Nearly twenty years after it released on the GameCube and PlayStation 2, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is still deserving of a sequel, and could greatly benefit from the open worlds that are possible with modern gaming hardware. With the popularity of new series like The Mandalorian and the recent release of The Book of Boba Fett, Mandalorian bounty hunters seem to be more popular than ever. Jango Fett played an integral role in the rise of the Galactic Empire in the prequel Star Wars movies, and a sequel to the incredibly fun game he starred in would be a fitting addition to the franchise's line-up.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was released in late 2002, and takes place 10 years prior to Attack of the Clones. It serves as mostly an untold story, filling in some of the space left by the time jump following The Phantom Menace. Jango Fett is frequently hailed as one of the most prolific bounty hunters in the galaxy, and the game lets players experience it first hand as part of a story that fleshes out the universe and touches on some of the actions taken by other Star Wars movie characters during its time frame.
It has a rather unique story, one that would fit well in Disney's reworked timeline, even though Bounty Hunter has since been de-canonized. The ultimate arc of Bounty Hunter's narrative shows how Jango became the preferred genetic donor of the clone army that will be created on Kamino. Jango is hired by Darth Tyranus, aka Yoda's former apprentice Count Dooku, to eliminate a Dark Jedi who has recently risen to power in the Bando Gora crime syndicate. Dooku tells Jango that this Dark Jedi is a threat to his machinations, but the job is an elaborate set-up involving many bounty hunters to determine the best person to model the clones after. Though the exposition in Attack of the Clones explains Jango's involvement well enough, having an entire game dedicated to the subject was a worthy installment in the timeline.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Had Massive Potential
By today's standards, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is very dated, but was a fairly impressive game for the time. Each chapter had a sprawling level with a main objective, but the game leaned pretty heavily into Jango's bounty hunter identity. There were targets littered throughout which could be identified, then captured or killed for a reward. Bounty Hunter let players explore numerous Star Wars locations, including iconic planets like Coruscant and Tatooine. The game was more recently re-released for the PS3 and PS4, where it really started to show its age, itself making a compelling argument for a follow-up to be made with a more expansive open world.
One major issue with Bounty Hunter's design was that it effectively had side quests in the form of bounties, yet they tended to be clumsily integrated into the rest of the game. Players sometimes had to go out of their way to find the bounty targets, but others were essentially sprinkled throughout groups of enemies that would be encountered on the path of the main quest. They didn't really feel like fleshed-out side quests - more like minor distractions - but could be more compelling with a larger world, where players have to make an effort at exploring and searching for the target. Additionally, there weren't any great rewards for engaging with Bounty Hunter's side quests. Capturing or killing a target awarded Jango with a sum of Republic Credits, but there wasn't any in-game incentive for earning that money. The Credits could only be spent on concept art, which is neat, but doesn't really encourage players from a gameplay standpoint to leave the beaten path.
Bringing back Jango (or even using Boba instead) for another Bounty Hunter game could solve all of these problems. Larger, more intricate levels could be designed in tandem with more involved bounty target missions, where players have to carefully find their target and eliminate them at an opportune moment. The shooting mechanics could also be greatly improved by a sequel. Bounty Hunter predates the massively influential Resident Evil 4 and the rise of the over-the-shoulder third-person shooter perspective. It relied on a lock-on system most of the time, which was interesting when Jango would shoot at two separate targets with his blasters, but didn't create the most exciting shootouts.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Could Be Rebooted Instead
It would seem that the most significant roadblock to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter receiving a sequel is its current place among the Legends canon. After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, EA had years of Star Wars license exclusivity in the new canon, but now more games are starting to come out from different developers and publishers. Unfortunately, Legends content being nixed from the official timeline means if Jango Fett's story is going to be told through another game, it might have to retread the story already told in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. The 2002 game isn't really a cult classic, nor is it a beloved Star Wars game like Knights of the Old Republic, but an open-world Jango Fett game has broad appeal.
It would certainly be a lot of work to reboot Bounty Hunter, but there's already a great foundation to be built upon. The story of Jango's trials to become the clones' genetic donor is a fascinating, untold part of the Skywalker Saga's story. Jango unfortunately only appears in one film, becomes a major character, and then is killed before Attack of the Clones ends. His death is important in contributing to his son Boba's character arc in The Clone Wars, but Jango is still an underutilized character. At this point, any Bounty Hunter game could be considered a reboot - even one focusing on Jango's mentor or Boba instead - since the game is nearly two decades old and entirely removed from the current canon.
Though it's not necessarily forgotten, Bounty Hunter has seemingly been left behind in the modern era of Star Wars. Games still primarily focus on Jedi or the clones that came from Jango, and while a television show is completely dedicated to Boba, the older Fett doesn't get much attention. The Star Wars universe is vast, and there are plenty of stories to tell, but Jango is a character ripe for another video game, whether it's an open-world sequel to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, or simply a reboot of the same concept with today's gaming capabilities.