After sixteen years, Star Wars: Republic Commando is back. Not only has the game received a remaster, but it has finally hit PlayStation and Nintendo consoles after it was exclusive on Xbox consoles and PCs all this time. It is a cult hit that fans have dying to see again for a while.
That fact alone is some interesting history behind this game’s legacy but there is a lot more one might not be aware of. Even the most diehard fans could have missed out on these Easter eggs or general facts about the game's development. To coincide with this long-awaited re-release, let’s look at some facts and learn a thing or two.
6 The Canceled Sequel
At the end of development for this Star Wars game, the team was already hard at work on a sequel, Star Wars: Imperial Commando. This was slated for a 2005 release presumably once again as an Xbox exclusive. However, sales were not big for Republic Commando so the project ultimately was canceled, or at least that was one given reason.
As the name might suggest, this was going to be about the Empire in a big way. There was debate internally on what the game should focus on. The end of this game leads up to Order 66 so one idea was to create a Jedi hunting game while there were other ideas for Delta Squad, or part of them at least, to join the Rebel Army. Many of these details were revealed in the book, Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, which also dived into a number of these other facts.
5 Cut Content
As is the case for most games, there were a number of things left on Republic Commando's cutting room floor. At one point, Blurrgs were not only going to be in this Star Wars game, but they could have served as mounts. For those unaware of what this creature is, it’s the lizard beast from The Mandalorian on Kuiil’s farm.
There are a number of gadgets cut from the weaponry list including a remote droid. One can assume that when deployed, this could have spied on areas unreachable by Delta Squad. There were also some story exclusions or reworked ideas including an alternate ending of some sort and a scene where the gunship pilot, Delta 42, would have died. Parts of these things can be found in the game’s code.
4 Canon Squad, Not Canon Games
At the time of this game’s release, it was not meant to be a canon piece of lore. However, Delta Squad did jump into canon via Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This game was beloved by some of the show’s team, which is why Delta Squad were added to the season three episode “Witches of the Mist.”
This was released in 2011, six years after the game originally launched on Xbox. What is and isn’t canon in the Star Wars universe changes all the time, especially since Disney took over, so who knows if this will hold or not.
3 Their Legacy Lives On
Except for this remaster of Star Wars: Republic Commando, the four squadmates have not been in a game proper since 2005. However, as has been proven time and time again, if fans want it hard enough, they can will it into existence. That’s one of the core principles behind modding, although adding things to improve a game may be more important than including weird fan canon things.
A prime example would be Star Wars Battlefront II. While Delta Squad did not officially release via a patch, a modder on Nexus Mods, KW5000, put the whole team into the game. The mod is still up so check it out.
2 Book Legacy
Besides The Clone Wars cartoon, Delta Squad also reprised their role in a number of Star Wars books. The first was in Republic Commando: Triple Zero, which is the second novel in this series. It takes place during the second mission from the game.
The events of the book and game play out differently but that should be expected from a video game novelization. There are a lot of Resident Evil books that present the games in a different light, for example. Delta Squad also appear in the books True Colors, Order 66, and Imperial Commando: 501st.
1 Creating The Commandos And The Original Game
Besides that deep dive book into LucasArts, one can actually learn a bit about Star Wars: Republic Commando inside the game itself. For example, the Extras menu includes a concept art documentary. It discusses some design choices for Delta Squad like how the creators were inspired by ninjas, navy seals, and roman gladiators when creating the armor. Plus they took inspiration from how the troopers looked in other parts of the series.
One can learn that Star Wars: Republic Commando also started out differently. The original focus would have been about one day in the war on Geonosis. However, more areas were added like Kashyyyk to tie into the third prequel movie that was set to release at the time. Some cut content can also be found in just the drawings themselves.