In Rescue on Fractalus! (1985), you pilot a Valkyrie-class spacecraft on a high-risk mission to save downed Ethercorps pilots from the hostile surface of planet Fractalus. Rendered in immersive first-person 3D and powered by fractal-generated terrain, this Lucasfilm Games title was a technical marvel of its time, pushing the limits of home computers. Each mission begins with your ship descending from a mothership into the atmosphere of Fractalus. Your objective is to locate and land near crash survivors, then power down your engines and shields to allow the stranded pilots to safely approach and knock on your hatch. If you react in time and open the hatch, the pilot boards and brings their remaining fuel. But hesitation—or activating shields—can kill them. Not every knock is safe, either: some “pilots” turn out to be Jaggi infiltrators, who smash through the canopy in a terrifying ambush. Armed with torpedoes, you must also deal with anti-aircraft turrets hidden among the mountainous terrain and dodge kamikaze saucers in increasingly hostile conditions. Later missions introduce night operations, where low visibility makes navigation especially dangerous and pilot rescues even more tense. Rescue on Fractalus! blends action and strategy with atmospheric tension, making each landing a high-stakes decision. It remains a standout title not just for its technical innovation, but for delivering genuine suspense on 8-bit hardware.

Epyx released four titles under license from Lucasfilm, including Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift, Ballblazer, and The Eidolon. All of the rights for the Lucasfilm titles are still held by Lucasfilm, which is now part of Disney.  They have licensed some titles out (like Monkey Island), but when we inquired, they weren’t yet ready to relicense any of the Epyx titles.