Why do we love to poke fun at Star Wars? It's one of the most honored, well loved, not to mention successful, science fiction epics of all time. Yes, the films do have their light hearted moments, but they never contained in-jokes or were tongue-in-cheek, so what started this trend of Star Wars parodies?
Perhaps it was the very first Star Wars fan film, Hardware Wars, released the same year as its inspiration, that got the ball rolling; or the unintentional comedy of The Star Wars Holiday Special, a 1978 TV musical special starring the stars of the original trilogy…plus Bea Arthur. Regardless, since the trilogies original release fans who love the film have loved to make fun of it. So much so that there TheForce.Net was created, a Star Wars "fan film" society dedicated to the promotion and exhibition of these mini-tributes.
Now the folks at LucasArts are getting into the act by satirizing their own franchise with LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Although this is the second LEGO Star Wars game, it's actually the first to be published by LucasArts themselves, as the original was published by Eidos Interactive. However, both of were developed by Amaze Entertainment, a video game developer who specializes in handheld games. Amaze creates titles for not just the GBA, but the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP as well. Earlier this year they developed another movie licensed game for the GBA Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.
Recently I was fortunate enough to interview the producer of LEGO Star Wars II, Dan McAuliffe, whose previous credits include The Sims 2 and Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Dan gives us a peak into the GBA version of the game and what goes into putting a Star Wars GBA comedy LEGO adventure together.