SDA logo

Released in May 1999, Star Wars Episode 1: Racer was the racing game which was based around the fast Pod-Racing sequence from the movie. It features levels from the Boonta Eve Classic course from the movie, to wild levels like the inside of a volcano or a jungle. It also features all the pod-racers from the movie, a customizing feature to upgrade your pods, and an intense multiplayer mode.

 

Note: Lap times without a link are in the same videos as the full race.

Individual-levels run of tracks in 1:27:33.762, laps in 0:28:44.502:

Track Race Time Date Player Lap Time Date Player
 Amateur Podracing CircuitAmateur Podracing Circuit
The Boonta Training Course 0:01:38.097 2005-08-10 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:31.762 2005-08-10 Wouter M. Jansen
Mon Gazza Speedway 0:00:43.674 2005-08-10 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:13.746 2005-08-10 Wouter M. Jansen
Beedo's Wild Ride 0:02:51.426 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:55.120 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Aquilaris Classic 0:02:50.747 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:55.647 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen
Malastare 100 0:01:55.758 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:37.322 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Vengeance 0:03:26.941 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:08.734 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen
Spice Mine Run 0:03:58.960 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:18.852 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
 Semi-Pro Podracing CircuitSemi-Pro Podracing Circuit
Sunken City 0:04:44.685 2005-08-02 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:34.677 2005-08-02 Wouter M. Jansen
Howler Gorge 0:03:47.046 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:13.979 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen
Dug Derby 0:01:44.918 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:34.038 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Scrapper's Run 0:01:59.848 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:39.185 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Zugga Challenge 0:04:52.332 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:36.622 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen
Baroo Coast 0:04:27.851 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:28.676 2005-08-03 Wouter M. Jansen
Bumpy's Breakers 0:03:25.586 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:07.556 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen
 Galactic Podracing CircuitGalactic Podracing Circuit
Executioner 0:04:06.347 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:20.476 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Sebulba's Legacy 0:02:12.061 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:43.250 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen
Grabvine Gateway 0:05:28.151 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:47.289 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Andobi Mountain Run 0:04:40.044 2005-07-31 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:31.073 2005-07-31 Wouter M. Jansen
Dethro's Revenge 0:02:24.117 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:47.417 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
Fire Mountain Rally 0:06:28.314 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen 0:02:08.656 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen
The Boonta Classic 0:05:57.870 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:57.559 2005-08-06 Wouter M. Jansen
 Invitational Podracing CircuitInvitational Podracing Circuit
Ando Prime Centrum 0:02:48.678 2005-08-02 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:55.329 2005-08-02 Wouter M. Jansen
Abyss 0:02:43.139 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:53.209 2005-08-04 Wouter M. Jansen
The Gauntlet 0:05:35.743 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen 0:01:50.820 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen
Inferno 0:02:41.429 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen 0:00:53.508 2005-08-05 Wouter M. Jansen

Author's Comments:

Star Wars Episode 1: Racer is an excellent racing game that never really got the attention that it deserved. I've done individual level runs for each track in the time attack mode of the game.

-

A few things to clear up for the casual viewer:

I used a gamefile with the tournament completed to get these times. Basically if you win a race in the tournament mode you unlock it in time attack, the track favourite will be added to the selectable podracers and you win money to buy parts for your podracer. Any part you buy will be used for all the podracers in the game. However that is limited to the best parts available that become unlocked towards the end of the game. So, if you have these parts all podracers have their stats to the maximum of their abilities. Anyone who has the tournament fully completed will end up with the same podracers.

All runs were done on the PAL version. There is no difference in speed between the PAL and NTSC versions of the game.

-

I've spend many hours on finding the best strategies for each track which basically involves a few things. Being able to boost as often and long as possible, surviving the whole track and looking for shortcuts along the way. I'm satisfied with the results overall as nearly all my times are now the current WR's.

I used Ben Quadinaros for all the tracks with long straights and not too much difficult corners because he has the most powerful and longest lasting boost in the game, only his steering ability is quite bad.

I used 'Bullseye' Navoir for all the other tracks because he has excellent steering and a relative powerful boost. His only downside is that he is quite weak so careful driving is required. If you see me slow down a little much for a corner on tracks like Grabvine Gateway, where it's more like survival in the jungle than podracing, it's because he has to go three laps. If you go all out on the first two laps, chances are high that you can say goodbye record because you'll get destroyed in the last few corners.

Two shortcuts that stand out from the rest are the ones I found on Bumpy's Breakers and Inferno.

1) On Bumpy's Breakers I found a way to skip a large portion of the track by simply jumping on the track below the first jump. This is a lot trickier than it may sound as it requires very precise timing. Pressing the gas a millisecond too late in the air basically means end of the run.

2) On Inferno I found a way to skip a large corner around a big rock by going over that rock at the beginning. Just like Bumpy's Breakers it may sound a lot easier than it's done because a lot of times the game lets your podracer just randomly crash even if you're going very slow. I found a way to prevent this by going only over the brown part of the rock and in a very straight line. After that the track beyond the rock isn't fully loaded yet so I jump to the nearest part of the track that is.

Not much else I can say except: enjoy the runs!

Return to the Game List, the FAQ, or the Home Page.