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Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic - how Mass Effect developers Bioware made the most influential Star Wars game

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By Retro Gamer Team published 16 January 2020

Former Bioware developers reveal the inside story of the epic Xbox sci-fi RPG in the new issue of Retro Gamer magazine

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The latest issue of Retro Gamer magazine features an in-depth look at Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic (KOTOR), arguably one of the greatest videogames to feature the Star Wars name.

Ex-Bioware developers Greg Zeschuk, James Ohlen and Drew Karpyshyn reveal every aspect of the game's design in our exhaustive 10-page feature, including how they got a call out of the blue to work on a new Star Wars RPG while the team was wrapping up work on its acclaimed RPG, Neverwinter Nights. They also reveal the freedom they had working on the game with Greg Zeschuk revealing that, "we were given the option of setting it either between Episode V and Episode VI or in the pre-history thousands of years before the movies."

Read more great retro features in Retro Gamer magazine

(Image credit: Future)

Retro Gamer magazine delivers amazing features and developer interviews about history's best games every month, and you can save up to 57% on a print and digital subscription right now.

The team goes on to explain why they chose to work on the Xbox version over the PC (despite both formats being neck and neck during development) and how the writing team managed the large roster of playable characters. There's also talk of the influence of KOTOR in later games, from Bioware and other developers, and how it led to the popular games, Dragon Age and The Old Republic.

In addition to our excellent KOTOR coverage, issue 202 of Retro Gamer also features a look at the explosive helicoptor shmup, Tiger Heli, an interview with Mev Dinc about the Super Mario Kart clone, Street Racer, as well as an exclusive interview with Minoru Kidooka, the president of Arc System Works. We also pay tribute to Namco's excellent arcade blaster, Time Crisis, interview videator Big Boy Barry and revisit some of gaming's greatest destinations, including Midgar and Novigrad. There's much more of course, but you'll have to read the magazine to find out.

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  • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor new screenshots featuring Cal Kestis and BD-1 The 10 best Star Wars games to play in 2026

The story of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic is in the latest issue of Retro Gamer magazine which is on sale now in all good UK newsagents. KOTOR fans based in the US can subscribe to the digital edition of Retro Gamer for as little as $9 for three issues.

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Retro Gamer is the world's biggest - and longest-running - magazine dedicated to classic games, from ZX Spectrum, to NES and PlayStation. Relaunched in 2005, Retro Gamer has become respected within the industry as the authoritative word on classic gaming, thanks to its passionate and knowledgeable writers, with in-depth interviews of numerous acclaimed veterans, including Shigeru Miyamoto, Yu Suzuki, Peter Molyneux and Trip Hawkins.

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