After the second teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Star Wars Celebration earlier this month, interest in the nearly 40 year old mega franchise has suddenly spiked. While gamers are eagerly awaiting new Star Wars games like EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront reboot, there are still plenty of great games to look back on.

There are several big Star Wars game sales going on right now in honor of Star Wars Day, which is held on May 4 (because “May the Fourth be with you”). That makes this week the perfect time to catch up on some Star Wars gaming history.

Where are the sales?

There are currently several platforms hosting sales for Star Wars games, but some of the best deals right now are on the PC.

One of the biggest sales going on right now is on Steam, with one bundle containing 14 games at a discount of 70 percent. Steam also has several individual games that are discounted, including LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which is rarely included in other sales.

Another big sale is taking place on Good Old Games, with discounts that are roughly equivalent to those on Steam. While GOG has a smaller selection of newer Star Wars titles and may have slightly higher prices, it offers better compatibility for many of the older games and is DRM-free.

For console players, there are also several sales on both PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

What should I get?

While there are many great Star Wars games on sale, there are a few stand-out series that had a major influence on several game genres. All of these games are currently on sale on both Steam and GOG.com.

First-Person Shooter: Dark Forces series

The original Dark Forces is an early first-person shooter that introduced several revolutionary features to the genre, including multi-floor level designs and the ability to look up and down. At the time, it was LucasArts’ most successful game release.

The game’s sequel, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, introduced some of the first lightsaber combat in gaming, as well as a rudimentary morality system that allowed players to earn a light side or dark side game ending. It also featured a staple of late 1990s PC gaming: cheesy live-action FMV sequences starring TV character actors. They’re great.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast ditched the FMVs and greatly refined the lightsaber combat, becoming one of the most successful and beloved games in the series. It also has a well-received sequel, Jedi Academy, which if you’re keeping count is Dark Forces IV: Jedi Knight III: Jedi Outcast II: Jedi Academy (ok, not really).

Space sim: X-Wing series

The space sim genre seems to finally be getting back on its feet with games like Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen, but you can still go back to the heyday of the genre with the X-Wing series.

1993’s Star Wars: X-Wing is the first in the series and offered exciting space combat that takes place before and during the original Star Wars film.

A sequel called Tie Fighter featured improved graphics and gave players a chance to play for the other team as a pilot fighting for the Empire. Tie Fighter introduced several new ships, and it became one of the most successful titles in the series.

A follow-up called X-Wing vs Tie Fighter focused on multiplayer space combat, allowing up to eight players to take part in free-for-all, team-based, or cooperative game modes.

The final game in the series, 1999’s X-Wing Alliance, included all of the above features, as well as improved flight physics and the ability to pilot multi-crew craft like the Millennium Falcon.

Role-playing game: Knights of the Old Republic
Released on the original Xbox in 2003, Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is quite a bit newer than some of the other games on this list, but it is also one of the most critically acclaimed Star Wars games of all time, and its influence is still seen in the popular MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is also the game that set the formula for BioWare’s modern RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

KOTOR is set just under 4,000 years before the events of the film series, which gives the game a lot of freedom with its story, an important distinction for an RPG. The game introduced several memorable characters and created a prequel universe that Star Wars fans actually liked.

The game’s sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, suffered from a rushed development cycle and numerous scrapped features and storylines, but it is still an excellent RPG, and totally worth the current price of $2.99 on Steam.