Fortnite’s Star Wars Galactic Battle isn’t Palpatine’s first dance-off
Fortnite’s crossovers and guest collaborations have always been a tad ridiculous. But Epic has really outdone itself with the new Star Wars Galactic Battle season. This event includes a playable Emperor Palpatine and fans are going to town with him. However, while we’ll never get tired of seeing Palpatine wielding an assault rifle or strutting his stuff to Sabrina Carpenter, it’s not this Sith Lord’s first or finest dance-off.
Instead, that honour has to go to Kinect Star Wars, which was doing ridiculous dance battles five years before Fortnite was released. This motion-based Xbox 360 Star Wars game had an entire section which was Just Dance but Star Wars, featuring tweaked versions of real-life songs. So Hollaback Girl became Hologram Girl, Ridin’ Solo became I’m Han Solo and so on.
Think that sounds ridiculous? You’re right, but Galactic Dance Off, as it was called, was also absolutely amazing. It’s the biggest reason I regret getting rid of my original Xbox 360. Its finest section, by far, was when you took on Emperor Palpatine to the tune of Deadmaus’s Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff.
Devoid of lyrics, you were free to concentrate on matching Vader’s force-assisted moves. Then, at the halfway mark, Palpatine himself stepped off his throne, Imperial Guards by his side, to take you on. It’s the kind of silliness you might expect from a Disney Star Wars game. This was, however, while the franchise was still in George Lucas’s hands.
In short, it was utterly, utterly amazing and, even now, has us thinking about movies that could be improved with a dance-off. Gangs of New York, The Thing, Terminator 2, the list goes on. The other elements of Kinect Star Wars were mediocre but Galactic Dance Off deserved to run and run.
Sadly, that never happened. But Fortnite is, at least, channelling its silly, silly spirit with its Star Wars Galactic Battle season. Who knows, maybe Disney will finally pay attention and give us a Kinect Star Wars sequel, in some form or other. Till then, we’ve always got Palpatine putting on lipstick.
