Unlike the
Star Wars: X-Wing series that emphasizes
space combat simulation,
Rogue Squadron is a fast-paced,
arcade-style flight
action game. Each of the game's 16 levels introduces mission objectives that must be completed to progress to the next level. These objectives are divided into four categories: search and destroy, reconnaissance, rescue, and protect. Gameplay is presented from the
third-person perspective; a view from a craft's cockpit is available. The
heads-up display features a
health meter, a
radar, and an ammunition count for secondary weapons. The player can control five craft:
X-wing,
A-wing,
Y-wing,
snowspeeder and
V-wing. Each vehicle offers a unique armament arrangement, as well as varying degrees of speed and maneuverability. The game initially restricts the player to a particular craft for each level; however, after a level is completed, it can be replayed with any available craft. Levels set on non-atmospheric moons expose the player's craft to space; thus disallowing the speeder and V-wing (which are repulsorcraft) from being used; but as on other levels, the craft is vertically confined.
Unlockable content Rogue Squadron includes many unlockable secrets. The player can unlock three bonus levels: "Beggar's Canyon", "The Death Star Trench Run", and "The Battle of Hoth". These levels are made available when the player obtains all bronze, silver, or gold medals, respectively, on each level. Alternatively, they can be unlocked via
passcode. Unlike the game's primary levels, the bonus levels are adaptations of events from the
Star Wars films. "Beggar's Canyon" allows the player to reenact the race mentioned in
A New Hope, while "The Death Star Trench Run" allows the player to execute an alternate version of the film's climactic battle. In the "Battle of Hoth" bonus level, the player can join the
Rebel Alliance's combat against Imperial troops, as depicted in
The Empire Strikes Back. Several craft are available when unlocked. Both the
Millennium Falcon and a
TIE interceptor are initially present in the craft selection screen. However, neither may be selected until the player enters the correct passcodes or achieves all bronze or silver medals, respectively, on the bonus levels. Two other craft can be unlocked, but each is confined to a specific level. One is the
T-16 Skyhopper in "Beggar's Canyon", and an
AT-ST is playable in a basic demonstration level unlocked only via passcode. A playable model of a 1969
Buick Electra 225 based on a car owned by the game's sound designer, Rudolph Stember, is included in the game as an
Easter egg. During
Rogue Squadron development,
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace—the first
Star Wars film in more than 15 years—was less than one year from its scheduled release date. To take advantage of this marketing opportunity,
Factor 5 included content from the upcoming film in
Rogue Squadron.
Lucasfilm provided the developers with design art for the
Naboo Starfighter, a ship prominently featured in the new film. These designs were used to create an in-game model. Because the game was scheduled to be released six months before the film, Factor 5 was required to keep the ship's inclusion a secret. As a result, most of the game's development team at Factor 5 and
LucasArts were not informed of its inclusion. A complex scrambling system was developed to help hide the ship's code from gamers using
cheat cartridges such as
GameShark or
Action Replay. More than six months after the release of
Rogue Squadron, LucasArts unveiled the code to unlock the Naboo Starfighter as a playable craft. The code has been named the
Nintendo 64's most well-hidden code because of the length of time before its discovery. ==Synopsis==