Gameplay is presented from the third-person perspective and game objectives are divided into four categories: search and destroy, reconnaissance, rescue, and protect.

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.

Consequently, Rogue Squadron was one of the first games to take advantage of the Expansion Pak, which allows gameplay at a higher display resolution.

Unlike the Star Wars: X-Wing series that emphasizes space combat simulation, Rogue Squadron is a fast-paced, arcade-style flight action game.

Ground defenses are more varied and include three different walkers, laser and missile turrets, tanks, probe droids, shuttles, stormtroopers and speeder bikes.

In the "Battle of Hoth" bonus level, the player can join the Rebel Alliance's combat against Imperial troops, as depicted in The Empire Strikes Back.

[13] A complex scrambling system was developed to help hide the ship's code from gamers using cheat cartridges such as GameShark or Action Replay.

[14] The sixteenth and final level of the game takes place during Dark Empire, six years after Return of the Jedi's Battle of Endor.

After an assault on the Imperial Enclave, a facility on Kile II supporting the Empire's Naval operations, Wedge Antilles is ambushed by a group of TIEs and is taken captive.

[16] With Wedge Antilles free and Rogue Squadron again at full strength, the Rebel Alliance turns its attention to a new Imperial threat — Moff Kohl Seerdon.

Seerdon is consolidating Imperial power in preparation for an attack aimed at capturing Thyferra, a planet that produces the healing substance bacta.

[27] Rogue Squadron and the Alliance strike back by initiating a Kasan Moor-engineered raid on an Imperial base located inside a volcano on Sullust.

[13] At the time, Factor 5 was developing a game engine to create large terrain maps for their planned sequel to LucasArts' Rescue on Fractalus!

[13][30] After LucasArts signed a three-game exclusivity deal with Nintendo, Factor 5 was allowed to convert their work on the new Fractalus sequel into a Star Wars game instead.

[30] The game's focus would be flight combat; this direction was inspired by a level of Shadows of the Empire in which the player flies a snowspeeder during the Battle of Hoth.

[32] Factor 5 initially pitched a concept to allow gamers to play through missions similar to the fans' favorite action sequences from the Star Wars films.

[35] It was later decided that the game would instead focus on Luke Skywalker and primarily take place between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back as it was more commercially appealing.

[34] LucasArts began developing the story and gameplay[35] in a setting that would include characters from the films participating in new, original missions using Factor 5's terrain map engine as the base.

[13] The development team's basic design plan was to combine the free-roaming style of Rescue on Fractalus with the on-rails gameplay of Atari's Star Wars arcade game.

Initially, designing and refining the individualized flight controls for the game's various vehicles was difficult for programmer Mark Haigh-Hutchinson before breaking through to find the right balance for each.

It rendered a basic heightmap and an immobile AT-AT model, while TIE fighters lacking artificial intelligence flew and fired in a predetermined path.

When "playing" the demo for audiences, Tosti followed a very specific flight path of his own to give the illusion that he was actually battling with the TIEs.

However, after Iguana Entertainment also wanted to use the Expansion Pak to achieve a higher display resolution for Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Factor 5 was given the green light.

Stember objected, claiming that the clips sounded worse than effects he had lifted from VHS tapes for a previous Star Wars project.

Its visuals were called "respectable"[3] in the standard resolution, but highly praised in high-resolution mode (achieved via the Nintendo 64's Expansion Pak).

Citing details such as decals, Rebel markings, R2 units, cockpit views, and exhaust flames, Schneider described the game's 3D ship models as "gorgeous".

[37] GameSpot's Ryan Mac Donald believed that the game's inclusion of extended voice work helped create a "movie-like" atmosphere.

[43] IGN noted that in addition to being technically impressive, the game's Dolby Pro Logic surround sound was an important gameplay element.

GamePro's review called the omission a "serious, unforgivable sin";[37] Schneider believed that while adding these modes would have extended Rogue Squadron's replay value, the game was still enjoyable for its medal reward system and a large number of secrets and unlockables.

[57] In August 1999, Nintendo added the title to its best-selling Player's Choice collection,[58] while the PC version was re-released as a part of the LucasArts Archive Series in May 2001.