Star Wars Episode I: Racer
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| Star Wars: Episode I Racer | |
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| Developer(s) | LucasArts |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts, Nintendo (on Nintendo 64 version only) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh |
| Release date | May 19, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a racing video game based on the pod race featured in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The game features a variety of tracks spanning several different planets and includes all and more of the racers featured in the movie.
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[edit] Game modes
The following is a list of different playing modes featured in the game:
- Tournament: The primary game mode. Race for money to buy parts or pit droids, and unlock new tracks, racers, and upgrades. You can't decide how hard the other racers are going on you.
- Free Race: Allows you to practice any previously unlocked courses using any unlocked racer. However, you cannot earn money or unlock tracks and racers. You can,however, set the difficulty of your opponents.
- Time Attack: The same as Free Race, except you race against the clock, constantly trying to improve your time.
- 2 Player: Race against another real player on any unlocked course. You can adjust the difficulty, number, and speed of the computer opponents.
[edit] Podracers
- Anakin Skywalker
- Sebulba
- Bozzie Baranta
- Aldar Beedo
- Dud Bolt
- Toy Dampner
- Ebe Endocott
- Gasgano
- Mars Guo
- Clegg Holdfast
- Neva Kee
- Elan Mak
- Ody Mandrell
- Mawhonic
- "Bullseye" Navior
- Teemto Pagalies
- Slide Paramita
- Ben Quadinaros
- Jinn Reeso
- Boles Roor
- Ark "Bumpy" Roose
- Wan Sandage
- Fud Sang
- Ratts Tyerell
- Cy Yunga
[edit] Planets & tracks
[edit] Planets
The courses in Star Wars: Episode I Racer span eight worlds, each with unique attributes. They are listed in order of appearance:
- Tatooine: A barren and rocky desert planet. Features the Boonta Eve Training Course and the Boonta Eve Classic.
- Mon Gazza: An industrial wasteland of fiery caverns, spice-mining sites, and abandoned equipment.
- Ando Prime: A frigid planet of ice and snow comparable to Hoth. Good traction is a necessity.
- Aquilaris: An aquatic world of undersea passages, ocean cliffs, and a dangerous abandoned city.
- Malastare: A world characterized by pools of Methane gas, high speed, and tight turns.
- Oovo IV: A moon located in the midst of the rings of its gas giant parent planet. Includes anti-gravity tubes that allow speeds in excess of 1000 kph.
- Ord Ibanna: A gas giant populated by floating platforms that leave little room for error, this planet takes inspiration from Bespin, the planet harboring Cloud City in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
- Baroonda: A tropical planet rich with white-sand beaches, rapid-flowing rivers, and a wide variety of flora and fauna in its thick jungles. More difficult races feature sections inside a volcano, making good cooling systems vital.
[edit] Tracks
There are 25 tracks total, seven in the Amateur Circuit, seven in the Semi-Pro, seven in the Galactic, and four in the Invitational. Each racer has their own favorite race, with Sebulba having three. Although multiple tracks are set on the same world, the terrain and obstacles can vary dramatically. Each track is listed in order of appearance, with its circuit name, location, and track favorite, who usually can be unlocked with a first place finish.
[edit] Secrets
In addition to unlocking all of the pod racers and tracks, players completing the entire campaign mode also gain access to mirror mode (in which all tracks are inverted) and dual engines mode (in which control of each of a pod racer's two engines is assigned to a separate controller as in the arcade release).
In both PC and N64 version, Sebulba's pod has engine mounted flamethrowers.
[edit] Port differences
While the PC, Mac and Dreamcast versions of Episode 1 Racer were largely the same, the Nintendo 64 release had to be scaled back somewhat due to the system's hardware and cartridge format limitations. As a result none of the full motion video cinemas from the PC/Mac/Dreamcast ports are included, the polygon counts are much lower, there are fewer textures which are also lower in resolution, and the soundtrack is scaled down considerably. Throughout the career mode only the Episode 1 title track plays during the final lap of each race. The Nintendo 64 version supported the optional Expansion Pak, which enabled switching between Low Resolution (standard) and High Resolution (enhanced) modes via the options menu. Unfortunately the frame rate and control response suffered perceptibly in high resolution mode, which, alongside a distracting vertical-line effect in the high resolution textures, meant that the game actually played better in blurry low resolution standard mode.
The PAL Dreamcast version did not support the console's 60Hz mode.
The arcade and Game Boy Color releases featured entirely different game play from the others. While using a vastly superior in-game graphics engine, the arcade version included just four tracks (unique from the PC/Mac/Dreamcast/N64 tracks) and used separate control sticks for each pod engine as standard. The arcade version featured a full-sized cockpit for the player to sit in while playing. As a colorized version of the original 8-bit Game Boy hardware, the Game Boy Color system was technically incapable of rendering the high speed 3D graphics used in the other versions, so the Game Boy Color release was instead based on abbreviated tracks using an overhead 2D view.
[edit] Sequel
[edit] Trivia
- In March, 2004, GMR Magazine rated Episode I Racer, the fifth best Star Wars game of all time.
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[edit] External links
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