Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was, unfortunately, a miss when it came to story for many in the Star Wars fan base, when it probably should have just used a bit of source material from the no-longer-canon video games. Episode 9 introduced too many new concepts while ignoring a ton from the previous films in the sequel trilogy. Obviously, there will be spoilers for TRoS and a few of the Star Wars games in this article. The Rise of Skywalker not only sacrificed many of the choices director Rian Johnson made for The Last Jedi, such as Rey's lineage or the significance of Kelly Marie Tran's character, Rose Tico, it also added too much new content, making the film a whirlwind of confusion. The film had a whiplash-like effect when the plot bounced from scene to scene without really giving viewers any deeper development of the characters. And while Johnson's TLJ also struggled to satisfy fans, the division and differences between the two films made the saga as a whole feel inconsistent and ill-conceived.
While having the Emperor (the main antagonist who pulled the strings from behind closed doors in all six of the earlier episodic films) return for the final film of the Skywalker Saga was poetic in this epic tale, it also made for a messy situation and poor end result. Palpatine didn't really have a place in these films and his presence in IX causes issues for the original trilogy by making Darth Vader's redemption and Anakin Skywalker's death less meaningful. The same can be said for Luke Skywalker's struggles and victory against the Empire. And due to his forced relevance, we had the "nobody" of the Disney Star Wars trilogy become Rey Palpatine, another hero powered by lineage rather than skill or the will of the force.
With all of this in mind, it's upsetting to know that Star Wars has done so much better in the past with material that is no longer "canon." While the sequel trilogy had so much hope, taking bits and pieces from the expanded universe, TRoS ignored much of the original source material. In an interview with The Rolling Stone before TRoS came out, Kathleen Kennedy said:
"Every one of these movies is a particularly hard nut to crack. There’s no source material. We don’t have comic books. We don’t have 800-page novels. We don’t have anything other than passionate storytellers who get together and talk about what the next iteration might be."
This statement is anything but true. Star Wars had a number of comics before the sequel trilogy released. Star Wars had a number of novels telling readers what happened to our favorite trio after the second Death Star was destroyed. And Star Wars had a number of games that filled in some of the holes in the timeline before the Disney acquisition. And these games were utterly fantastic.
Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
KOTOR is a fan favorite game from 2003 that is still widely played today. The game allows players to choose their alliances, whether they finish as a Jedi bringing peace to the galaxy or as the new Lord of the Sith. The story takes place thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader, and is in the time of war between Sith and the Jedi. Darth Malak, the evil Sith lord who was once an apprentice of the fallen Darth Revan, is dominating the galaxy, converting all Jedi to follow him and killing those who refuse him. He kidnaps the Jedi Knight, Bastila Shan and takes her as prisoner. Players chose between a male and female version of the amnesic Revan to play throughout the game. Revan tries to regain their memory while also trying to rescue Bastila, who, as it turns out, was the one to initially defeated Darth Revan before the game begins and takes them to the Jedi Council to have their memories wiped. Bastila has been seduced to the dark side and the player decides to kill her or let her live. If they choose the latter, Bastila becomes a romantic interest for the player character.
Many have compared the relationship between Bastila and Revan with that of Rey and Kylo Ren from the sequel trilogy. Fans even theorized Rey would have a double-bladed yellow lightsaber since the time of The Force Awakens, similarly to Bastila's saber (and in Episode IX she got a double-saber AND a yellow one, separately). Revan's mask and complicated position as a hero or villain has been compared to Kylo Ren and his struggles with the dark side. The two even share a force bond - or Force Dyad - similar to the one we see throughout the films between Rey and Kylo.
The force has always been one of the main features of the Star Wars universe, and the films have done a confusing job describing just how powerful it really is. In the animated series Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, we see so much of the lore and deeper meanings and uses of the force. We also see this in KOTOR II. Many of the villains are kept alive through the force alone, like Darth Nihilus whose connection to the force was just too powerful to uphold his physical being. Both KOTOR games allow players to choose their alignments, which allows for a deeper connection and understanding of the force and galaxy within the Star Wars universe than the movies can create.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
SWTOR takes place 300 years after the events of KOTOR. It's a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to chose between Sith and Jedi and then choose one out of eight classes. Ultimately, this is the game that leads to "the time of peace" that we know of from The Phantom Menace. Each of the eight classes available comes with a three-act storyline that players unlock as they level up. And much like Palpatine's weird body transfer from TRoS, the Sith Inquisitor's storyline in SWTOR is similarly problematic.
