Short answers, pulled from the story.
Star Wars (1987) is a side-scrolling platform game developed and released by Namco for the Nintendo Family Computer exclusively in Japan. The player controls Luke Skywalker as he fights his way toward the Rebellion, with levels drawing from all three original Star Wars films despite being based primarily on the first.
Star Wars (1987) and Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star are the only two games in the franchise released exclusively in Japan. The source material does not give a commercial or licensing explanation, but the game's design reflects Japanese platform game conventions of the era, particularly those of the Master System title Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
The boss characters in Star Wars (1987) are minor antagonists whose names each incorporate the word Vader: Clados Vader (shark), Sasori Vader (scorpion), Wampa Vader (Wampa), and Gyaos Vader, based on the kaiju from the Gamera franchise. They initially appear identical to Darth Vader and only reveal their true forms after being hit once.
According to programmer Yoshihiro Kishimoto, the design of Star Wars (1987) was strongly inspired by Alex Kidd in Miracle World, a Master System game. The influence is evident in the platform structure and the contact-kill difficulty.
The game was first announced in May 1987. The announcement included a photograph of George Lucas shaking hands with Namco founder Masaya Nakamura.
Luke Skywalker can use the Force to float, speed up, or stop time. These abilities draw on Force points, which are collected as diamonds that drop when enemies are defeated. Force points can also be spent to activate the game's two available continues.