This port of the classic Atari arcade game, Star Wars, on the ZX Spectrum, was developed by Vektor Grafix and published by Domark in 1987.

While it’s a reasonably accurate port in some respects, the game lacks sound*, which does dent the atmosphere and curbs the game’s overall appeal. The developers obviously left out sound effects because they would’ve slowed the game down to an unacceptable level, and they suggest “putting your favourite record on” instead.

*= There’s a rendition of the Star Wars theme when the game first loads, but there is no sound at all during the game itself. Also: as far as I can tell, there’s no AY chip music when the game is loaded on a 128K Spectrum, like there is in the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back.

In spite of the lack of sound, Star Wars on the Spectrum still slows down on occasion – usually when there’s a lot going on, on screen.

Star Wars plays well enough on the Spectrum, though, and anyone who loves the Atari arcade game will probably get something out of it – if you put your favourite “record” on while playing it…

More: Star Wars on Wikipedia
More: Star Wars on World of Spectrum