Celebrate National Video Games Day by exploring references and other deep cuts that connect Star Wars games to the larger galaxy and bring gaming lore into live-action and beyond.
“Boba Fett? Boba Fett, where?”
Starting with the roll-out of 1982’s Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600, video games have remained a vibrant and vital part of Star Wars storytelling. Inherently interactive, fans have long gravitated to Star Wars video games as an opportunity to further immerse themselves into a galaxy of adventure. And, especially with the more current offerings across genre and platform, these games have also become integral to the overall Star Wars mythos, allowing in-depth stories to deepen the adventures we experience on film and beyond.
To celebrate National Video Games Day, we’ve gathered just a few examples of these moments and mentions from the past decade, including a drop-in by everyone’s favorite bounty hunter. Read on to discover if we’ve included your personal favorite!
Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017)
Players who recently revisited Star Wars: Battlefront II may have noticed a few less-obvious connections to the saga.
The game’s story reveals exactly how Luke Skywalker first came upon the Pillio Star Compass glimpsed in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (or at least the Visual Guide for the film). A relic left in one of Emperor Sheev Palpatine’s observatories, the Jedi Compass follows Luke all the way to his final island home on Ahch-To.
There are also quite a few locales in multiplayer mode that look incredibly familiar to film fans. Players can explore the Naboo generator room (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace), the rebel briefing room on Yavin 4 (Star Wars: A New Hope and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), or the interrogation room from Star Wars: The Force Awakens while patrolling the Starkiller Base map. Sullust, the Outer Rim world first mentioned in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was also used as a playable molten world in both the original Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) and its sequel.
And, for an even deeper cut, a DLC update often referred to as “Ewok Hunt” mode introduced the Wisties, fire sprites first shown in the Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure TV movie, and now serving as a powerful ally in the fight against the Empire.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019)
While Jedi: Fallen Order introduced several new fan-favorite characters (I’m talking directly about Greez Dritus here), it also brought in several cameos from previous allies, including Saw Gerrera (Rogue One and the recent Disney+ series Andor) and the furry and ferocious Tarfful the Wookiee (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Crossing paths with these characters not only deepens Cal's story of survival, but further ties him into the galaxy we know and love.
And the Jedi video game series has made a rather physical impression onto the galaxy at large. After making its first appearance in Fallen Order, Fortress Inquisitorius, the underwater headquarters of the feared Jedi hunters, has since appeared in live-action (Obi-Wan Kenobi), animation (Tales of the Empire), and novels (Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade). The stronghold is foreboding in every medium.
For fans of the Jedi survivor — who is set to reappear in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past, — visitors to Black Spire Outpost at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge inside Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts have two opportunities to show off their Cal Kestis love. Travelers can go home with a faithful replica of Cal’s lightsaber found inside Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities or mix special “scraps” at Savi’s Workshop to physically recreate your own custom forged lightsaber.
Taking immersion to the next level, the game’s helpful (and cute) BD explorer droids have since appeared inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the Disney Parks as brought to life by Disney Imagineers and these physically realized robots will make their big screen debut in next year’s The Mandalorian and Grogu film.
Star Wars: Squadrons (2020)
When it was released in 2020, Squadrons highlighted two especially important characters from animation and publishing: Hera Syndulla, years before her live-action debut in Ahsoka, and Rae Sloane, first introduced in the Aftermath trilogy of books and mentioned in Battlefront II.
One of the original heroes of the Rebel Alliance, Wedge Antilles, also has a serious presence in the game (as he should), and even calls out Rogue Squadron and his defection from the Imperial Skystrike Academy, which you can watch in the Star Wars Rebels season 3 episode “The Antilles Extraction.”
Take your mission to the stars… and then to the page! For even more dogfighting action, dive into the Alphabet Squadron trilogy of books for a fuller look at Yrica Quell (mentioned in the game), as well as its companion Marvel comic series, Star Wars: TIE fighter.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023)
As a sequel, Jedi: Survivor one-upped its predecessor with a sometimes darker look at a familiar galaxy. Boba Fett — voiced by actor Temuera Morrison, who starred as the bounty hunter in The Book of Boba Fett after appearing on The Mandalorian — drops in to confront Cal Kestis, while the Coruscant Underworld (seen in The High Republic and Star Wars: The Bad Batch), as well as its police force provides familiar intrigue and peril.
Deepening a connection to the Jedi Order from the High Republic era, the sequel game introduces Dagan Gera, a High Republic Jedi who was sealed in a bacta tank before being awoken by Kestis after the Jedi Order’s fall, bringing its signature gold robes into video games.
Droids that were first introduced in animation including the BX Commando Droid (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and the DT-series sentry droid (Star Wars Rebels) both prove to be rather formidable foes, ready to be struck down by a player’s lightsaber.
And furthering the original game’s connection to Saw Gerrera, the story takes us back to Jedha, a planet first introduced and then partially destroyed in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Star Wars Outlaws (2024)
Recently launched for Nintendo Switch 2, Outlaws makes the most of being set during the events of the original trilogy, allowing our hero Kay Vess to interact with fan-favorites from all corners of the galaxy: Qi’ra (first introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story), Jabba the Hutt (from Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi among others), Star Wars: the Force Awaken’s Temmin “Snap” Wexley (plus his homeworld of Akiva), and the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka, with his own DLC installment, A Pirate’s Fortune.
In Outlaws, gameplay invites you to shoot at red barrels that colorfully explode, filled with rhydonium fuel (an element sure to be familiar to fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Andor).
Aspiring moisture farmers can travel across Tatooine to the famed Docking Bay 94 (where we first see the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: A New Hope), the Skyhopper toy given to a young Luke Skywalker by Obi-Wan Kenobi (in Obi-Wan Kenobi the limited series), the often-mentioned Tosche Station (previously seen in the original film’s deleted scenes), and even a Krayt Dragon at the far reaches of the desert.
In the Unknown Regions…
And while there has not been a title starring Han Solo to date, the Corellian smuggler often makes his presence known in gaming form. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, you can see a Wookiee and his protocol droid opponent (whose arms have both been ripped off) mulling over a game of Dejarik in Nem'ro's Palace Cantina, a sly reference to Han's advice to “let the Wookiee win,” of course. Battlefront II places Han Solo back in Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana, years before The Force Awakens, and now sporting a full beard (something only previously documented for the time period by books and comics).
And speaking of Harrison Ford’s legendary characters, the most recent Lucasfilm Games title, the much-lauded Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, features Dr. Henry Jones Jr. as well as several references to its own franchise’s filmography and lore. Play along to find a nod to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s Willie Scott, an explanation for Professor Jones’ departure from Marshall College by the time of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and a map of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye from the Indiana Jones Adventure ride at Disneyland. For more on the continuing adventures of Dr. Jones, you’ll have to head to Lucasfilm.com.
The galaxy is full of connections! What other references have you found that connect Star Wars video games to Star Wars films, series, books, and more?
