PLATFORM: SWITCH | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
A long time ago, in an era far far away, the best thing to come out of The Phantom Menace (other than Darth Maul) came to the N64 in the form of Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. It also got superior ports to the Dreamcast and PC back in the day, and now finally gets potentially the most superior port of all to the Nintendo Switch. But is this port a New Hope? Or it just Attack of the Clones?
The game plays similar to something like Wipeout or Fast Racing RMX – it’s a high-speed futuristic racer in which you take control of either Anakin or one of the supporting racers from the film and compete at blistering pace. The game modes consist of a tournament mode in which you win money and can upgrade your pod, a freeplay mode, and multiplayer.
The main issue with this game is the lack of challenge it offers. Other than right at the start of each race, the majority of the time you won’t even see another racer because you’ll be so far ahead. Multiplayer is where the real fun is at; however, like it was back then, it’s sadly limited to two players. It also offers no online support, not even LAN support with other Switch users in your household.
This is not a remaster, but a port of the original. In terms of visuals, there’s no denying the game looks better and runs smoother than it ever has before. None of the textures have been improved and still have that awful late-90s look about them, but everything looks crisper and after a while you’ll stop noticing what the environments look like. Outside of the races themselves, like the previous Star Wars games to come to Switch, the low-resolution menus look very blurry in docked mode. Cutscenes look particularly ropey, but again, just the same as they always did.
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer on Switch is the most the definitive version of the game, but it’s sadly let down by its lack of multiplayer options. Still, the force is strong with this one.