As players run through the Inquisitor trek, they encounter a force ghost of an old Sith lord who warns them to be wary of their Sith master. Fans of Star Wars haven't seen much from the perspective of the Sith at this point, but through the Inquisitor's story, players see just how alone the Sith really are, never being able to fully trust anyone. It is later revealed to Inquisitors that their master was much older than they appeared and wished to perform a ceremony to transfer into their apprentice's younger body. Sound familiar?
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Republic Commando is a Star Wars FPS that takes place during the Clone Wars, directly after Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Players step into the armor of the Commanding Officer of the Delta Squad, an elite group of clone troopers who carry out missions during the war to defend the Republic. The squad's four members become war veterans in a two-year-long battle against the Separatist armies. It's much like the Clone Wars series, only players get to witness first hand the brutality of this war.
The Rise of Skywalker definitely could have used a little inspiration from this game in its war plot. Instead of Finn and Poe leading a treasure hunt to find the dagger that leads them to the Wayfinder - one plot device quest after another - we could have seen the generals embark on an epic war quest with a squadron of our favorite Resistance heroes. We could have seen a more in-depth and tactical space fight instead of the 'all the Star Destroyers have Death Star weapons now' and the dated formula of shooting just the right spot to destroy it. The two generals still could have led a ground and sky attack as they had in the film, but with more focus on their tactics to give the audience something deeper and unique.
Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast & Jedi Academy
Jedi Outcast is a single-player game that follows the story of Kyle Katarn, an ex-Jedi who has forsaken the force due to his near fall to the dark side. When the game begins, Katarn and his love interest, Jan Ors (who could be the inspiration for Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor from Rogue One), are investigating an old Imperial starship when they are ambushed by Dark Jedi Desann and his apprentice, Tavion. The two capture and kill Jan, due to Katarn's weak state detached from the force. Katarn quickly decides to reconnect to his power and travels to Yavin IV where his friend, Luke Skywalker, has started a new Jedi Academy.
It is then that Luke tells Katarn that Desann was a student there who fell to the dark side. He gives Katarn his lightsaber and warns him of the path he is taking. After all, the path of revenge usually walks parallel with the path of the dark side. Throughout his travels in the game, Katarn learns Jan's death was a hoax. Katarn saves Jan, and the two rush to defend the Jedi Academy from being overrun by Imperials. In an epic battle, Katarn finally bests Desann, killing him and reuniting with Luke and Jan. At the end of the game, Luke offers to keep his lightsaber safe, but Katarn decides it is time for him to be a Jedi once again.
In Jedi Knight players create a character named Jaden who is meant to become Kyle Katarn's padawan. The two travel the galaxy completing missions for the Jedi Academy and Luke Skywalker. This game, much like the KOTOR series, allows players to choose their own path, between the dark side and the light. Ultimately, players choose whether they trust in their master and put their faith in a sketchy character they thought to be a villain for most of the game, or be seduced to the dark side by rage and anger. This story and its relationship between Katarn and Jaden also resembles the relationship between Ezra and Kanan from Rebels, with a once-wayward Master and his now-wayward apprentice. Jedi Knight is also the fourth and final installment of the Jedi Knight series.
Star Wars has always had a strong universe, each piece of media set within it expanding on the next. These no-longer canon games were no exception. Each Star Wars video game listed here had an in-depth plot that would have been wonderful to see translated into live-action. And while TRoS wasn't terrible, it would have been nice to see elements from the games adapted into the characters from the sequel trilogy. Maybe it would have helped.
Snoke even says it in Episode 8: "Dark rises and light to meet it." Kylo and Rey could have been like Revan and Bastila, rising and falling from the dark and light side, to ultimately leave them in the middle (or "grey") of the force, like some fans had theorized. Palpatine's survival could've been attributed to something more interesting than just "Sith magic." It could have been more like Darth Nihilus's connection to the force and the sheer will to survive with all his hate. We could have seen Kylo Ren question his allegiance to the dark side earlier on in the film, having him realize that the Sith are only ever out for themselves, like in SWTOR. Finn and Poe could have used something reminiscent of the wartime tricks from Republic Commando. Rey could have been conflicted about her connection to the force, almost scorned by it, like Kyle Katarn was due to her closeness to the dark side. There were just so many possibilities for The Rise of Skywalker and it feels like fans got the short end of the stick. Instead of seeing an homage to the media Star Wars fans have been consuming for the last two decades in video games, we got yet another rushed rehash of a previous movie - this time for Return of the Jedi.
KOTOR 1 is available now on Android, iOS, Xbox, Windows, and Mac. KOTOR 2 is available on Xbox, Windows, Linux, and Mac. SWTOR is available on Windows. Republic Commando is available now on Xbox and Windows. Jedi Outcast is available on Xbox, GameCube, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Mac. Jedi Academy is available on Xbox, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, and AmigaOS 4.