The Mandalorian & Grogu: A Game Pitch Deck

The Mandalorian & Grogu: A Game Pitch Deck

Because every Star Wars movie needs a video game tie-in.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu made its touchdown in cinemas a few days ago. You know what didn’t show up over the weekend, though? A video game tie-in for The Mandalorian & Grogu. It has been seven years since the last Star Wars movie showed up in theaters, and it seems like the world forgot all about our most sacred pact: we deserve Star Wars games when we get home from the movies! That was one of the basic agreements, a “chicken in every pot” sort of deal.

Well. Maybe the universe hasn’t delivered, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream about making a game featuring Din Djarin and his little green buddy. And since we’re kind of running behind schedule here, what with the movie being out already, we’re going to take a few shortcuts by proposing game ideas we swiped from our favorite existing games. You know what they say: great artists steal. And these Mando game concepts would make for some great art indeed.

Mando-Groguuie

Designed in the style of Rare’s classic Banjo-Kazooie for Nintendo 64, this Mandalorian tie-in concept works perfectly. Banjo was a big oaf who ran around with Kazooie on his back. Din Djarin is a big armored oaf who runs around with Grogu on his back. The material just writes itself here. They even had a big, ugly, lumpy villain to battle with Gruntilda: a perfect proxy for Rotta the Hutt.

The Misadventures of Din Djarin

Designed in the style of The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, the PlayStation spinoff to a Mega Man spinoff, this retro action game translates neatly into the world of The Mandalorian. Antiheroine Tron Bonne stomped around in near-indestructible combat armor, smashing things up and committing crimes, while commanding a legion of tiny and adorable (but nevertheless dangerous) Servbots to assist in her marauding. Now, admittedly, there’s only one of Grogu versus six Servbots at a time, but Grogu has the Force, so it balances out. Plus, in addition to the main action, you can jump into action-puzzle sequences to perform heists and customize your airship (or rather, starfighter) in between missions. Ship it, folks.

Beskar Master

Designed in the style of Blaster Master and Blaster Master Zero, the game where a little guy drives around in a super cool tank. How cool is the tank? The tank can jump, shoot, launch missiles, blast things with lightning, stick to walls, and eventually fly. That’s how cool. But sometimes the little guy has to jump out and hoof it on foot, where he does not have access to blasters and armor and jetpacks. I think you see where this is going. Yes, Grogu in this scenario is Jason, and Din Djarin is Sofia III, the world’s raddest combat tank. Sometimes Grogu would have to go solo here and rely on his tiny courage and tiny Force powers, but then he reunites with the Mandalorian and the large-scale mayhem resumes. Sometimes it just works.

Ico

We couldn’t think of a witty name for this one. It’s just a riff on Sony’s ICO, where you play as a courageous young man who has to guide a girl to safety. The overall play dynamic would certainly have to change for a Mandalorian-themed game, since Din Djarin has access to far deadlier weapons than Ico. A pointy stick is no match for the Darksaber. But really, we’re here for the companion character parallels. The princess is stubborn, easily distracted, and constantly wandering into danger. Just like the little guy everyone used to call Baby Yoda. By the way, the princess’s name is... Yorda.