Bounty Hunter’s Jango Fett Motivation

George Lucas is the last word supply for every thing Star Wars, however he was by no means notably concerned within the lengthy succession of Star Wars video video games. For years, he did not permit LucasArts to develop Star Wars video games internally, and he remained comparatively hands-off as soon as that rule modified. He did, nonetheless, log off on main narrative choices in video games, and one edict had a huge impact on Star Wars: Bounty Hunter‘s improvement.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is not a direct adaptation of any Star Wars film, nevertheless it’s quite a bit nearer to the topic of the movies than games like Knights of the Old Republic had been. Six months after Assault of the Clones debuted in theatres, Bounty Hunter supplemented the story by diving into Jango Fett’s backstory. The sport answered some large questions, like how Jango acquired the Slave I, nevertheless it stopped wanting explaining his motivations in depth.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Saved Jango’s Motivation Easy

No Room For Revenge

Because it seems, Lucas did not need Star Wars: Bounty Hunter to complicate Jango’s purpose for bounty searching. Inside the saga, bounty hunters are simply working for the cash, and Lucas proscribed the identical method for the sport. When LucasArts director Jon Knoles requested if Jango could possibly be motivated by revenge for a tragedy from his childhood, George responded with a “No,” and the notice to “hold all of it concerning the cash.“

Knoles did not discover this limitation irritating, as a substitute calling the mentality “cool.” To Knoles, it was a reminder to maintain the sport targeted relatively than making an attempt to wrangle too many narrative components into one recreation. Later in the identical interview, Knoles criticizes the overabundance of backstory in lots of video games, arguing that video games ought to hone in on the fabric that gamers really have to know.

This anecdote seems in a 2020 interview on the Force Material podcast, which Reddit person xezene clipped and shared. It is an fascinating tidbit, and it is solely half of a bigger window into how Lucas interacted with the creation of Star Wars video games.

In accordance with Knoles, builders would write down questions like his inquiry about Jango’s motivation and ship them to Lucas, who would reply with both a “Sure” or “No” and any clarification that was obligatory. Some discussions had been had in particular person, however for probably the most half, communications with the person in cost occurred by interoffice memos or faxes.

Lucas Was Open To Different Jango Fett Selections

LucasArts Had Loads Of Say

Boba Fett overlooks a city in Star Wars Bounty Hunter. — Boba Fett overlooks a metropolis in Star Wars Bounty Hunter.

Whereas Star Wars: Bounty Hunter presumably encountered another “No“s, Lucas apparently wasn’t too strict about different features of the narrative. He gave LucasArts the go-ahead to reuse concepts that initially utilized to Boba’s backstory earlier than the prequels rewrote the canon, permitting Knoles to “save among the cool mysteries and myths of Boba Fett that had been not true.”

Knoles praises The Mandalorian‘s related method, which touched on some long-running concepts with out going into many specifics in its first season. Apparently, he additionally mentions Lucas enjoying round with concepts for a Mandalorian present on the time, displaying how early these seeds had been planted inside Lucasfilm.

Regardless of conserving Jango’s motivations easy, Lucas did provide a further piece of recommendation about his character. When Knoles requested if the sport might clarify Jango’s purpose for conserving Boba as a son, Lucas mentioned, “In a phrase, it is legacy.” Just like the notice about cash, it is a transient clarification, nevertheless it cuts to the center of the topic at hand.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Stands The Take a look at Of Time

Lucas’s Guidelines Labored Out

Jango Fett leaving his ship in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter

Now that Lucas has given up the franchise, modern Star Wars games lack the identical small inputs from the unique creator. That hasn’t gotten in the best way of some successes, just like the latest Star Wars Jedi collection. In an period the place Star Wars has grow to be more and more obsessive about backstories, interconnections, and references to earlier works, nonetheless, it is simple to really feel nostalgic about Lucas’s curiosity in a direct method.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was remastered in 2024, bringing the title to trendy platforms with quite a lot of tweaks. Though it lacks the graphical splendor of EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2 or the size of Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, it is nonetheless value enjoying at the moment, whether or not you select to go along with the unique model or the remaster.

Thanks partly to Lucas’s enter, Bounty Hunter tells a usually participating story, and the cutscenes maintain up nicely because of the involvement of Lucas’s Industrial Gentle & Magic. The gameplay has its ups and downs, however quite a lot of fascinating instruments and weapons set it aside from the common film tie-in. Within the LucasArts custom, it is undeniably greater than an inexpensive money seize.

Fashionable AAA video games usually attempt to imbue their characters with complicated motivations, with God of Struggle‘s pivot to a narrative about fatherhood serving as a typical instance. Jango Fett is not a cardboard cutout in Bounty Hunter, and like Lucas mentioned, he is a person occupied with leaving a legacy. With regards to his job, although, it is all concerning the cash. In Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, that is motivation sufficient.