Star Wars: Episode I Racer
Encyclopedia
Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a racing video game based on the pod race featured in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
. The game features a variety of tracks spanning several different planets and includes all and more of the racers featured in the movie, including Teemto Pagalies, Dud Bolt, Mars Guo, Ben Quadinaros and more.
The game currently holds the record for the best-selling sci-fi racing game having worldwide sales of 3.12 million beating other series like Wipeout and F-Zero
.
Can support up to 8 players
The Nintendo 64 version received a special edition Star Wars Episode I Racer hardware bundle with the standard gray/black console and a copy of the game. While the Nintendo 64 cartridge took advantage of Nintendo's Expansion Pak memory unit to add additional textures during in-game play, the N64 cartridge memory limitations resulted in all prerendered cinematics and all but one of the movie soundtrack tunes being removed from the game (Duel of the Fates
).
into the game card to activate vibration.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
. The game features a variety of tracks spanning several different planets and includes all and more of the racers featured in the movie, including Teemto Pagalies, Dud Bolt, Mars Guo, Ben Quadinaros and more.
The game currently holds the record for the best-selling sci-fi racing game having worldwide sales of 3.12 million beating other series like Wipeout and F-Zero
F-Zero
is a futuristic racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . The game was released in Japan on November 21, 1990, in North America on August 23, 1991, and in Europe on June 4, 1992...
.
Game modes
The following is a list of different playing modes featured in the game:- Tournament: The primary game mode. Race for money to buy parts or pit droids, and unlock new tracks, racers, and upgrades. You can't decide how hard the other racers are going on you.
- Free Race: Allows you to practice any previously unlocked courses using any unlocked racer. However, you cannot earn money or unlock tracks and racers. You can, however, set the difficulty of your opponents.
- Time Attack: The same as Free Race except you race against the clock constantly trying to improve your time. This mode is absent from the PC version in which, instead, the free play mode allows the player to set the number of computer opponents to 0.
- 2 Player: Race against another real player on any unlocked course. You can adjust the difficulty, number, and speed of the computer opponents.
- Multiplayer: Race against other players on a local network on any unlocked course. The PC version uses the deprecated IPXIPXInternetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
protocol in order to accomplish this, while the Macintosh version uses the TCP/IP stack.
Can support up to 8 players
The Nintendo 64 version received a special edition Star Wars Episode I Racer hardware bundle with the standard gray/black console and a copy of the game. While the Nintendo 64 cartridge took advantage of Nintendo's Expansion Pak memory unit to add additional textures during in-game play, the N64 cartridge memory limitations resulted in all prerendered cinematics and all but one of the movie soundtrack tunes being removed from the game (Duel of the Fates
Duel of the Fates
"Duel of the Fates" is a musical theme recurring in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the Expanded Universe. It was composed by John Williams and recorded for the film soundtrack by the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices. This symphonic piece is played with both a full orchestra and a...
).
Other versions
The arcade and Game Boy Color releases featured entirely different game play from the others. While using a vastly superior in-game graphics engine, the arcade version included just four tracks (unique from the PC/Mac/Dreamcast/N64 tracks) and used separate control sticks for each pod engine as standard. The arcade version featured a full-sized cockpit for the player to sit in while playing. The Game Boy Color system was technically incapable of rendering the high speed 3D graphics used in the other versions, so the Game Boy Color release was instead based on abbreviated tracks using an overhead 2D view. Many versions of the Game Boy Color version of the game had an additional "Rumble" feature, in which you could put an AAA batteryAAA battery
A triple A or AAA battery is a standard size of dry cell battery commonly used in portable electronic devices. A carbon-zinc battery in this size is designated by IEC as "R03", by ANSI C18.1 as "24", by old JIS standard as "UM 4", and by other manufacturer and national standard designations that...
into the game card to activate vibration.
Reception
- In March 2004, GMR MagazineGMR (magazine)GMR was a monthly magazine on video games that was published by Ziff-Davis — the publisher of such magazines as PC Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and Computer Gaming World . GMR was launched in February 2003, being sold in only the Electronics Boutique chain of video game stores...
rated Episode I Racer, the fifth best Star Wars game of all time.
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IGN IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment... |
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GameSpot GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which... |
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Electronic Gaming Monthly Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis... |
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| Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
Game Rankings GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive... |
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