The older you get, the more you start to notice the litany of flaws that make up Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Even myself — an ardent Star Wars prequels apologist — can’t defend the nonsense with the Trade Federation or Jar-Jar Binks. In fact, as time goes by, the only thing thing that can be seen as objectively great about The Phantom Menace is the infamous Duel of the Fates track from the legendary John Williams that plays during the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jin, and Darth Maul.
That, and podracing!
In Phantom Menace, podracing is depicted as a dangerous form of racing that is disproportionately popular among the citizens of rural Outer Rim planets such as Tatooine. The fictional sport became popular among Star Wars fans as well, with it being adapted into its own game, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, in 1999.
Upon its release, Racer was a hit among gamers and Star Wars fans alike. And it got pretty decent reviews from critics as well, being given positive marks for its pace, depth, and for having a learning curve. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but it was still a really decent game. Another thing that made Racer stand out was that is was surprisingly unforgiving, with one wrong turn resulting in you literally crashing out in dramatic fashion and needing to restart the entire race from the beginning. Beyond that, there was also an arcade version, and that cabinet felt like one of the last truly big arcade games before arcades themselves started to die out in larger numbers.
Even today, some 25 years later, the game remains popular and has been made backwards compatible for a few of the modern gaming platforms. But for one reason or another, podracing hasn’t gotten much attention since 1999. And that honestly confuses me.
Sure, the Star Wars franchise has been through a lot since then. Not only did the polarizing prequel movies put the IP in limbo for a bit, but it was also purchased by Disney in 2012 who obviously had its own plans for the franchise (and subsequently created its own fair share of polarizing media). Even still, I can’t help but think that not diving into the harmless fun that is podracing in video game form to this point is a missed opportunity.
It’s obvious that Disney sees video games as an important platform to promote the already popular Star Wars brand. In the last decade, we’ve seen the rebirth of the Star Wars Battlefront series, as well as games like Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor, and Star Wars: Outlaws among others. And the infrastructure is there for a podracing game to not only be developed, but be good!
Once Disney started offering out the licenses to create Star Wars-branded video games, EA was initially given an exclusive license, something many sports fans are sure to be sour about. Since then, however, Disney and Lucasfilm have allowed other publishers a crack at the IP, but as far as I know, EA is still willing to make Star Wars games.
And under the EA umbrella is a developer quite accustomed to making racing games: Codemasters.
Purchased by EA back in 2021, Codemasters is most well-known for creating the yearly F1 games, as well as the Grid, Dirt, and WRC franchises. This is an experienced studio that knows how to make a quality racing game. So why not see if they could produce a game based around podracing as well?
Imagine for a second a podracing game created with modern technology, with modern gamer sensibilities in mind, by an experienced racing game developer. And in this podracing game, you can take your racer through the ranks, competing on Malastare, all the way to the Boonta Eve Classic on Tatooine. You can have different archetypes such as an underdog human character who has to grind their way to greatness whilst avoiding complete calamity, or a Dug who has an inherent proclivity for the sport.
And that’s just the lore stuff. What about the actual racing?
The cool thing about podracing is that it’s not an actual sport. It’s a fictional form of racing that would all be outlawed in any country in the world. Therefore, the possibilities are endless when it comes to how you want the aerodynamics to work, how pods can be built, and what kind of sim-style features you’d like to add. This goes for the tracks as well, which can be anything from dust bowls, to prestigious and well-maintained tracks. You can also upgrade your pit droids to ensure quick, efficient, and effective stops.
In keeping tradition with publishers like EA wanting to milk its player base for everything it’s worth, there are also opportunities for theoretical DLC packs and cosmetic options you could sell to players. And good or bad, any game with Star Wars slapped on it will sell at least a little bit.
Maybe my nostalgia for Racer has transformed into delusion over the years, but is a podracing game not worth a shot?
Published: Feb 6, 2025 06:27 pm