Star Wars : X - Wing The Star Wars : X - Wing computer game is the first LucasArts PC game set in the " Star Wars " universe . Benefiting from the renewed interest in " Star Wars " sparked by Timothy Zahn ' s " " and building on the popularity of flight simulation software ( Lawrence Holland ' s three previous World War II air combat games had all been huge successes for LucasArts ) , " X - Wing " achieved what few subsequent " Star Wars " games could by being critically acclaimed , embraced by fans and a financial success . Players assumed the role of a young pilot in the Rebel Alliance and were given the opportunity to pilot the eponymous X - wing , as well as the Y - wing , the A - wing , and , eventually , the B - wing starfighters . History . Original release . " X - Wing " was developed for LucasArts by the team which would later become Totally Games with the story created by Lawrence Holland , Edward Kilham , David Wessman and David Maxwell . The original " X - Wing " game was released on floppy disk for PCs running DOS in 1993 . A limited edition version was made available with special packaging and a book titled " The Farlander Papers " , which gave the background story of Keyan Farlander , the player ' s character , who also featured in the for the game . Expansion packs . Two expansion packs , " Imperial Pursuit " and " B - Wing " were released shortly after . Each provided a tour of duty with an additional twenty missions while " B - Wing " also gave access to its namesake , the B - wing starfighter and another six historical missions for that ship . Two of these missions were remade versions of the tour of duty Death Star missions , allowing the player to fly the B - wing instead of an X - wing in the attack against the battlestation . The Collector Editions . A year later ( 1994 ) " X - Wing " was re - released as " X - Wing Collector ' s CD - ROM " , with the expansion packs included . It tweaks various areas of the game by including bug fixes , easy versions of some old missions , improved graphics , rehashed cutscenes , and bonus missions , as well as voiceovers for the mission briefings ( unlike the in - game radio messages ) . The in - flight engine is improved to the caliber of the later " " game , which is in turn an improved version of the original X - Wing game featuring Gouraud shading . " X - Wing " had a major retouch for its release along with the collections " X - Wing Collector Series " ( 1998 ) and " X - Wing Trilogy " ( 1999 ) . The game was retrofitted with the " " graphics engine , which uses texture mapping instead of Gouraud shading . Concourse graphics and some cutscenes were also retouched and the game was now Windows 9x compatible . Re - release on GOG . com . On October 28 , 2014 , Disney Interactive announced a new partnership with GOG . com , a DRM - free digital distributor , that would allow for more than twenty classic Lucasfilm video game titles to be re - released digitally for modern computers . Along with " " and " " , " Star Wars : X - Wing " became available for digital download for a price of $ 9 . 99 . Mechanics . " X - Wing " operated on a custom - built graphics engine that used 3D polygons instead of the bitmaps used by the popular " " games . Totally Games based the engine on their earlier flight simulators . The player must complete missions ranging from simple dogfights with Imperial starfighters , through escort or capture for freighters or capital ships to attacks on larger opposition ships . Each series of missions is organized linearly , having the player choose either death / capture or a retry at each failure . Scoring advanced the player ' s rank ( Flight Cadet , Flight officer , Lieutenant , Captain , Commander , General ) . He then could use his old pilot files and assign them as wingmen ; this would improve their AI performance according to the rank of the pilot assigned to each wingman . This feature however was removed from the Win95 remakes as well as the Macintosh version . The dogfighting was designed to resemble the free - wheeling duels of World War I and World War II and lacks the effects of realistic space combat . Much of the game ' s challenge had to do with managing power resources ( lasers , shields and engines ) , commanding wingmen , and using weapons effectively . By combining the exciting space combat with cut scene story elements and the interactive iMUSE music system , " X - Wing " created an environment that recreated the atmosphere of the original trilogy ' s space battles . The game was split into three tours of duty which followed on from each other , though the player was free to tackle them in any order . The first two tours had twelve