If you fondly remember a certain podracing game back in the old gaming days of yore, you may recall that it was called Star Wars: Episode I Racer. And it was, naturally, the best game ever considering that the podrace scene may have been the best part of Phantom Menace. It certainly competes for the title, at any rate.
Well, good news. Publisher Aspyr has finally launched the remake of the game on both PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Even better, the remake is just $15. That kind of makes sense considering it’s a remake of what was a relatively simple game in the past, but hey, no one is complaining about a cheap price for the exhilaration of podracing.
It’s all great to hear, as the remake stumbled quite a few times as it tried to get off the ground. Originally it was supposed to be available back on May 12th, but then it got pushed back to May 26th. Following that, it was delayed indefinitely, in no small part due to the Coronavirus forcing people to work from home, according to the publisher.
As for the original game, it was released as tie-in to the 1999 Phantom Menace movie, capitalizing on one of the most memorable scenes in the film. It launched on both PC and the now ancient Nintendo 64, and it got a sequel on the PS2 called Racer Revenge. Whether or not that sequel will get a remake of its own at some point is pretty debatable, seeing as how the original game is the one that everybody remembers. That said, if this remake sells well enough, perhaps it will spur a remake of the sequel as well.
If you aren’t quite sure if you want to spend some cash on this remake of the podracing game, the publisher put out on a trailer showcasing its looks and sounds, as well as some features it didn’t have in the past. You can likely find this trailer just about anywhere on YouTube.
Needless to say, the game is not all that different from what it used to be, but considering how popular it was in the past, there’s little doubt that it will receive plenty of praise from plenty of old fans.
It does beg the question though: could we start seeing more and more Star Wars remakes and remasters in the future? There’s next to no one in the fandom that would frown on a Republic Commando or Knights of the Old Republic remake, for certain. It’s unlikely that the success of this game, in particular, will guarantee something like that, but having just one remake that does very well may tip off some developers and publishers to how welcome such remakes and remasters would be. That’s a whole lot of hope and not a whole lot to go on, but it certainly is some optimism that we would like to see become reality at some point.
