The sullen cyborg Sith Lord of the original Star Wars trilogy has starred in films, comics, books and nightmares since 1977, but Darth Vader's appearances in video games has often been overshadowed by the likes of Luke and company.

Despite having one of the most recognizable visages in geekdom, a voice imitated more than Richard Nixon, Arnold Schwarzenegger and ALF combined, and recently topping IGN's Top 100 Star Wars Characters list, Darth Vader has had a somewhat spotty career in gaming, with appearances ranging from awesome to downright debasing. We pried open IGN's carbonite-sealed vaults and thawed out some of Darth's more memorable pixilated moments over the past 30 years for this retrospective. In the pages below we celebrate the man, the mask and the moroseness of Darth Vader.

<a+class='autolink'+href='https://cheats.ign.com/objects/005/005271.html'>Star+Wars:+Jedi+Arena</a>+(1983,+Atari+2600)

Star Wars: Jedi Arena for the Atari 2600 pitted Luke against an anonymous opponent in a lightsaber-waggling duel. The primitive graphics left plenty to the imagination, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to assume the guy with the red rod was Vader. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.