OriginWhen we think of science fiction flight simulator games, it’s natural for gamers to talk about the LucasArts Star Wars titles from the 1990s. From X-Wing to TIE Fighter and beyond, the Star Wars canon dominated a lot of pew-pew sci-fi space dogfight action in the ‘90s, but three years before LucasArts dropped X-Wing, another, original space opera franchise was born, exclusively in the gaming arena. Today, even among the biggest sci-fi fans, Wing Commander is a distant memory, but thirty-five years ago, the first game in the series redefined not just science fiction, but two types of gaming subgenres, too. Here’s why, on September 26, 1990, Wing Commander changed sci-fi gaming for the better.Created by Chris Roberts for the developer Origin, Wing Commander’s lore was loosely based on Larry Niven’s “Known Space” science fiction novels and stories, in which humankind is involved in an intergalactic war with a feline alien species called the Kzinti. Wing Commander takes place in the year 2654, and swaps out the Kzinti for the Kilrathi. The basic setup is Top Gun in space, in which the player takes on the role of a rookie pilot on a carrier called the Tiger’s Claw. It’s here where Wing Commander made history with two kinds of gameplay.Spirit, one of your wingmen, talking during the briefing of your first mission in Wing Commander. | OriginAs the name suggests, Wing Commander is a spaceflight, dogfight game, in which you take various starfighters into action against Kilrathi ships, large and small. But, in addition to that incredibly detailed (and difficult!) aspect of the game, Wing Commander also has an immersive role-playing aspect, too, in which you get to interact with other crew members and fellow pilots on the Tiger’s Claw, choosing different responses in casual conversations, which can cause branches to the game’s overall narrative. In later installments of the series, most notably in Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV, these role-playing cut-scenes involved big-name actors, including Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, Malcolm McDowell, and François Chau, just to name a few. But, in 1990, your wingmen and compatriots on the Tiger’s Claw are limited to animated conversations, delivered through text on the screen.One feature of these conversations is the fact that everyone will use whatever callsign you’ve given yourself throughout the game, making the first Wing Commander truly a personalized experience. When Mark Hamill took over as the lead character in Wing Commander III in 1994, the gameplay obviously became more sophisticated, but it also meant the POV pilot character was no longer “you,” but rather Christopher Blair, whose callsign is, somewhat predictably, “Maverick.” (Sidenote: Has Mark Hamill ever talked to Tom Cruise about this weird non-coincidence?)In-cockpit gameplay for Wing Commander. | OriginBut, setting the role-playing aspect of the game aside, the original Wing Commander was then, and is still now, a wonderful and engaging flight simulator. And, in terms of ease of use, the heads-up display and controls are generally more intuitive and simply more fun than X-Wing, which again came out three years after Wing Commander. You fly a variety of different starfighter craft, and depending on which ship you’re piloting, there are different weapons with different payloads. You can communicate with your wingman with keystrokes, and perhaps most fun of all, send a taunt to enemy ships.The dogfights in Wing Commander aren’t an arcade-style situation, however. You control your speed, your orientation, as well as all orders given to other ships. If you forget to tell your fellow pilots to help you out with the onslaught of enemies, that’s on you. So, for some gamers, the learning curve on Wing Commander’s space battles might seem a bit steep, or at least it did back in the 1990s when getting an external joystick for your PC was the best way to play the game with satisfying precision. Because there’s a trial-and-error aspect to flying the missions in Wing Commander, the sense of satisfaction when you complete each mission is massive. Again, Wing Commander is a hard game, but the difficulty doesn’t make the experience any less fun. Instead, the slightly personalized gameplay makes you want to try again and avoid that cutscene where your character is given a burial in the depths of space. Overall, it’s impressive that 35 years after its release, Wing Commander not only holds up from a historical point of view, but is still super fun to play today.Wing Commander is available for purchase at GOG.