Considering just how massive the Star Wars franchise has become since the original film released in 1977, the sheer amount of official Star Wars video games out there should come as no surprise. From the Atari 2600 all the way to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the series has certainly had its bases covered as far as interactive entertainment is concerned.
In addition to the standard tie-in games a good portion of the films have received, the gaming sphere has also been home to brand-new, narrative-driven adventures set within the Star Wars universe, not to mention competitive shooters, racing games, flight simulators and MMORPGs.
On top of that, several Star Wars characters have actually made guest appearances in various other video games over the last two decades, usually as special guests or unlockable bonuses, further cementing their status as pop culture icons. With that in mind, let's take a look at every time a familiar face from the galaxy far, far away has appeared as a playable character in an otherwise unrelated game, starting with the most recent examples and working our way back.
Victory Royale
Epic Games' Fortnite: Battle Royale has featured an absolute slew of crossover content since launching a few years ago. Numerous pop culture icons have appeared in the game, with the various skins that have been made available effectively allowing games to play as them. Numerous familiar faces from both the Marvel and DC universes have been involved, not to mention the likes of God of War's Kratos and John Wick.
Star Wars was bound to get in on the action sooner or later, with the most prominent examples being the in-game events celebrating the release of 2019 video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With these updates, players could now take control of the likes of Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, Zorii Bliss, as well as an Imperial Stormtrooper or Sith Trooper.
A more recent update has added Din Djarin -- the main protagonist of Disney+'s live-action Star Wars television series The Mandalorian -- who is joined by his partner in crime, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda).
Battle 1… Fight!
Bandai Namco's popular arcade fighting game series Soulcalibur has been known to add guest fighters to its various rosters over the years. For example, the GameCube version of Soulcalibur II featured Link from The Legend of Zelda, with the Xbox version instead featuring Todd McFarlane's Spawn.
Additionally, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny featured Kratos from God of War; Soulcalibur V featured Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed; and, most recently, Soulcalibur VI featured Geralt from The Witcher, 2B from Nier: Automata and Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown.
Like 2018's Soulcalibur VI, 2008's Soulcalibur IV features not one, but three guest characters -- all of whom belong to the Star Wars franchise. You can play as big-screen mainstays Darth Vader and Yoda, as well as Galen "Starkiller" Marek, the main protagonist of the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (whom the fighting game dubs "The Apprentice"). Notably, Soulcalibur IV was released in July of 2008, two months before The Force Unleashed's initial launch that September.
Originally, Darth Vader was available exclusively on the PlayStation 3 version of Soulcalibur IV, whereas Yoda was available exclusively on the Xbox 360 version. However, Bandai Namco eventually made each character available as free DLC for the opposite platform. Meanwhile, Starkiller was available as an unlockable character in both versions from the get-go.
LEGO Harrison Ford, Meet LEGO Harrison Ford
Another game released in 2008, more specifically June, was Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures -- a spiritual successor to the Lego Star Wars series of games. With both games being developed by Traveller's Tales and published by LucasArts, this was naturally the perfect opportunity from some cross-promotion.
The character of Indiana Jones had already been featured as an unlockable character in 2007's Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. In turn, Han Solo was featured as an unlockable character in Lego Indiana Jones -- a fitting choice, seeing as how both characters were originally played on the big screen by Harrison Ford. Han was unlocked by locating the additional five non-playable Star Wars characters hidden throughout the game's levels: C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, R2-D2 and Chewbacca.
Moreover, Han Solo was an unlockable character in the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of the 2009 LucasArts game Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, with both Han and Indy being available as unlockable characters in LucasArts' 2005 release Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.
So Here I Am…
Neversoft's original Tony Hawk's video games were known for a number of things: their buttery-smooth gameplay, their punk-centric soundtracks and of, course, their sizeable rosters of secret skaters.
In addition to real-life professional skateboarders like Bob Burnquist, Rodney Mullen, Elissa Steamer, Chad Muska, Bam Margera and the Birdman himself, early Tony Hawk's games featured a wide away of unlockable bonus characters -- many of which were from other pieces of pop culture, from Spider-Man in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 to Shrek in Tony Hawk's Underground 2. On top of that, two prominent Star Wars prequel villains got to drop in on the fun as well.
The first Star Wars character to join the series was none other than Darth Maul, who was an unlockable skater in 2001's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. This choice certainly made a lot of sense, as Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace had just released in theaters two years prior, and as controversial among fans as it was, Maul was easily one of the film's breakout stars.
Shortly thereafter, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4's cast of secret skaters featured Jango Fett, the bounty hunter father of the infamous Boba Fett. The game was released in October of 2002, a mere five months after the theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones -- Jango's sole live-action appearance.