Dark Troopers were introduced to the Star Wars universe in 1995's first-person shooter video game Star Wars: Dark Forces, developed by LucasArts. Much of the game's plot is concerned with the efforts of the former Imperial stormtrooper turned Rebel spy and mercenary Kyle Katarn to uncover and destroy the experimental Dark Trooper program being run by the Imperial general Rom Mohc.
Many of the details of Mohc's Dark Troopers were designed to serve the needs of the game. Katarn faced off against a variety of different phases, one that was little more than a cybernetic skeleton with a sword, one with a jetpack and a variety of long-range armaments, and one ultra-powerful exoskeleton used by Mohc himself to face Katarn aboard his ship, the Arc Hammer. The Dark Troopers program allowed the designers to organically incorporate a more threatening class of enemies than the typical Star Wars cannon fodder, and to ramp up their difficulty as players progressed through the game.
The vast majority of the Dark Troopers' appearances throughout the Legends canon put them in a similar role. They continued to be used as player-controlled or enemy units in a variety of video games, from the original 2004 Star Wars Battlefront to the MMORPG Star Wars: Galaxies. Details varied. In Dark Forces it's implied that Dark Troopers are droids. In the strategy game Star Wars: Rebellion, they're Force-sensitive troops in exoskeletons. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed challenged the player to fight with massive purge troopers, an early model of Dark Trooper. No matter their provenance, their purpose was much the same: to provide a level up from a typical Imperial stormtrooper.
