A 19-year-old Star Wars pod racing game has copped a re-release this week, making it the first time the game can be purchased since its release on the Sega Dreamcast back in 2000.
Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer was most popularly known for its Nintendo 64 release and, as you’ve probably guessed, is centred around the pod racing stuff featured in the Star Wars prequel. It was pretty popular and by all accounts – including mine – a damn fun time.
Good Old Games (GOG) has released a PC port of the title that can be played in 1080p at 60 frames per second. It isn’t a remake or a remaster, though, the original game has simply been adjusted to run on newer hardware and operating systems. In other words, don’t expect the graphics to look any better than they did back in the day.
That being said, it holds up alright from a visual standpoint, though the text and HUD look dated as hell. In terms of nostalgia, it very much kicks in all the right places. Episode 1 Racer doesn’t have proper 16×9 aspect ratio support, so you’ll have to deal with a stretched image or black bars if you choose to stick to its original 4×3 format.
The game also has LAN multiplayer support for up to 8 players, provided all 8 are connected to the same network. If you’re still keen to give it a whirl, you can grab it for $11.09 over at GOG. You can check out some gameplay footage below.
