Even though it’s easy to disregard Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when it comes to the legacy of the sci-fi saga, you can’t deny that the Boonta Eve podrace is one of the most exhilarating and entertaining sequences in the entire franchise. Even more thrilling is the old school racing video game inspired by it, Star Wars Episode I Racer. The video game was released for Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows in 1999, and soon it will make a comeback by getting re-released on both PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
StarWars.com made the exciting announcement about a Star Wars: Episode I Racer re-release coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Lucasfilm and developer Aspyr will bring the classic racing game back with modernized controls and everything that made the original game great to begin with. Here’s the breakdown:
- 25 playable racers including: Anakin Skywalker, Sebulba, and Ratts Tyerell
- Race tracks spanning 8 unique worlds including: Tatooine, Baroonda, and Malastare
- Work with pit droids to upgrade your podracer for higher top speeds and acceleration
- Discover short-cuts and secrets to master your lap times
- Split-screen multiplayer (Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4) and LAN multiplayer (Nintendo Switch)
It’s kind of a shame the game couldn’t be updated to allow for online play, but that’s probably not easy when you’re bringing that old of a game to current generation systems. They’d probably have to put in extensive work if they wanted to do that, and then we’d end up with something inferior like the disappointing sequel Star Wars Racer Revenge from 2002. Plus there’s something extra nostalgic about seeing the retro graphics in these screenshots of the re-release:
This game was all the rage in 1999. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent racing against friends during sleepovers. I distinctly remember Mars Guo being my go-to race back in those days, taking his big green podracer off ramps and through shortcuts, smashing into fellow races to throw them off-course. I can’t wait to get back on those podracing tracks.
Unfortunately, all we know right now is that the Star Wars: Episode I Racer re-release is on the way. There’s no release date that has been announced, so we’ll just have to wait patiently for it to arrive, hopefully later this year.
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