Star Wars KOTOR’s Hidden Ending Has A Strange Dance Routine
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic contains many secrets and Easter eggs littered throughout the game, but perhaps one of its strangest lies within the game’s final encounter. Through the course of the games, players travel across the galaxy as a soldier of the Republic, meeting new allies along the way on a journey to prevent Darth Malak from using a weapon known as the Star Forge to empower his Sith fleet. The quest sees players uncover new secrets about the world around them as well as about their primary protagonist, but the secrets go beyond the ones hidden within the plot itself.
Knights of the Old Republic remains infinitely replayable due to its storytelling, the dynamic between each party member, and the numerous things that players will be able to discover through the game’s narrative. Easter eggs through each location and references to the Star Wars Legends continuity at large will keep a player’s interest strong, especially for those who are fans of the franchise itself. A few of these Easter eggs, however, are more well-hidden than others.
The various Easter eggs and references vary across Knights of the Old Republic. Some references provide a little bit of insight into a universe before the movies while others tend to lend themselves to the notion of KOTOR being a Star Wars horror game. Perhaps its most well-hidden secret, however, is found in its ending, acting as an old-school gaming secret from a bygone era of game development and design. While finding this Easter egg is much easier on the PC version, discovering this secret on the original Xbox release in 2003 would’ve been quite the feat.
Players hoping to see the secret ending in Knights of the Old Republic can play the game as normal before reaching the final door before the ending encounter with Darth Malak aboard the Star Forge. Before entering the room for the final boss fight, players on the original Xbox must have two controllers plugged in, hold L+R, and press Y on both controllers simultaneously. If done successfully, Darth Malak will turn into a dancing Twi’lek, skipping the boss encounter entirely and presenting players with the ending. The PC version only requires players to enter the cheat code “dancedancemalak” before walking through the final door.
It is unknown if this will be changed in the KOTOR Remake, but given that such a secret is emblematic of its time period, it’s unlikely to return in its original form. Goofy cheat codes were a constant in a prior gaming era. One that let players skip a final boss encounter by transforming them into something silly with an obtuse execution method were the kinds of stories that would spread across online message boards or school playground, creating an interactive element to single-player titles among fans and members of its community. The strange Twi’lek dance routine found in KOTOR makes for something of an unbelievable discovery, but perhaps this made it right at home in the era of its original release. Nonetheless, while the title looks to be remade for a new generation, the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remains a classic symbol of a gaming era from a long time ago.
