LGR - Star Wars Episode I Racer - PC Game Review

[@LGR]

Looking for my mix of Watto's "Cantina hum" from the end of the video? Here ya go! www.archive.org/details/LGRWattosCantina CLARIFICATION: to those pointing out how you can play the game in 16:9 resolutions, yep it's technically true. You _can_ play at resolutions such as 1080p, but what you get is a horizontally stretched experience that's still rendering all sorts of stuff at a 4:3 aspect ratio. This results in everything from the HUD, to the text/UI, to the skyboxes on each track looking skewed. But yes, it's technically correct that you can enable widescreen resolutions, it's just not fully optimized to do so and I really should've clarified what I meant. Check out this page for more: www.wsgf.org/dr/star-wars-episode-i-racer

[@reviveonset]

perfect

[@philipdumas4435]

LGR me and my little brother still to this day quote Watto's odd and humorous sayings from this game. And we can't sing the Cantina band theme without singing it the way Watto did. So this remix is amazing :)

[@1978SOOTY]

Hey @LGR, you didn't leave your affiliate link below. I saw this come up in my emails this morning and really want to buy it, so I will wait to use your link.

[@cfjruth]

It's in the description. www.gog.com/game/star_wars_episode_i_racer?pp=fa33988727d7f572be002b845e65858e68bb92e9

[@mrmotinjo]

This is fantastic :D :D

[@cloud_line4595]

“Just polygonal enough to be believable...” You just described my favorite era of graphics, the late 90s through early 2000s, back when part of the fun was staring at the little details in th game environment to see if the developers really pulled off what they were aiming for. Remember how exciting it was when games started to let you shoot little things in the level, like a glass bottle XD Anyway, thanks for covering this game. It’s one of my all time favorites

[@ursa_margo]

> favorite era of graphics > Operation_Flashpoint.jpg

[@cloud_line4595]

@@ursa_margo Most definitely. I love Operation Flashpoint

[@ursa_margo]

@@cloud_line4595 but face models there are utterly horrible

[@Gustavo-ye1ko]

haha yeah, and we're talking windows 98, graphics were the best there was then :)

[@BuzzKirill3D]

Interesting. I always considered early 3D to be one of the "worst" eras of graphics, just a little ahead of the early Atari games. When beautiful pre-rendered images and pixel art of the 90s gave way to a blocky, low-res mess. For example compare Baldur's Gate 2 to the original Neverwinter Nights - I played both when they came out and always cringed, even back then, at how bad NWN looked compared to BG2. So visually unappealing. BUT IT'S 3D!!! Although, given how many "PS1-style graphics" horror games are coming out today, I guess people's tastes are truly defined by their first childhood impressions.

[@Nihilore]

Played the shit out of this game as a kid, imagine my surprise a few years ago at the age of 28 when i find out it wasnt actually called "podracer" lmao

[@quackman]

I was similarly shocked. I googled to see if maybe that was just PC version and the N64 I had as a kid was still called Pod Racer, but nope.

[@josephhill702]

mandela effect...

[@bradydavis5791]

​@@josephhill702....no. I played this when it released and have always known it to be Star Wars Episode 1: Racer....... 😐

[@starwarsunfiltered7848]

​@@josephhill702Or as we called it in previous generations, "misremembering ."

[@AlexanderWilithinIII]

"They come, they look around, but they no buy. Why nobody buy!?"

[@orionmartoridouriet6834]

*UUUUUUUUUUHHHH*

[@taylorh.3484]

Aeeeeeeeee!!!!!

[@DJNeoncat]

Ayyeeeeee

[@timothyalton3821]

they come here they mess up my store eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh

[@Gustavo-ye1ko]

@@timothyalton3821 can't help it, I can not read that without hearing his voice, lol

[@IamAJoe]

have you seen my *C H A N C E C U B E ?*

[@TehComs]

Blue, the boy... Red... HEES MOOOOOTHAAAAAA!

[@djcleancutsakanova1no]

"No money no parts, no deal" i loved the game

[@indeimaus]

Man that map at 5:30 was rough as a kid EDIT: glad to see you say it was bullshit as well clint :P

[@drichmo]

Indeimaus Star Souls: Prepare to Race edition

[@Smurfman256]

I was unable to figure out how to finish that race until literally two nights ago after watching a guide. PROTIP: USE A GAMEPAD WITH ANALOG SUPPORT! My advice would be to use a larger pod like Mars Guo or Sebulba Basically the moment that you get to that first curve, hard brake and then turn towards the direction of the curve. Keep the pod as close to the center of the track as possible and any dip-downs you see, immediately pull up to avoid smacking into them.

