Star Wars Episode I: Racer

SO FUN HOLY SHIT it was sooooo fun back in the day.

maybe my emulator was bad cuz i lovedddd it back then. but you have to buy parts every time or something right? lol i wish i could upgrade a racer throughout the game

Fast and Energetic. Episode I Racer is probably the best game based on The Phantom Menace. Making a perfectly serviceable game out of the one of the few truly thrilling scene the film had to offer. Granted the novelty will wear off quite quickly for the same reason. There's just not much to it.

I'd go with Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Snowboard Kids, Wave Race 64 or even Beetle Adventure Racing over it for N64 racing action.

This was fun with friends. For maybe a half an hour. And then you all moved on to something else because, as nice as this game looked and felt, it just didn't have staying power. Nowadays people reflect and call it so good, so fantastic, but if we had gotten a truly amazing podracing game, everyone would still be playing it.

The atmosphere and presentation in this game were fantastic, and everything about driving the pod racers felt good from the weighty controls to the sound they made. However, the tracks are way too long, boring, and samey. Sometimes the lighting makes it hard to see, which leads to some bullshit crashes. The ai is also incredibly incompetent - most races become way too easy even if you crash a lot because the ai rarely catches up to you for some reason. A shame this concept wasn't done better.