missions each , while the third had fourteen missions . Echoing the Alliance ' s hit - and - fade strategy , the majority of missions are concerned with protection , salvage , intelligence gathering and ambushing Imperial capital ships where feasible . Apart from the tour of duty missions , players could explore the Pilot proving grounds to train and augment their scores on each of the three available ships , X - wing , Y - wing and A - wing ; they can also fly 18 " historical missions " at the Rebel Combat Training Facilities for each ship , before beginning the standard scenarios . They could also examine ship schematics and review mission films that can be recorded in the memory cache during the missions , and afterwards saved to disk . There was also a Tech Room that displayed schematics of the ships in the game , naming many of the ships ' systems and the companies that manufactured them . The cutscenes were usually composed by screenshots taken from instances of the movies but combined to make a new narrative . Plot . Players assume the role of Keyan Farlander of Red Squadron , a Rebel pilot who served in " Independence " and fought in a number of key battles before , during and after the Battle of Yavin . " Tour of Duty I : A New Ally " . " A New Ally " : describes the finding of new allies for the Rebels and the discovery of Operation Strike Fear , the Imperial campaign against Rebels . The tour ends when Rebels with hidden explosives destroy the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer " Invincible " , which led the Operation . " Tour of Duty II : The Great Search " . " The Great Search " : Rebels discover the Death Star . The campaign introduces Operation Skyhook and ends with the protection of Princess Leia ' s corvette " Tantive IV " , which ferries the Death Star plans . " Tour of Duty III : The Gathering Storm " . " The Gathering Storm " : describes the Rebels ' route to the final Battle of Yavin , the trench run and the Death Star destruction . This Tour has two more missions , which occur on the Death Star . In the Death Star missions , the player assumes the role of Luke Skywalker . " Tour of Duty IV : Imperial Pursuit " . Expansion 1 , " Imperial Pursuit " : The evacuation of Yavin 4 and the search for a new secret location for a new base . The Rebels must resist growing Imperial pressure and the new Interdictor Cruiser . " Tour of Duty V : B - Wing " . Expansion 2 , " B - Wing " : Production of a new craft , the B - wing starfighter , and its delivery to the Rebellion . The tour ends with the arrival on Hoth and the construction of Echo Base , setting the stage for " " . " X - Wing Collector ' s CD - ROM " . Bonus missions included in this edition included historical missions , as well as " new " missions . One historical mission is set after the Battle of Hoth , suggesting all of the current ones are also set after Hoth . Awards . In addition to being the best - selling game of 1993 , " X - Wing " won LucasArts several awards , including : Easter eggs . If the player runs the game with their BIOS clock set to December 25 , a Santa Claus figure will appear in the " Independence " concourse . At least in the 1998 Collector ' s Edition of " X - Wing " , the first time the player visits the " Independence " concourse after game installation , an animated figure resembling Marilyn Monroe can be seen standing near one of the hangar doors , in her iconic " flying skirt " pose . Many names of ships , especially freighters , are English words or names spelled backwards or are just anagrams . The most obvious examples are " Nigiro " , " Arreis " , " Orcim / Esorp " , and " Diputs " ( Origin , Microprose , and Sierra were all prominent software companies in the early ' 90s , while " Diputs " is a reversed spelling of " Stupid " ) . This tactic has been continued in the sequels , but to a lesser extent . Some capital ships like " Halifax " , " Fugazi " , and " Tone " have names referring to real names of ships or slang ( usually Japanese of World War II or other real periods ) of war . Some ship names are homages to existing characters , such as the space transport group " Renhoek " and the Mon Calamari cruiser " Stimsenj ' kat " in the first bonus mission of the " X - Wing Collector ' s CD - ROM " . These refer to the main characters Ren Höek and Stimpson J . Cat from the cartoon " " . Other names and locations were borrowed from " Han Solo at Stars ' End " . Continuity errors . Being a first " Star Wars " game with a major storyline , " X - Wing " began the game - contributed C - canon . As such , a number of contradictions to other sources appear that have required retcon ning or other explanations .