[@evlo8059]

I remember beating it on keyboard, just going "slow" .. boasting

[@evlo8059]

I also remember that my fingers hurt from the jungle track. That 2 store track features gap you need to go with the pod on the side IIRC. Fun. Still remember this game as having fastest feeling of any game ever

[@kb3wmh]

I actually just got an N64 with this game and was playing with my friend last week We decided to try this track... I was celebrating because I got tenth place

[@seanno9744]

It’s been 20+ years, and I haven’t found a game that captures the sense of speed that this game does

[@svinkuk2652]

dude, youre right! the only thing i can think of is flying 4 feet off the ground at mach speeds in warthhunder. my god this was a great game

[@MarshalArnold]

3:59 "The graaaaphics" lol love that inflection 😁

[@Tb0n3]

Marshal Arnold I wonder if it was a JonTron reference. "Holy shit dem graaaphics" kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3eZkmyEq6iea8U

[@whette_fahrtz]

RIP Lucasarts

[@Zoroasterisk]

F

[@dumbstuffed]

"This track can suck it" is now my favorite LGR moment :)

[@SavioureG]

HOLYSHIT! I didn't know the game was on GOG! THANK YOU!!

[@brycevo]

Now, *This* is Pod Racing!!! Er... I mean, Star Wars Racers.

[@alaeriia01]

Bryce Mckenzie What about POD, the antigrav racer for PC?

[@TheBreakingBenny]

Looks more like F-Zero, if it was on computers. (Damn, F-Zero hasn't had a new game in ages!)

[@SandwichGlitch]

TheBreakingBenny neither had pod racing

[@TheBreakingBenny]

@cosimoRah Different vehicles, same manner of racing.

[@dazkid33]

Definitely my favourite racer of all time, because of its sense of speed. Sure as hell feels a lot faster than F-Zero.

[@FlowBeatSSG]

May the 4th be with you brother

[@GamingPenis]

This and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron were my first ever videogames Yes I am blessed

[@LZ2SM]

Gideon I really hated that one!Impossible to properly control the ship

[@UNSCPILOT]

This, the original Battlefront II, and Starwars Starfighter, even played Kotor & Kotor 2 on a Friend's Xbox. To me these are all still the best star wars games ever made

[@mykeprior3436]

You missed on on DOSera Xwing? Shame.

[@avengedguy]

What a great review, i remember having a lot of fun with this game. The speed , sound and gameplay were superb.

[@PotassiumPound]

still one of the reasons i still pull out my n64. 2 player is amazing

[@DivinityOfBLaze]

Gods I remember this back in the day. It was the shit, still is. Best thing to come out of the prequels.

[@MisterZealot]

Well. I was gonna say exactly just that.

[@Sam-lr9oi]

It honestly looks better than I remember, I'm not sure I knew all the depth it had back then.

[@theycallmejojo6090]

Basically nearly everything outside of the prequels are far superior than the movies they where based on.

[@paulgraves1392]

Sam Same here. I didn't appreciate that there was a mechanic on pit droids.

[@scruffythejanitor1969]

DivinityOfBLaze I honestly think it's better than ROTJ.

[@Jonfi]

Oh man, the memories! The anti-grav map was my favorite.

[@gregtheturner]

I had so much nostalgia watching this! I actually purchased the game from GOG about an hour before you uploaded this! So perfect timing. I remember playing that damned Abyss level. It took me hours to finally get 1st on that track and it made me so proud. Haha. Thank you LGR!

[@sinmenon4347]

I'm happy to inform that this game was re-released in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4. Apparently, they have local co-op and the menu was updated for modern screens.

[@TheDangerousNate]

5:16 You can also make your racer spout some dialogue as well, by tapping the repair button twice in quick succession. Doesn't do much, but it's a nice little touch.

[@colonelgraff9198]

May the 4th be with you Clint

[@Rynewulf]

Oh man, I had the ps2 version of this and it was one of my favourite childhood games :D (Looking at it the later ps2 version had more stylistic ui and was graphically a bit crisper and nicer than this version, but the ps2 version doesn't seem to have been that popular)

[@deborahpriestley4739]

What a fantastic analysis! Simply wonderful! Thanks a lot Clint.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

Big nostalgia for that Best Buy pillar display surrounded by Mario & Sonic. I played my share of Mario Kart 64, Banjo-Kazooie and this game there, all on display for anyone at the store's entrance. Whenever the line was too long, I'd cool off w/ Yoshi's Island on the SNES unit or whatever was on the Game Boy. It's even where 1 of my 2 encounters w/ the Virtual Boy happened, the other being at a friend of the family's place. I also distinctly remember a big Goldeneye promotional billboardesque poster hung on the backside of said giant screen.

