Star Wars Episode I: Racer’s remastered podracing comes to PS4 and Switch in May

Now this is podracing. Aspyr and Lucasfilm have announced that the cult classic Star Wars Episode I: Racer remaster is coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on 12th May. As the saying goes, “May the 12th be with you.” Or something.

The game originally came out for N64 and PC in 1999, with a Dreamcast version in 2000, and a sequel for PlayStation 2. It’s not clear which version of the original is being used for the remaster, but Aspyr say it goes beyond simply bumping up the game engine’s native resolution. That’s certainly a big part of it, and you’ll find the original game’s low poly count models alongside some fairly rudimentary game textures. However, without the file size restrictions of the N64 cartridges to worry about, all of the FMV sequences in the game are being uprezzed to meet the expectations of HD and 4K gaming on both consoles.

They’re also reconsidering the controls as they port them across from the… unusual three-pronged design of the N64 controller, trying to make them feel natural on modern machines.

Aspyr’s James Vicari explained:

Racer originally came out in an interesting time for controllers. We were really starting to see interesting things — rumble, multiple analog sticks. Even the shape of the N64 controller. So it’s sort of fitting that when you look at controls today, we’re seeing the same thing. Like the Switch Joy-Cons. You really want to make sure that the game plays well and embraces as much of the variations as possible for them. So we’ve done a lot of work to make sure that the game feels comfortable in all configurations, including playing with each individual Joy-Con. The team here is a big believer that the best control scheme is the one you don’t ever think about and that philosophy really permeates everything we’ve done with the controls.

PS4 players will also be glad to hear that there’s trophies in the game, with platinum trophy to shoot for that will prove that you’re the ultimate podracing champ.

The game follows on from a slew of similar Star Wars game remasters by Aspyr, with Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast released last year and followed last month by Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The latter game even included support for the classic multiplayer modes, though this landed the game in hot water when it was discovered that players of the PC version of the game could easily connect to the servers set up for console players, using their years of experience and snappy keyboard and mouse controls to stomp all over their console opponents. Oops.

Source: Star Wars