When Nintendo first unveiled the Wii Remote, perhaps the biggest request from players was that the technology be used to make a Star Wars lightsaber game. Such a game was eventually released, but it fell far, far short of fans' expectations. How disappointed would people be if a trusted studio had indeed realized that dream to completion, but was stopped just before the finish line due to money matters beyond its control? Prepare to be disappointed, because that's exactly what happened with Star Wars: Rogue Leaders: Rogue Squadron Wii.
Originally developed for the the first Xbox, this project was a compilation of the Rogue Squadron trilogy on Nintendo platforms. In the most recent Nintendo Voice Chat podcast on IGN, former Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht explained how the company took the old Xbox code, which was about 50% complete, and retooled it for Nintendo's motion-capable machine. The team created a new graphics engine running at 60 fps and even implemented control options for every possible configuration — from the GameCube pad to a Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board combo for steering and peddling. And best of all, there was a revamped lightsaber duel mode that used the Wii MotionPlus for 1:1 swordplay.
Sadly, the financial crunch of 2008 hit LucasArts hard, thus the edict was handed down to Factor 5 to not release the finished game. Factor 5 tried shopping around the title to various publishers, but legal hurdles on top of other obstacles ensured that it wasn't meant to be.
Factor 5 is no chump when it comes to Nintendo hardware. The two Rogue Squadron games on GameCube are often considered to be the most graphically intensive titles in the system's library — not to mention that they were both solid games in their own right. Any concern that this Wii compilation would be anything less than spectacular ought to be driven from your mind.
IGN has been able to share two videos of Rogue Squadron Wii: a general trailer and a lightsaber sizzle reel. Everything about them looks phenomenal, which is why it's such a shame that the game couldn't find its way to market. At least we can look at them now and see what could have been.