[@diesunddas1914]

Is on GOG.com now! Buy it!

[@diesunddas1914]

You buy it?

[@paranormalskeptic3893]

I remember late in 1999 (I think) my buddy had this and Rainbow Six on his computer. I instantly became in love with this game Episode 1 Racer. Played it for hours. Then my buddy told me to try Rainbow Six, I remember thinking it was weird, compared to normal FPS games. But the more I played it, the more I really got into it. The tension was real, you and your teammates both could die from 1 hit. That made it so nerve wracking and realistic. Played it so much, he fell asleep, lol Once I got my Sega Dreamcast, I was able to play both of these games on my 27 inch Sony Trinitron, I was in my glory. Now I have Episode 1 Racer on my Nintendo Switch !

[@NekogoahIgowakay]

Killing Anakin was always pretty fun. And buying out droids, that was cool too.

[@DOSBoxMom]

We didn't get that game for the kids back in the day, but we did buy "Star Wars: Pit Droids" (lots of Lemmings-like puzzles) and one (whose title I can't remember) where Boss Nass (whose voice frightened my then 8-year-old oldest) coached the player through terraforming (Naboo-forming?) a moon of Naboo, to make it suitable for colonization (by the Gungans, not necessarily the humans of Naboo). I even played a bit of "Pit Droids" myself!

[@icecold1805]

Gotta say this game seems to have so much atmosphere I even feel the clunky UI in the shop adds up to the feeling of you being trift hunting in a flea market for that key engine piece you been looking for.

[@TheFourWindBadger]

I love this game soooo much. Spend so much time on it (I still play it on steam! ) back in the day, i used a joystick.

[@yoitired]

Is that Watto rapping at the end of the vid? LOL

[@do2196]

Damn, right in the nostalgia. A review of the Episode 1 Battle for Naboo would be superb.

[@pavichokche]

I played the crap out of this game in '04-05 and I've never been able to get it going since. I'm glad I watched your video to the end to see there's actually a windows 10 compatible version finally!

[@ramdalion]

This is one of my TOP 5 ABSOLUTE FAVORITE GAMES of all time!!! freakin love it

[@thromboid]

SWEP1RCR, a Voodoo card, Saitek Cyborg USB joystick, and a big ol' CRT: speed fiend heaven. :) Thanks for bringing back memories!

[@Skult1]

Holy shit I grew with this game! I used to play it on my granny's Compaq! So many memories

[@moonscar119]

Just replayed this game for the first time in over 15 years.... Release on PS4... so classic. Originally played this game on a Riva TNT2

[@floatingchimney]

Riva tnt was an overkill for this game. You could run this game without a 3d accelerator.

[@moonscar119]

@@floatingchimney correct, but the better fps using OpenGL over software was just pure bliss

[@Eincrou]

12:05 I'm playing SWE1R again for the first time in 20+ years and by chance Abyss is the race I just did before watching this video. I'm glad to hear that it's the only track like this. It's the first track I've not come in first place on the first try. I had to restart a few times after realizing that falling off that stretch of track with two levels puts you on a terrible course, and the AI never falls onto it. I am surprised he played it for 40 minutes and eventually gave up. I probably spent about 15 minutes on it before getting a first-place winner-takes-all victory. Nice video, this is exactly what I was looking for.

[@ProbablyOkay]

This was my favorite game on my mac for years! I still really admire the world building and design, and I can still pop it in and play for a couple hours--I know all the tracks, shortcuts and crazy stunts by heart.

[@ZeraTheRedRogue]

'Bullseye' Navior is still my favorite racer/pod to use, other than Sebulba. Navior is a bit of a glass cannon, though, which requires very precise control. At least in my experiences when I revisit this game once every couple years. Navior also has one of the cooler looking pods, in my opinion.

[@simonhoney2050]

Man, we got a second hand gamecube back then and this and I think Golden Eye were the only games we ever had for it. Both were great. Blows me away when I see the movie style camera motions designed to show off graphics I thought looked so real at the time.

