In 1999, fans were on the precipice of the first Star Wars film in 16 years. It was a hopeful time. There were no thoughts of esoteric, intergalactic trade agreements. No Jar-Jar Binks (who was the key to all of this). A space opera the likes of which has never been seen was expected, and technically, that’s what George Lucas delivered. Never before had a movie so clunky featured such ornate hairdos or a ten-minute scene about podracing that really didn’t go anywhere or do anything except provide inspiration for the Nintendo 64’s underrated gem Star Wars Episode 1: Podracer
This was podracing. Especially if you had the ram pack. The game allowed for some thrilling couch competitions and now it’s back on PC just ahead of May the 4th with clean visuals at 1080p and all at 60 frames per second. This is podracing, it seems. Look at that video up above. So smooth!
It seems that the re-release of the game isn’t what most want. No updated graphics, and it’s still got the original 4:3 aspect ratio, which is giving some audio-visual purists trouble when it gets stretched out to the 16:9 aspect ratio modern monitors and TVs feature, but the nostalgia blast at 600 MPH seems to be helping. The only thing this version is missing is online play. Right now, you can only hop on the same network and play with friends, so it’s still old school in that sense.
Star Wars Episode 1: Podracer is available now for $10 through GoG.com, slimo. Now let’s watch some stiff performances and some CGI that’s aged pretty well.
(Via IGN)