On the occasion of the release of Star Wars Outlaws, the JV editorial staff is offering you a little look back to discover some of the strangest games inspired by the George Lucas universe. Clone of Mario Kart, ecosystem management game or even dance, the saga has been entitled to numerous improbable adaptations.
Released on August 30, Star Wars Outlaws is an open-world action-adventure game set between Episodes V and VI of the original trilogyat a time when the Empire is at the height of its power. We play Kay Vess, a young “rascal” who takes on the archetype of Han Solo so that the player can live out their own adventures in complete freedom. If this proposal is original because far from the lightsabers of Star Wars Jedi, the Star Wars saga has seen much more original video game adaptations than that… and rarely for the better. We invite you to discover five of them in an exhaustive list.
Kinect Star Wars
We’ll start with the most famous unlikely Star Wars project: Kinect Star Wars. As its name suggests, it is an experience that uses the Kinect, the motion recognition camera of the Xbox 360, to offer different activities. On paper, this seems like a good idea since we find lightsaber fights or pod races, i.e. rather logical mini-games when we think of Star Wars. But besides that, the title reserves a completely improbable dance game dimension in which we see the Star Wars characters dancing to original pieces that are not always successful. Clearly, the most famous passage remains that of “I’m Han Solo” where we see the smuggler dancing… a great video game moment, definitely.
Star Wars: Masters Of Teras Kasi
Since Star Wars is one of the most popular licenses of all time, it has obviously been adapted into every video game genre possible. However, It’s hard to bet on a fighting game that features characters as different as those from Star Wars. And yet, they did it in Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi! Beyond this very strange name, the experience is just as strange since we are facing a clone of Tekken which has the astonishing idea of seeing Jedi and Sith like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader confront each other. …against fighters who fight with their fists or blasters like Han Solo or Chewbacca. A very strange game which is also not helped by the heaviness of its gameplay.
Star Wars Cantina
Since the very first Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, cantinas have been emblematic places in the saga. These famous, disreputable, dark bars where not always legal affairs are carried out are part of the identity of the series, especially the criminal world that it depicts. And yet, despite this description, that didn’t stop the rights holders from making it a video game… on mobile, colorful with childish graphics. In other words, the complete opposite of what these places are supposed to represent. As a result, we are treated to Star Wars Cantina, a sort of simple little mobile game where you have to serve the drinks requested by customers… and that’s it. We are far from the dark atmosphere of the original trilogy!
Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing
A Mario Kart in the Star Wars universe. Already, on paper, the idea is strange. But then when we imagine the characters of the prelogy in childish designs with big headshere we still reach peaks in terms of WTF. This is what Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing offers on PS2, with pilots like Darth Maul, Yoda and Sebulba. A project as strange as its cover is ugly, but which still managed to achieve a little success. Rated 13/20 in our columns, it even received a score of 71/100 on Metacritic… So, clothes don’t necessarily make you a monk.
Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier
On paper, a Star Wars management game is not surprising, on the contrary. On the other hand, when the experience only focuses on the planet Naboo, or even only on one ecosystem of the planet, then it starts to be strange. And yet, Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Frontier was released in 1999. Concretely, it is a life simulation with educational value in which the child has control of an entire ecosystem that he must manage as best as possible to make it evolve and prosper.. Why not in itself, but doing that with one of the least appreciated alien races in the universe because of the character of Jar Jar Binks, it’s still a funny idea…
