To paraphrase the wise Master Yoda: Get money. Or don’t. There is no try. Since their acquisition of  Lucas Films in 2012, Disney has made 4.08 billion dollars on box office revenue alone. This does not even take into account their main source of income, merchandise. With a series as iconic as Star Wars, it would be ludicrous to think that they wouldn’t sell many forms of merchandise to cash out on the large franchise. This can be anything from clothing, toy lightsabers, and even a Christmas special. In Disney’s most recent attempt at making a large profit**weak transition, they are opening a Star Wars themed area named “Galaxy’s Edge” at multiple parks around the world. Basically, wherever there is Star Wars, there is money. And as times have changed, the folks at Lucasfilms and Disney have adjusted their marketing to match modern times. As a result, the companies have pushed many video games onto home consoles ever since home consoles became popularized. And, of course, this has resulted in many iconic (and not so iconic) video game titles that wear the Star Wars name proudly. In this article, we are here to discuss some of these games. As there are so many, we have only picked a few of the largest games and game franchises.

Lego Star Wars

Easily one of the most recognizable Star Wars spin-off games, the Lego series is one that made up many childhoods. It is easily one of the most child friendly, as it is an action-adventure game that retells the stories from the Star Wars franchise with some of the series’ most iconic characters in tiny Lego minifigure form. The games are all filled with a great deal of charm and humor that’s destined to appeal to anyone, not only children. The love shown in every little detail is admirable, especially in the game Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. This is honestly one of the most enjoyable games ever created. This is simply because you explore the original six episodes, playing as characters that correlate to that section of the story. And, if you are a die hard fan of the series, you’ll be sure to notice that the game is accurate to its source material. Along with this, there are plenty of unlockables to collect, including characters and other secrets. You can unlock everyone from Han Solo, to the ghost of Obi-Wan, to a Gonk Droid. Imagine waddling around a level as a practically useless robot that moves slower than Jabba the Hutt; it’s so outlandish that it’s near perfect. Along with that, you can use any unlocked character to go back through the levels, and find even more things to unlock. It’s some nice, wholesome fun that anyone can enjoy for long periods of time.

The Force Unleashed

Before the release of The Force Unleashed, most Star Wars games struggled to capture what caused audiences to fall in love with the franchise. The Star Wars Universe has a ton of interesting elements and lore that, if properly adapted, could make for some top tier gaming. Finally, LucasArts found a way to accomplish this by creating a thrilling single player slasher. The game has you take on the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller, on his path to overthrow the Emperor and take over the Empire alongside Darth Vader. Starkiller is one of the most powerful force users in the franchise’s history and the developers were able to incorporate his incredible force abilities with the combat and quick time events. This is best portrayed in one of the late moments in the game where Starkiller pulls a Star Destroyer into a planet. The force abilities of Starkiller combined with the smooth lightsaber combat make for some really fun gameplay. The sequel was pretty much just like the first game with updated gaming mechanics and graphics, new locations, and a deeper plot. It was pretty amazing to see what LucasArts was able to do with this original idea and the only disappointment from the series was a lack of sequels.

Battlefront

In one of the more well known series in Star Wars video games, Star Wars : Battlefront pins players in the front lines of battle as the clone troopers. In the original franchise, players would fight against AIs in some of the most iconic planets from the series. There would be multiple classes per army. After accumulating enough points, players would then be allowed to control iconic characters in the franchise, such as Obi-Wan, Darth Maul and Boba Fett. When you finally got a chance to play as these characters, it felt special because you would be able to decimate the enemy. The experience is something exhilarating to partake in. As phenomenal as it was, the graphics and gameplay became a little dated. The Battlefront series needed something to rekindle its fire. This, eventually, came in the form of EA’s reboot of the franchise in the 2010s. The first game is nothing too impressive. It had decent gameplay, and was all an online FPS. You could still play as iconic characters, but they were very limited on launch. However, Star Wars: Battlefront II, the sequel to this, began to learn from the mistakes of its predecessor. Despite having a scandal where the game appeared to be loot crate centered, and people were able to buy these boxes making the game “pay-to-win,” the game was much better. The maps felt unique, more heroes from more eras were present and the game had that same life as the original Battlefront titles. After years of inactivity and failures, it finally felt as if Battlefront was back for a new era of fans.

Knights of the Old Republic

Considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, Knights of the Old Republic is an RPG from the early 2000s. The player plays as Revan, a Jedi Knight who is unaware of his true nature as one of the most feared Sith Lords in the galaxy because of Jedi brainwashing. The game itself is massive for its time and takes the player across multiple planets throughout the story. It takes place thousands of years before any of the events in the movies and uses lore that has only been used in the expanded universe. The gameplay itself isn’t really groundbreaking but the story and characters are extremely well written which is why this game found its way into the hearts of millions of fans. Knights of The Old Republic set the bar high when it comes to Star Wars video games and it is improbable that we will ever get another game like this.

Kinect Star Wars

This game is really only known for being a major disappointment. But, it’s a Star Wars game nonetheless. The game uses the Xbox 360’s Kinect motion capture technology. This basically means that if you move in front of it, the Kinect is able to implement those movements into gameplay. However, the Kinect suffers from one teensy issue –It barely functions properly. Often times, setting it up is too convoluted, and even once it is set up, it does not respond to many of the motion controls. Now, you can begin to imagine where the game begins to fall apart. Along with this, the game only comes with four game types. The main one is “Jedi Destiny” which serves as a retelling of the prequel trilogy where you are the one behind the lightsaber. Despite this, the game type that is often remembered by fans of the series is “Galactic Dance-Off.” Imagine a Just Dance-esque game that features the iconic characters of Star Wars with many parodies of iconic tracks to which you are meant to dance along. Some of these parodies include a parody of Jason Darulo’s hit song “Ridin’ Solo” titled “I’m Han Solo” and a parody of “Y.M.C.A” entitled “Empire Today.” We couldn’t make this up if we tried. Honestly the parodies are so bad they are good. Overall, the game doesn’t have too many reliable controls, but is fun purely because of how wild and hilarious it can get. “Galactic Dance-Off” is no joke.

The reach of the Star Wars franchise holds no bounds. It feels like every other week they are dropping a new piece of media and gaming is no exception. Despite the millions of dollars that go into the creation these games, few are really worth any praise. Recreating that Star Wars movie magic into the gaming world has proven to be quite the difficult task over the years and it may never be done. For now, upcoming projects like Jedi: Fallen Order look promising so far. Hopefully, Star Wars is able to turn their luck around soon enough and provide the fandom the content they’ve been longing for ages.