We often mourn the Star Wars games we knew about but were cancelled, such as the much anticipated Star Wars 1313, but would you have mourned over the cancellation of a game about Chewbacca or a Dark Side Rogue Squadron?
According to a new video by DidYouKnowGaming?, LucasArts cancelled two such games in late 2003 after debating which one to publish. In one corner, developer Factor 5 had proposed a new Rogue Squadron game set in the Dark Side of the Force—Dark Squadron. In the other corner, LucasArts’ own internal developer proposed a Chewbacca-starring game, featuring the Wookiee’s life as a bounty hunter between Star Wars movies 3 and 4. Even though the publisher chose the Chewbacca game over Dark Squadron, George Lucas axed the game because he didn’t like the idea of Chewbacca starring in a game. That team went on to create Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
The Dark Squadron game, however, was teased in Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader. Rogue Leader had two bonus levels that let players stop Luke Skywalker from blowing up the Death Star and then lead the Imperials to destroy the rebel base on Yavin. It was a sneaky sampling of what might have been had Dark Squadron gone forward, which would have included tactical options allowing players to call in reinforcements. These would have ranged from Star Destroyers to AT-ATs.
Since Dark Squadron never came to be, Factor 5 later proposed creating a remastered Rogue Squadron Collection for Xbox, which was approved and then cancelled in 20014. Factor 5 tried the same remastered collection for the Wii, which unfortunately never came to be after Factor 5 filed for bankruptcy in 2008. A new studio, Whiteharvest, tried to resurrect and finish the Wii collection, but it was halted by lawsuits accusing LucasArts of fraud and not paying Factor 5 employees. The lawsuits were finally settled in 2015, but well, that was too late for anything for the Wii.
Oh what might have been. A Dark Squadron game could have really been neat, but I think, if fans had the choice, they’d still rather have Star Wars 1313.
[Sources: DidYouKnowGaming? via Eurogamer]