[@bredmond812]

*wonders if LGR will say "Now this is pod racing". Waiting Waiting...* 4:50 THERE IT IS! XD

[@coolbrotherf127]

I've actually only played the arcade version that was at the local mall arcade. It was one of the coolest arcade machines ever for me as a kid.

[@silverhawk7324]

This game is my literal childhood. It's the very first N64 game I ever played.

[@PenandBlade]

I remember that track. I did get first after sooooo many tries. I found a glitch where if you fell off the track completely and navigated as you fell into the clouds a certain direction, you’d respawn far enough ahead that it would offset needing to stay on the top track. I still needed a perfect run and get the glitch every lap bit man was it worth it. Only game I’ve ever 💯%

[@thesuperbob49]

Now this is one of my favorite childhood games!

[@gasparmxm]

My childhood, when i was a kid i used to spend my summer breaks playing it all day, good times.

[@rdxdt]

This game is the major reason that i have a windows 98 gaming pc.

[@GabeTheGrump]

Video gave me goosebumps I used to love spinning in circles in the zero gravity seconds and then crashing to Anakin scream

[@MagicAccent]

Awesome game. My local arcade hall actually have two podracing games. Shame I can't play there anymore. They banned me for standing behind the people playing and screaming "NOW THIS IS PODRACING!"

[@MagicAccent]

If anyone interested is in Stockholm, the place is called "Hey STHLM". Check it out!

[@mwmacklin]

Glad to hear that I can play this again! Couldn't get the old version to work on newer hardware at all. Loved the game way back when, but yeah... I had to replace all of Watto's wav files with blanks because it was just so annoying.

[@timf7413]

I played this game on the N64, but always found it to be a somewhat underrated gem of a racing game. Though your video did make me recall vivid memories of the Abyss track making me repeatedly throw my controller across the room.

[@michaelswitzer2121]

Holly shit!!! It is the monster energy logo! Maybe that's why it always seemed so familiar.

[@CoTeCiOtm]

Oh my! I remember renting this game for the N64 on Blockbuster back in the day! My brother and I loved it, I think we rented it so many times we ended paying more than retail price. We should have bought it!

[@michaelrobinson6629]

I just got this game through EA Origins and its a blast to play. This is probably the game I played the most on my N64, and it was great to be able to play it again.

[@daviddragoon82]

Man the nostalgia is strong for this game. Liked the variety of odd podracers. Yeah that Abyss map was so frustrating but the rest are so good it's easy to overlook.

[@timmyb7734]

Funny story. One of my flatmates downloaded this and The Phantom Menace game before the movie came out. We didn't think it would spoil the movie much, then opening night happened and oh boy.

[@simble]

Now this is podracing! (sorry, not sorry)

[@TheBenSanders]

Happy Star Wars Day, Clint!

[@RockYeahh]

This has reminded me of the pc demo disc I had of this that I used to play a lot. I didn't have an n64 or the pc game so that demo disc was so very good to have.

[@HeyhoBrando]

This was my childhood I use to go to the boy and girl club and we always had championships every week. The leaders there even got a bronze coin they got custom made to give the champion and bring back next week for the new one

[@kulrigalestout]

"Chance cube"... heh, I forgot about that. Silly how common it is for fantasy and sci-fi to try and make common, everyday objects seem mysterious and fantastical by giving them different names that end up just being terse descriptions.

[@Clintondmb]

YES! I remember that crazy 3x3 video wall too. No one I know has any idea what I am talking about.

[@845835]

Graphics are very similar to Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and seeing the fog effect to soften pop up is true nostalgia.

[@DocVolteer]

Oh man I remenber play alot of the Demo whe have back them :D great review as always Clint

[@rubyvolt]

I still play this every once in a while.

[@Destroyer6263]

My favorite racing game of all time plus the sequel on PS2

[@kevinhibbard320]

RIP Lucasart. The 90's wouldn't have been the same without you.

[@El_Chompo]

Yeah I used to love this game for 64. The fact that they have it for PC means that you can crank up the AA and AF and make it super pretty. And it's awesome that they have multiplayer because even though it requires direct PC connection I'm sure there is some sort of multiplayer emulation software like there is for many old games that lets you actually play against people on the internet so you could get a friend to join you. And the fast nature of the game would lend itself very well to a high refresh rate like 144hz if it didn't break the game physics. I love tuning up old games on PC and getting them looking a million times better than when they were released, for instance check out my Carmageddon 2 or Interstate 76 videos.

