Why You Can Trust CNET Star Wars Episode 1: Racer is now available on Switch and PS4
Get your retro Star Wars gaming fix for $15.
Anakin Skywalker races again, on Switch and PS4.
Star Wars Episode 1: Racer has arrived on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The June 23 launch comes after the game's last-minute delay, back in May.
Episode 1: Racer was originally released on N64 and PC as a tie-in to The Phantom Menace back in 1999, adapting the movie's rather excellent pod racing sequence -- which isn't quite as good as the climactic lightsaber battle -- into a full-blown game. It's being spruced up for modern consoles by Aspyr, which also handled the recent Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy remasters.
"We can't wait to see fans reactions as they experience this Nintendo 64 classic on modern platforms," Elizabeth Howard, Asypr's vice president of publishing, said in a release.
Jake Lloyd and Lewis MacLeod, who portrayed rascally future galactic warlord Anakin Skywalker and massive jerk Sebulba in The Phantom Menace, played those characters in the game.
It costs $15, which is a little pricey for a 21-year-old game without online multiplayer, but you can engage in the old-school joy that is split-screen multiplayer. It also has all the cool Star Wars music and sound effects, 25 playable characters, and race tracks that span eight planets. The hardest track also offers a little taste of Anakin's future, since it's situated in a volcano (on Baroonda rather than Mustafar).
"It's a great game and it has emotional resonance," producer James Vicari told StarWars.com in April. "We really believe in reuniting fans with something they cherished, or connecting a new audience with something they may have missed."
The game got a PS2 sequel, Racer Revenge, in 2002, and that was rereleased on PS4 in 2016.
