon degration (No Degration on Easy Mode)
*Reduced or Removed annoying spawns (Hoth Birds, Jet Troopers, Speederbikes)
*Start with all force powers
*Infinite Lives when playing Easy Difficulty
*Less ships and AT-ATs on vehicle levels
*2x Invulnerability time after taking a hit
*Slightly higher double jump
*Snowspeeder side scrolling level removed
*Continues Increased from 3 to 99Streamlined level order: (Optional Patch)
Hoth 1
Hoth 2
Hoth Cave 2
Hoth 3
Battle of Hoth
Hoth Escape 1 (Han Solo)
Asteroid Belt Chase
Dagobah 1
Dagobah 2
Dagobah 3
Bespin 1
Lava Chamber
Carbon Freezing Chamber
Bespin 2
X-Wing over Bespin
Bespin 5
Super Return of the Jedi (Link):
*Reduced damage from all sources in side scrolling levels
*Reduced Weapon Penalty on death (No Degradation on Easy Mode)
*Reduced distance needed in 1st Speeder Stage (Tatooine)
*2x Damage
*Infinite Lives when playing Easy Difficulty
*Slightly higher double jump
*Continues Increased from 3 to 99
*Reduced health for Tatooine Boss outside of Jabba’s Palace
*Reduced health for Rancor Boss
*2x Invulnerability time after taking a hit
*Reduced speeder bike targets needed (Endor)
*Nerfed explosion speed in Death Star Escape
Streamlined Levels: (Optional Patch)
*Removed Tatooine
*Removed Ewok Village B
*Removed Tower
Remarkably, given the amount of effort that must have been involved in creating these patches, these don't seem to be the only hacks BillyTime! Games published yesterday, with the prolific ROM Hacker also releasing other overhaul patches for Home Alone for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, Crack Down, Garfield - Caught in the Act, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which you can check out at the links provided.