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The Kessel Run was an 18-parsec route that smugglers used to move glitterstim spice from the Kessel system to the Si’Klaata Cluster. While the Run did save smugglers time and Imperial entanglemets, it was also a treacherous area. The Pit, an asteroid cluster encased in a nebula arm, was a region of the Run where pilots had to travel virtually blind (even sensors are unreliable in The Pit!) and where crashing into an asteroid was an easy thing. Well, its your turn to make the Kessel Run and beat Solo’s record. You take your ship, your cargo, and your wits and enter the run. Things seem to be going as smoothly as they can, even avoiding asteroids seems to be easier today, but the Imperials have other plans. Using ships and probes with the newest sensor technology, they start hunting you down! Suddenly, the Kessel Run becomes the Kessel Attack! Can you survive the Empire’s attack?! Kessel Attack was developed by gambler172 as one of two different Star Wars titles for the 7800. The game is a hack of Asteroids that retains all of the gameplay of the original Asteroids but with new visuals that fit the Star Wars universe. Your ship appears at the centre of the screen as a horde of TIE fighters appear around you. You turn and blast the only to see them change into shuttles which change into mines. Special Imperial probes appear randomly to attack you as well. Destroy them before they destroy you! The game retains the options included in Asteroids (single player, two player competition, and two player cooperative) so you enjoy it with a friend. Game sounds have not been changed but that doesn’t really take away from the gameplay. So, are you ready to face the Empire?

With no real Star Wars title ever released for the 7800, gambler172 set the task to hack two existing games and add elements of the movie franchise to them. One of those games is simply called Star Wars and it is a visual hack of Atari’s Xevious. The Imperials have taken over the planet Sullust and you have been asked to smuggle some weapons for Rebel teams on the planet. Flying the Millennium Falcon you enter Sullust’s atmosphere only to discover the Empire is waiting for you! TIE fighters come at you from all sides as you fly over missile silos, rows of AT-ST’s, AT-AT’s, flying barriers and other enemies the Empire has ready to destroy you. Can you survive your mission? As a hack of Xevious, Star Wars keeps all of the same gameplay from the original game, down to the alternating two-player games and the levels of difficulty that range from Novice to Expert. Game sounds from the original Xevious have been kept but various visual changes have been made to fit the Star Wars theme. Your ship is now, of course, the Millenium Falcon. Instead of ground tanks, you’ll see either stationary or moving AT-AT’s and AT-ST’s. The AT-AT’s do not have any animation to their movement but they can certainly be recognized as such. The TIE fighters come in a couple of different styles and there are even gigantic Imperial Probes that will come to attack you. If you enjoy playing Xevious on the 7800 but want to play it with a Star Wars flavour, this hack is for you. I wish it had had some additional changes (maybe some Star Wars music and some colour changes to the playing field to make it look more unique) but it is a free game and quite fun to play.