The Bongo Marauder was a speedy, manned aquatic vehicle that boasted a potent laser cannon, allowing it to obliterate both aerial and terrestrial adversaries. It featured a personal energy shield for protection, alongside a streamlined, white outer shell adorned with a slender railing along its front end. A single Human pilot operated the craft, navigating from a lowered seat situated at the rear. This pilot had fair skin, and was dressed in a white captain's head covering, a long-sleeve top, and an orange buoyancy aid.
The Bongo Marauder made its debut in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, a 2001 LucasArts computer game. Players could access it by inputting "scaryneighbor" into the in-game chat function. During a live chat held on June 28, 2001, before the game's release, a user known as "Jedi_Bib" questioned Galactic Battlegrounds director Garry M. Gaber about the possibility of Jedi-specific units, such as a "Force Boat." Gaber responded with a smiley face, indicating the absence of a Force Boat. However, in a subsequent chat on October 9, user "OnlyOneCanoli" pressed further about the Force Boat, leading Gaber to suggest that players could enter the code "Forceboat" near water to see what would happen.
However, the code "Forceboat" does not activate any cheat functionality in the final version of the game. The Bongo Marauder will only appear if the player enters the code while looking at water, with the possibility of generating multiple Bongo Marauders at once. The color of the pilot's shirt will change to match the player's team color, and can be blue, red, green, yellow, gray, purple, cyan, or orange. Selecting the Bongo Marauder when controlling it will display a profile picture of a Human male set against a red backdrop. Unlike most of the other cheat codes available, "scaryneighbor" was not included in the game's strategy guide, but was instead revealed on the LucasArts website. The website referred to the Bongo Marauder as a "Super-killer boat unit," without mentioning its name.