Star Wars video games have been around almost as long as Star Wars itself, and as the movies have grown up, so have the games, both technically and tonally. Like the films, Star Wars games have given us epic battles between good and evil, memorable deaths, epic space battles, and countless unforgettable moments.
But Star Wars is also a franchise riddled with plenty of whacky, bizarre, goofy, and otherwise very silly moments. Who could forget classic moments like when a camel-like Eopie farts in Jar Jar Binks’ face, or the large, drooling Hutt noisily eating frogs out of a bong?
Star Wars video games are generally about heroic power fantasies where strong and serious protagonists take on the evils of the galaxy, but there have also been plenty of Star Wars games that celebrate the lighter side of the galaxy. In no particular order, here are eleven Star Wars games that are strange, colorful, cute, absurd, goofy, embarrassing and otherwise just plain silly.
Star Wars: Demolition
Arguably, the two most exciting video game genres of the late nineties were extreme sports and car combat. Sadly, we never got an extreme sports Star Wars game, but miraculously, we did get a car combat game… In spite of there being no cars in Star Wars. Luxoflux, the developers behind Vigilante 8, created this over-the-top arena combat game that threw canon out the window and let players duke it out using a variety of iconic Star Wars ships, speeders, walkers, and uh…. A Rancor with guns mounted on it. Is a Rancor a vehicle? Sure, why not. Star Wars!
Star Wars: Yoda Stories
Yoda Stories was a top down, pixel art action adventure game where a weird, bobbleheaded Luke Skywalker explored procedurally generated takes on iconic Star Wars locales. The PC version was a serviceable Zelda-lite game, whereas the Game Boy Color version was a fairly shoddy downgrade. Either way, Luke’s limited lightsaber attacks against iconic Star Wars enemies such as… regular snakes and blue blobs wasn’t exactly the most engaging or authentic Star Wars video game experience, but the charming presentation and elementary storytelling made for a fun, silly experience regardless.
Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
Did you know that all the main characters from the Original Trilogy are highly trained in a deadly martial art? It’s true! Sadly, aside from a handful of lightsaber duels, it was never demonstrated on screen. Thankfully, Masters of the Teras Kasi was a whole video game designed to establish how good at kicking, punching, and grappling Han Solo and Princess Leia are. Plus, it also expanded the Star Wars canon by introducing exciting original characters who went on to become fan-favorites in the fighting game community, including Hoar the Tusken Raider, Thok the Gamorrean, and the secret unlockable character “Stormtrooper.”
Star Wars: Tiny Death Star
In the early 2010’s, the microcosmic “Tiny Tower” genre boomed on mobile devices, providing players with an infinitely tappable series of simulation games they could take with them anywhere. Tiny Death Star was a take on this trend, showing an interactive and highly buildable floor-by-floor breakdown of the iconic and oft-exploded giant ball of destruction known as the Death Star. Not since Randal and Dante’s rant about dead Death Star contractors from the hit film “Clerks” had Star Wars fans gotten such an intimate look at the employees who actually worked in the Death Star, and Tiny Death Star gave players a chance to build offices, cafes, and apartments which would likely inevitably get blown up by the good guys anyway. “You know, any contractor willing to work on the Death Star knew the risks.”
Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing
The Phantom Menace’s podracing scene – complete with dubiously cheating alien species, wide desert canyons, and janky vehicles has inspired numerous video game spinoffs, but none of them are as comical and nonsensical looking as Super Bombad Racing. This game took fan-favorite Star Wars characters like Darth Maul and Obi-Wan – and not very fan favorite Star Wars characters like Boss Nass – and gave them gigantic, goofy heads and pitted them against each other in Mario Kart style fashion. The result was actually sort of fun and not nearly as “Bombad” as the title implied, although seeing Jar Jar Binks with an even larger idiotic head flapping around was basically the stuff that nightmares are made of.
Star Wars Chess
At a glance, this is a pretty straightforward pairing of Star Wars and one of the most popular board games in human history, and that’s fine… But ironically, it feels like a missed opportunity since Star Wars has its own version of chess, Dejarik, the holographic board game introduced in A New Hope, which somehow hasn’t ever gotten a full-fledged adaptation. So, really, Star Wars Chess is ridiculous in how utterly straightforward it is.
The LEGO Star Wars Games (All Of ‘Em!)
Not only was Star Wars was the first pop-culture license to get adapted into a line of LEGO sets, it was the first license to get turned into a LEGO video game. While a straight adaptation could have worked, the LEGO games have become such a staple thanks to their charming comedic reimagining of even the darkest moments in familiar source material. Plus, TT Games’ penchant for hiding bizarre running gags throughout their games like spontaneous disco parties and non-sequitur prop comedy using familiar LEGO pieces.
Star Wars: Jar Jar’s Journey
It’s a downright tragedy that we never got a proper Star Wars adventure game of the same quality as classic Lucasarts point-and-clicks like Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island, The Dig, or Grim Fandango. But hey, if you like Star Wars, pointing, AND clicking, there’s always Jar Jar’s Journey! The interactive adventure book from Lucas Learning treated players for ages four and up to a retelling of The Phantom Menace starring everyone’s favorite Gungan, spread over fourteen interactive pages. Jar-Jar looked great as a cartoon, but Anakin had pervy bedroom eyes and Obi-Wan looked kind of like Buckley from King of the Hill.
The toys-to-life craze died out prematurely a few years ago, and one of the worst casualties was Disney Infinity. While the highlight of the series was the Toy Box mode, which threw beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters together in a big virtual playroom where young imaginations could run wild safely within brand guidelines, the story-driven Playsets didn’t get nearly enough praise. While clearly aimed at kids, they did an awesome job reinterpreting familiar Star Wars locales as huge levels to mess around in. While the Rise Against The Empire Playset offered a playful boilerplate retelling of the Original Trilogy, it had one feature sorely missing from other Star Wars games: a Sarlacc Pit that projectile vomited when you threw too many Jawas into it.
Star Warped
If the name alone didn’t give it away, this parody game from the mid-’90s was super unlicensed and… well, that’s unfortunately the only super thing about it, really. More of a collection of minigames that you could find on any flash site circa 2006, it was presented as “the ultimate interactive activity center for the ultimate Star Wars fan” and featured games like the “Whack-an-Ewok” and the arcade shooter-inspired Death Star Destructo. The most notable thing about Star Warped is that it had a bizarrely high-profile cast: it was written and hosted by comedian Brian Posehn, along with Maurice LaMarche (also known as Brain from Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain) and the voice actors for TMNT’s Michelangelo, The Little Mermaid’s Ariel, and even Spongebob Squarepants himself, Tom Kenny.
Kinect Star Wars
If we didn’t put the game where Star Wars characters dance around to Star Wars-themed parody versions of hit pop songs on this list, someone would tell us we forgot it, so here it is. But that’s all you’re getting. Enough has been said about this game. We are tired of talking about it. Star Wars Kinect. There, it’s on the list. Now let’s all collectively forget about this horrible thing again.
And so, this concludes our list of silly Star Wars video games. We had a very good time writing it, and hopefully you enjoyed reading it. And if you didn’t… Welp.
