Dengar's SNES Weapon

[Torvas]

This is quite possibly the nerdiest question that's ever been asked here, so I should probably apologize in advance, but I had no idea where else to ask this. I've been rediscovering my collection of Super Nintendo games lately, and naturally I've been playing the Star Wars trilogy of games for it.

In Super Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back, you have to fight an entire army of respawning bounty hunters in run-and-gun side scrolling levels. One of the thugs is Dengar, and he spins some kind of energy staff weapon at you.

Strangely, I found someone had actually extracted the sprites from the game:

http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/superstarwars2theempirestrikesback/sheet/31605/

He's underneath 4-Lom and Zuckuss. Is that an electrostaff? I know that some older Hasbro material referred to the Boushh weapon in Return of the Jedi as one, so I was wondering.

Naturally, I don't remember Dengar carrying that in the theatrical film at all.

Sorry for asking such a strange and obscure question!

 

[Julius Sedaire]

I.... Dude.... I'm fairly nerdy and even that is strong for me... I can't even begin to imagine the answer, but I gotta admit... I'm intrigued as to what it is...

 

[Torvas]

Haha, I figured that I might get a reply like that, but then again I probably deserve it for asking. I'll let you know if I ever find my answer. I love these games, but I realize they're not that well known today.

 

[Break]

There isn't a clear explanation on the Internet as far as I can tell. Why not submit a weapon that mimics it? Be the first one with it on the board!

 

[Trenchcoat Man]

It's probably just his rifle with a power manifestation for extra oomf.

 

[Break]

It's quite literally a staff with glowing electric energy
[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

 

[Trenchcoat Man]

[member="Break"]

It isn't. It's only lit at the tip.

In its length and profile, it resembles Dengar's trademark sniper rifle (which does not have a pronounced buttstock). And if you look at the 4-LOM sprite (who is very clearly wielding a gun), the power manifestation is very similar. Additionally, if you look at the two modes of blaster fire for the IG-88 sprite, the non-ionic blast looks comparable to the energy signature at the end of Dengar's weapon, be it staff or rifle.

It's worth baring in mind that all the sprites have a clear energy signature, and with this being a 2-D sidescroller, there's not going to be a lot of opportunity for placement for purely ranged combatants -- particularly when one of the three playable characters is a lightsaber-wielding Luke. The energy flare-up gives the player indication as to when to dodge in a situation where the limited graphical ability would make the enemy's telegraphing a struggle to decipher. Games still do this, like when baddies have urgency indicators over their heads when they're about to hit Batman, giving you an opportunity to perform a counter. Batman does not have any such early warning superpowers in the comics.

 

[Break]

Ah I see I wasn't thinking about the game mechanics I only ever remember my older cousin having this game

 

[Torvas]

Haha, thanks. I'm going to go with both of your ideas and submit a weapon in that style, and try to make it something like a rifle with a little extra power manifestation. Maybe I'll use flame bolts to somewhat model the attacks in that game.

For what it's worth, I don't believe Dengar is in any level that you can play Luke in if memory serves. Dengar, 4-Lom and the rest go after Han and Chewie in a few levels. Luke is in Cloud City, but goes up against some red-colored Snowtroopers among other enemies. I believe they're supposed to be Imperial Red Guards cycled into specialized Stormtrooper service.

Thanks for all the help you guys; I'm going to submit the weapon request in a few moments! I never would have though to do so if [member="Break"] didn't say so, haha.