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

This was my first game as a kid on my mom's imac g3, my first non-bundeled game, i play it now on my powerbook g3 because it is still 1 awesome game!

[@StopCopCity1312]

I remember playing this on the N64 at my neighbor's house. Considering the time it came out, it was amazing.

[@leverposteifantomet]

I have looked for this game on GOG dozens of times. I am so glad it's finally there. The price isn't so bad either

[@benbcnz1]

This video was fun to watch! Hope it as fun to make.

[@SoloTraceur]

I always played as Neva Kee, it seemed to be the most manoeuvrable Podracer, I could make much tighter turns at high speed.

[@Gruntos]

I had forgotten all about this masterpiece. I tried to get it to run for years. Just completed it including all the invitation circuits. And yes it took a out 45 attempts to complete the the invitation 2 circuit

[@warrax111]

i played only demo in 99, and mid 2000. from that time never played it. wanted to try full version from that time, but never happened. lots of game to play lol.

[@clintonleonard5187]

This game was SO fun, and it looks great on PC!

[@blackfireweb]

Man, this makes me want to try and see if I can find a copy of Star Wars: Demolition. After looking it up, the game wasn't reviewed all that well, but man was that thing a blast. I remember how amazing it felt when I finally unlocked Darth Maul in it and trashed everyone around me

[@Astolfo2001]

I recently got a loose copy of the N64 version of this game from eStarland and it's awesome. It's honestly the best thing to ever come out of The Phantom Menace.

[@honkhonkler7732]

I remember being all over this game on N64 as a little kid.

[@SchardtCinematic]

This was my favorite game on my Windows 98.

[@Kbrusky15]

OKAY SO I WAS GOING TO BUY THIS IN DECEMBER BUT I WAITED A WEEK AND THE PRICE WENT UP $70 ON AMAZON. It went from nothing to something real quick. and now that you posted this I bet it'll go up even more xD

[@TengokuEXE]

This game was so fun and most of all, FAST. The other Star Wars podracing games didn't even come close.

[@phatchick691]

So happy I got it to work on my MacBook. Works great. Played it through 3 times since. It’s the ultimate game of my childhood.

[@tgmartin82]

Its shocking the difference in how I remember this game from 1999 to seeing it now. Goes to show graphics don't influence gameplay as much as we might think.

[@svinkuk2652]

i was six or seven when i got this game... Lemme give you some context! (if anyone happens to read this lol) I was too young to speak english yet (im swedish), hell im not sure i could even read yet! So since i didnt understand what they were saying in the movies, my relation to star wars was, lightsaber fights, space battles and the podracing bit-> rewind->repeat. I was OBSESSED, as anyone with any sense would be! So i got the game and.. it wouldnt run on my dads pc at the time, so i had to wait for about a year until he upgraded. A YEAR! Can you imagine a six year old star wars obsessed kid waiting a YEAR to fly anakins podracer?? it may as well have been a lifetime! But boy was it worth the wait, the morning my dad got that new pc he surprised me with the game already installed on that thing, he taught me how to start a race, and i played that game from that morning until my dad yanked the plug on the computer at night lol. Best day ever.

[@crustman5982]

I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought it was weird that hovering vehicles skidded on ice lol also the video was indeed very fun to watch peace and love lgr

[@21willyx21]

Thank you for this review. I havent played this game.

[@Fender178]

Man I played the living hell out of this game back in the day. Very fun game.

[@DARTHDANSAN]

Coming back out on switch this in few weeks

[@osculim]

Those were the days i worked at a game store here in SA. Our version was called starwars podracer. box was kinda similar.

[@NGrevolutionary]

I played that fucking Abyss race so much that I eventually figured out there were places you could somehow jump across & skip huge portions of the track. That was the only way I ever managed to win that one. And at 7 years old, at that! Lol

[@CyberPirate2008]

I'm not a racing game fan but I like Pod Racer. So many hours spent crashing on my N64.

[@qmto]

10:23 I was the opposite, I always thought the Monster logo was the "three" logo from Star Wars Racer lol. I didn't even see the logo as an "M".

[@emporertorvus4475]

And the current record holder for this track is, Neva Kee!

[@FANTAVISION]

I laughed so hard during that Watto part XD

[@rickleuce8025]

I just beat Abyss without taking that first shortcut on any of the laps on purpose (had to take the other two shortcuts though). My podracer was Neva Kee and it was fully upgraded. I feel so accomplished now.

[@somecallmetim451]

Abyss was my own personal hell at six years old.