''Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing'' is both a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

and

vehicular combat game Vehicular combat games (also known as just vehicular combat or car combat) are a sub-genre of vehicle simulation video games where the primary objectives of gameplay include vehicles armed with weapons attempting to destroy vehicles controlle ...

with characters from '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'', '' Star Wars'', and ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

''. The playable characters are portrayed in a hilarious way in the

super deformed Chibi, also known as super deformation, or S.D. is a style of caricature originating in Japan, and common in anime and manga where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby with stubby limbs, oversized heads, and m ...

style (featuring unusually large heads and small bodies). This game is available on PlayStation 2 only, as the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

, and

Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...

versions were cancelled due to poor sales of the PlayStation 2 version. Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reports a score of 71, indicating mixed or average reviews.

Gameplay

''Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing'' is a kart racing game. Players select one of various ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' characters to compete on various courses patterned after the film. Each course also features a reversed, mirrored variant.

Boba Fett Boba Fett ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. First appearing in the ''Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), where he was voiced by Don Francks, he is an armored bounty hunter featured in both the original and prequel fi ...

and Darth Vader appear as unlockable guest characters. Races are conducted with eight competitors and consist of three laps. Powerups are littered throughout each course, and each provides the player character with varying temporary attributes, such as a boost in speed, a shield, or offensive weaponry. Up to four players can join in splitscreen play using the PlayStation 2 multitap peripheral. A variant on the standard race mode, known as "Teams", limits the race to four competitors, each split into teams of two. An Arena mode is also included. Here the player controls their character in a vehicular combat scenario. Powerups from the racing modes are used, but instead of navigating a race course the objective is to eliminate enemy characters and be the last character standing. Nine race courses and four arenas are available to choose from.

Development and marketing

The game was developed by LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning as its first entertainment-only title, and was the final title developed under that brand. The concept for the game was created by Lucas Learning, and the decision was made for them to serve as developer and publisher for the title. Development took close to two years, and at its peak consisted of over 20 people. The music was composed by Peter McConnell, and features cartoon-like, satirical renditions of John Williams' ''Star Wars'' score. McConnell had previously worked on soundtracks for other LucasArts games such as ''Grim Fandango'' and ''Full Throttle (1995 video game), Full Throttle''. Some actors from the films reprise their roles in the game. Jake Lloyd voices Anakin Skywalker, Ahmed Best returns as Jar Jar Binks, and Lewis MacLeod (actor), Lewis Macleod again voices Sebulba. Grey Griffin, Tom Kane and Kevin Michael Richardson are among the voice actors used to voice double the remaining characters. Lucas Learning utilized RenderWare from Criterion Software as the engine to power ''Super Bombad Racing''. In early May 2000, leaked information revealed ''Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing'' was in development. It was officially unveiled at E3 2000. The game was later promoted at the Sony Metreon in San Francisco, California in April 2001. Copies of the game signed by George Lucas were raffled away. It was released in North America on April 23, 2001 and in Europe on May 25. ''Super Bombad Racing'' is a PlayStation 2 exclusive. Additional releases were planned for the Sega

, and

. These were cancelled due to poor sales.

Reception

''Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing'' received mixed reviews upon release. At review aggregator GameRankings it holds a score of 61.62%, while fellow aggregate site

reports a score 71/100 indicating mixed or average reviews. Retrospective opinions on the game were sometimes more critical. GamesRadar's Henry Gilbert included ''Super Bombad Racing'' in a list of "The most forgettable kart racers ever released". In contrast IGN staff included it in a list of "The 11 Goofiest Weirdest Silliest Strangest Funniest Dumbest Star Wars Video Games Ever". It also appeared in Game Informer's list of "The 8 Strangest Kart Racing Games". They also listed is as the 2nd worst Star Wars game in 2015. Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PlayStation 2 version of the game for ''Next Generation (magazine), Next Generation'', rating it two stars out of five. ''Super Bombad Racing'' received average to mixed responses when released in 2001. Some praised the game, calling it an accomplished kart racer and a welcome addition to the then-short list of PlayStation 2 titles. Others, however, felt that while the game was mechanically sound, the Star Wars setting and appearance felt "tacked on" and therefore a dirty ploy to make money for LucasArts. Others roundly criticized the game, both for turning ''Star Wars'' into a childish kart racer and for simply making a bad game. GameSpot gave ''Super Bombad Racing'' a score of 6.2 out of 10, saying that the game introduced a few clever concepts, but were critical of the length and the gameplay flaws.

References

External links

* * {{Star Wars games 2001 video games Cancelled Dreamcast games Cancelled Windows games Kart racing video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Racing video games Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace video games Star Wars video games, Super Bombad Racing LucasArts games Video games developed in the United States RenderWare games