Star Fox is set in the fictional Lylat System, which is full of human-like animals. The story begins when a scientist named Andross is banished from the good planet of Corneria, and thus declares war on it from his new world of Venom. He begins to attack Corneria and the rest of the galaxy with an army. The commander of Corneria's own defense force decides to send out a new kind of fighter called an Arwing. However, unable to find a suitable pilot in the short time period needed, it's decided to hire a group of elite mercenaries known as Star Fox. Their leader is Fox McCloud, whom you play as.

The gameplay in Star Fox revolves around piloting the Arwing from a third-person perspective. You must avoid obstacles, destroy enemies, and protect your teammates as well. And of course, each level has a boss to defeat too! Star Fox is a rail shooter so you are always going to be moving forward, but you are able to control your speed and manoeuvring a little bit, too, to give you more control. Your craft has a limited amount of shield strength which represents the damage you can take before destruction. This is all very similar to the flying elements in Star Wars! While Star Fox does not have any on-foot exploration, it does offer a lot of piloting gameplay like Star Wars' sequences with the land-speeder and the Millennium Falcon. It also has a science fiction space setting, and with plenty of aliens! So for fans of the flying specifically from Star Wars and want more sci-fi scrolling games, check out Star Fox.

Galaga is an arcade game, so it has the simplest story - you're piloting a spacecraft somewhere in the universe and are being attacked by enemy alien forces. So, of course, your job is to destroy them and escape with your life! Your spacecraft is at the bottom of the screen with the enemy appearing from the top in various formations. The aliens will attempt to capture, ram, or shoot down your craft. The only way to beat the levels is to destroy all of them and make it out with at least one of your own ships still intact. Bear in mind that your ships can also be captured by the aliens and turned into another enemy as well! The story and goal are simple, but trust us; it's harder than it sounds to complete everything.

Galaga has very simple piloting and shooting gameplay but that doesn't keep it from being addictively fun. Like Star Wars, you have the chance to pilot a starship in outer space while fighting against enemy craft - in Star Wars, its TIE fighters, and in Galaga, it's insect-like alien ships. Both games offer you the chance to escape into space and get behind the controls of your own ship as you blast away the enemy! Sure, Star Wars has a lot of other elements to it as well. But if you're just looking to fly through space and kill aliens all day, well, Galaga can give that to you indefinitely. And you're definitely going to feel nostalgic playing either of these games, so why not let Galaga take you all the way back to video games in the 80s?

Metroid is the story of Samus Aran, whom you play as, who is tasked with recovering organisms called Metroids from the space pirates who have stolen them. The Pirates plan to use the Metroid's as biological weapons because they are parasitic, destroying all of their enemies - including Samus! Metroids are able to attach themselves to others and drain their life force, making them very dangerous, and the space pirates plan to replicate them to create a deadly army. Samus, a lone bounty hunter, had to infiltrate their base and stop them - and destroy the leaders of the pirates in the process.

Metroid and Star Wars' foot exploration parts have very similar gameplay. They are both 2D action platformers where you travel up, down, and across the screen defeating enemies and avoiding obstacles. They both also feature both low-level, easy enemies to defeat in addition to much more challenging bosses. Beyond their gameplay similarity, they are also both stories about unlikely heroes in space trying to save the world while exploring alien planets. Samus is a lone bounty hunter and Luke basically a farm boy, but both are able to overcome impossible odds to save themselves - and the rest of the galaxy. Metroid doesn't have the cockpit fighting sequences that Star Wars does, but if it's the rest of the game and the plot that you enjoy, give Metroid a try next.

Homeworld 2 is a strategy game where you play as a race of aliens called the Hiigarans. The game begins with their newest Mothership, the Pride of Hiigara, being attacked and barely escaping from their enemies the Vaygr. Their leader, Makaan, promises to spare the Hiigaran homeworld if the Hiigarans are willing to give him the powerful Second Core. Knowing the danger of this and that it could trigger the End Times, the Hiigarans instead choose to try to defeat the Vaygrs, which they can only do by finding the Balcora Gate which has the power to save them and stop the threat. Controlling the Hiigaran Mothership and fleet, will you be able to save the galaxy?

Homeworld 2 and Star Wars have very different gameplay, but a surprisingly similar story! Both are about the rise of an evil Empire who seems to have ultimate power in the galaxy and threatens the life of everyone in it. Both the Galactic Empire and the Vagyr even have massive battle stations that must be destroyed to finish the game as a final boss! In both games you take the role of the underdog rebels who are tasked with saving the galaxy whether its citizens like it or not, and against all the odds you have to succeed. And it goes without saying that Star Wars and Homeworld 2 take place in space with aliens, starships, and space travel. If it's the story in Star Wars that has captured you and you want to check out a different style of gameplay, try your hand at Homeworld 2 – especially if you want a newer, more updated game.

Mega Man lets you play as, well, Mega Man, a robot originally called Rock in this struggle against an evil scientist named Dr. Wily who is bent on destruction using his robots. The setting is in a world where robots have become commonplace helpers for humanity, but have started to get out of control. Rock volunteers to stand against Dr. Wily and becomes the fighting robot Mega Man, hoping he can help save the world from total chaos and destruction. He has to first face Dr. Wiley's six evil fighting robots and then finally the mad science himself if he wants to be successful! The game has six stages that can be played in whatever order the player chooses.

Mega Man is a 2D action platformer like a Star Wars. Mega Man must shoot enemies while making his way through a side-scrolling level environment quite similar to the walking levels Luke faces in Star Wars. Both games have the fate of the world hanging in the balance, with imminent destruction just on the horizon. If Mega Man cannot stop Dr. Wily and his robots, humanity is done for. And if Luke cannot destroy the Death Star, many more worlds could be wiped out like Alderaan was. Of course, both games also feature robots that are key to the story! Luke has his famous companions R2D2 and C3PO, and Mega Man himself is a robot! Not to mention he's fighting much more. So if you like the action platformer parts of Star Wars, or maybe you're a fan of robots in sci fi specifically, Mega Man is another classic game for you to enjoy.

Vendetta Online is set in Earth's distant future when great advancements have been made in the fields of science and medicine. When a wormhole is discovered near Saturn that leads to a new galaxy, all kinds of new opportunities come to pass - and when that wormhole collapses, the chain reaction affects the whole galaxy. Now three factions stand divided and you must choose which side you want to stand with. Each has their own unique and detailed backstory to help you make your decision and to play your own hand in the fate of the galaxy.

Leaving behind classic games for one entry, Vendetta Online is a massively multiplayer game that still has earned a place on our list of 6 Games like Star Wars. The focus of the gameplay is in flying, taking down enemy ships, and avoiding fire as much as possible. It's very similar to the objectives of the flying portions of Star Wars. Vendetta Online just takes it a step further (not to mention its 15 years newer) by taking place in a 3D environment and adding real laws of physics to determining your success. Like all the games on our list, Vendetta Online is a sci-fi adventure letting you travel to a new world with aliens and space ships and more. It takes the ideas behind what made the flying in Star Wars fun and runs with it to a whole new level. So if you want to play a newer game (that is still actively updated, by the way) and enjoy some great space fights, Vendetta Online has you covered.