Star Wars Episode I Racer

Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a 1999 racing video game based on the podracing sequence in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Twenty years after the release of the game, it received an HD re-release for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in June 2020. It was later released on Xbox One in October 2020. The game features all of the racers and race course on Tatooine from The Phantom Menace. It adds several new courses, on Tatooine and various planets. It has several single player modes, including a tournament mode. The format of multiplayer mode varies by platform. 

Jake Lloyd and Lewis MacLeod, who portrayed Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba in The Phantom Menace, reprise their film roles in the game. Star Wars Episode I: Racer features a variety of tracks spanning several different planets. It includes all of the racers in the film, plus exclusive competitors. The player character’s podracer is equipped with an afterburner that the player can engage for a boost of speed. While the engine is engaged, its temperature will rise. If pushed for too long, it will suffer an engine fire and explode, destroying the podracer and costing the player several seconds to respawn and continue racing.

The podracer will also be destroyed if one or both engines sustain severe damage from colliding into too many walls or obstacles, requiring the player to steer carefully to avoid falling behind. The player can also actively repair the podracer while competing, but doing so slows the podracer until repairs are either complete or stopped. Three single-player game modes are available. In Tournament mode, the player character competes in a championship. Completing races awards money, with higher-ranked finishes resulting in higher payouts. This can be used to buy parts or repair droids, unlock new tracks, and unlock new racers. Free Race mode allows the player to practice any previously unlocked courses using any unlocked racer.

The player character cannot earn money or unlock tracks and racers, but can set the difficulty of the opponents. Time Attack pits the player character against the clock, racing to achieve the fastest time on the given course. This mode is not available in the PC version. Instead, the Free Play mode allows the player to set the number of computer opponents to 0. Multiplayer mode differs between the PC and console versions. The N64 and Dreamcast versions feature a two-player split-screen mode, and the Windows and Macintosh versions allow play over a local area network (LAN). This Windows version uses the deprecated IPX protocol to accomplish this, and the Macintosh version uses TCP/IP. The multiplayer mode can support up to 8 players.