Rogue Squadron 's focus on flight combat was directly inspired by a level in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire that allowed the player to pilot a snowspeeder. Acquiring these medals promotes the player's rank and helps unlock hidden content. The player's performance is checked against three medal benchmarks after the completion of each level.

Bonus power-ups that improve these crafts' weapons or durability are hidden in different levels throughout the game. The player can control five craft and each offers a unique armament arrangement, as well as varying degrees of speed and maneuverability. Gameplay is presented from the third-person perspective and game objectives are divided into four categories: search and destroy, reconnaissance, rescue, and protect. As the game progresses, Skywalker and Rogue Squadron fight the Galactic Empire in 16 missions across various planets. The player controls Luke Skywalker, commander of the elite X-wing pilots known as Rogue Squadron. The game's story was influenced by the Star Wars: X-wing – Rogue Squadron comics and is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, taking place primarily between events in the films Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

The first of three games in the Rogue Squadron series, it was published by LucasArts and Nintendo and released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo 64 in December 1998. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is an arcade-style flight action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts.

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