The franchise consists of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998), Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001), and Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003). The first game in the series was released for Nintendo 64 and PC; the two latter games are exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. The player usually takes control of Rogue Leaders Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles.
The first game features no real space battle; instead, every mission takes place on a different planet. Rogue Leader was the first game to feature true space battles, but lacks ground vehicles. Rebel Strike features both, plus the ability to play on foot in certain levels. Also, Rebel Strike features multiplayer and co-op modes.
The series has no continuous story; instead, every installment draws its story and missions from different sources. Rogue Squadron, due to LucasArts not wanting a game that drew directly from the movies, follows the events of the Rogue Squadron comic series. Rogue Leader features a mix of original missions and missions drawn from the movies (the first mission for example is a recreation of the Battle of Yavin), and Rebel Strike also features movie-based as well as original missions; the movie-based ones even have original film material instead of in-game cutscenes.
Every game in the series features similar gameplay. The player is tasked to fulfill certain objectives, mostly destroying enemy fighters or defending allied craft. Every mission in all three games features a similar reward system: Following each mission the player is awarded a bronze, silver or gold medal depending on certain conditions, like number of enemies destroyed and accuracy. Through these medals, players can unlock secret levels and bonus craft. In every game, upgrades for the players' ships can also be found hidden in some of the levels, giving the player better shields or homing torpedoes, for example.
There was going to be a Wii collection of the Rogue Squadron trilogy, but the compilation disc didn't get finished before Factor 5 declared bankruptcy. It was announced in 2014 that the unfinished compilation, Star Wars: Rogue Leaders: Rogue Squadron Wii would have had enhanced graphics and new game modes.