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> Why have so many of us been confused for so many years? I have a few ideas on that Perhaps the strongest influence (?): Most video games from the Atari 2600

> Why have so many of us been confused for so many years? I have a few ideas on that Perhaps the strongest influence (?): Most video games from the Atari 2600 version in '83 onwards have a sequence where you enter the final run into the equatorial trench.

arethuza 3y ago
I played the arcade version of Atari Star Wars far too much in '83 & '84 and for some reason I never thought it was the equatorial trench.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  It's possible I have a false memory based on my _belief_ that it's the equator trench and that there's a cut scene or transition in both the DOS version of tar Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star (1991) which are the ones I played most. Anyone remember for sure?
  - deaddodo 3y ago
    YouTube has things called "let's plays"/"longplays". For DOS Star Wings: X-Wing, I scrubbed multiple videos and didn't see anything about the trenchrun: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL480EC9A01E8C50F7 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL480EC9A01E8C50F7 There is no Attack on the Death Star PC videos that I could find. I did find Rebel Assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX3B8yC38U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX3B8yC38U Which almost explicitly avoids the entire conversation by starting at the trench entry. I found an x68000 version of "Attack on the Death Star" (maybe the same, maybe different) and it does the same as the previous, only showing the surface turret battle and then directly into the trench: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzqbVRUxAE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzqbVRUxAE It would appear that most games of the era were either unsure, or aware that it wasn't the hangar bay trench.
- thom 3y ago
  You fly _towards_ that in the same way they do in the film (and away from it when you die), but it cuts to you in a trench so there's plausible deniability here.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
I assume the reason we got it wrong is because the equatorial trench is the only one visible to the audience at all scales. Sure, there could be additional trenches on the surface of the Deathstar — like the seeming randomness of the digits of pi, there might even be a close approximation of the Taj Mahal somewhere on the surface — but we go with what we see, not so much what we imagine.

arethuza 3y ago

I played the arcade version of Atari Star Wars far too much in '83 & '84 and for some reason I never thought it was the equatorial trench.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
It's possible I have a false memory based on my _belief_ that it's the equator trench and that there's a cut scene or transition in both the DOS version of tar Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star (1991) which are the ones I played most. Anyone remember for sure?
- deaddodo 3y ago
  YouTube has things called "let's plays"/"longplays". For DOS Star Wings: X-Wing, I scrubbed multiple videos and didn't see anything about the trenchrun: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL480EC9A01E8C50F7 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL480EC9A01E8C50F7 There is no Attack on the Death Star PC videos that I could find. I did find Rebel Assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX3B8yC38U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX3B8yC38U Which almost explicitly avoids the entire conversation by starting at the trench entry. I found an x68000 version of "Attack on the Death Star" (maybe the same, maybe different) and it does the same as the previous, only showing the surface turret battle and then directly into the trench: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzqbVRUxAE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUzqbVRUxAE It would appear that most games of the era were either unsure, or aware that it wasn't the hangar bay trench.
thom 3y ago
You fly _towards_ that in the same way they do in the film (and away from it when you die), but it cuts to you in a trench so there's plausible deniability here.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

I assume the reason we got it wrong is because the equatorial trench is the only one visible to the audience at all scales. Sure, there could be additional trenches on the surface of the Deathstar — like the seeming randomness of the digits of pi, there might even be a close approximation of the Taj Mahal somewhere on the surface — but we go with what we see, not so much what we imagine.