The Blockade Runner is launching a new video series today called “The Blockade Runner Plays” with our first installment featuring Star Wars for Nintendo’s Famicom console. Those of you familiar with my other podcast won’t be too surprised to see our interest in Star Wars and games intersecting here again (we also recorded a few episodes of our Nintendo Fun Club show covering various Star Wars games on Nintendo systems), but hopefully you’ll give it a look regardless of whether or not you’re as enamored with games as we are around here.

I thought the Famicom version of Star Wars would be a good place to start as it’s relatively unknown in the US, takes generous liberties with source material, and features the 8-bit aesthetic that is so well-loved by fans around my age. I’ve had a lot of fun with the game, but it’s pretty tough, so this isn’t an edit-free run through the game. I chose to focus on just showing off the game and its qualities rather than providing a completely accurate recreation of my time with the game. That approach makes for a shorter video and less redundancy (sometimes I died PRETTY often); I’m also splitting the game up into two (or more) videos in the hopes that they’ll be a bit more digestible that way.

Let us know what you thought in the comments here, on YouTube, or through email. I’m looking forward to playing more games for the series going forward, and I’ll probably lean more toward classic and under-appreciated games, but I’d love to hear suggestions for what you may be interested in seeing us play for future “Blockade Runner Plays” videos.