Star Wars: Hunters is an upcoming arena brawler launching on Nintendo Switch as well as iOS and Android devices sometime next year. But more importantly, it’s also the vehicle for my new favourite Star Wars character of all time: two Jawas in a trenchcoat.
Since they’re described only as “scrappers with an arsenal of hidden firepower” on the official Star Wars: Hunters website, my personal head canon is that these little dudes tricked the in-game competition’s organisers into believing they’re one freakishly big Jawa like something out of The Little Rascals. They don’t even have separate names; the duo is known simply as Utooni, a play on a frequently used word in the Jawa language.
Utooni can be seen briefly in the above cinematic alongside the rest of the Star Wars: Hunters cast. And while some characters are merely predictable stand-ins for factions like the Empire, the Sith, and the Rebel Alliance, it seems as if Disney and Lucasfilm also gave the devs some licence to play around with the Star Wars universe. I’m particularly fond of J-3D1, a droid that’s been programmed to believe it can use the Force, and Slingshot, an Ugnaught who appears to ride a repurposed Droideka into battle.
Star Wars: Hunters was first revealed during a Nintendo Direct last February, sandwiched between more exciting announcements for Mario Golf: Super Rush and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. More recently, the developers took advantage of an Apple event to show off some tiny gameplay snippets. I’m not a marketing guru or anything, but Star Wars: Hunters probably would have gotten a lot more attention if the Jawas were part of the advertising from the start.
In any case, I’m all in on Star Wars: Hunters thanks to Utooni. Sorry, Darth Maul, your double-bladed lightsaber and excellent storyline in Star Wars: The Clone Wars are no match for these cuties.
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