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In reality, developer Factor 5 had been pitching the game for years.
Not as aStar Warsgame, but as a sequel to LucasArts (now Lucasfilm Games)Rescue on Fractalus!
With the Nintendo 64 on its way, the team stepped up its efforts.
What we wanted to do withRogue Squadron, what becameRogue Squadron, was much more sophisticated than that.
The result was a game built around short, sharp missions designed to be optimized through repetitive play.
Now 25 years old,Rogue Squadronstill stands up as a game that revels in its players obsession.
In a year replete with remarkable games, it wasRogue Squadronthat kept me the most engaged.
It definitely has this addictiveness, Eggebrecht says.
And we were going for that!
We were going for that brutality!
Everyone assumedShadows of the Empirefigured it out not at all, Eggebrecht says.
He and LucasArts project lead Mark Haigh-Hutchinson agreed flight inRogue Squadronneeded to be simpler and more accessible.
He took a full year of working just on the frickin X-wing!
That development was made precipitously more difficult by the Nintendo 64s primitive infrastructure.
Eggebrecht chuckles when I ask him about this.
To that LucasArts added a voice cast including Bob Bergen, Olivia Hussey, and Terry McGovern.
That was a fluke.
We got lucky because George Lucas didnt like LucasArts, McGovern tells me over Zoom.
Every once in a while theyd grab one of us and give us some work.
Thats why we invested the time in coming up with that voice compression for the N64, Eggebrecht adds.
LucasArts voice department was, in the industry, by far the best out there.
Even if, as Eggebrecht suggests, sometimes its magic which you cannot re-create.
He is optimistic we may see its like again, though.
Of all games, the spark for that optimism isSuper Mario Wonder.
Even 25 years later, we can still find shades ofRogue Squadronhidden in the unlikeliest of places.
Despite the rose-tinted nature of hindsight,Rogue Squadrontruly was a marvel lovingly developed and unmistakably revolutionary.
