How useful is a sincere critique of a 25 year old game? Not very, so have a largerly insincere one instead. / majuular You can check me out on Twitter - hot take free! / majuular
The Hoth level of SW:SotR on N64 is perhaps the definitive example of "game feel" and should be examined by every game developer. I've never felt anything like it, and no other game, no emulator, no replica controller, nothing outside of a real N64 and a real N64 controller can replicate what this one level in this game did. It's so good that I don't even think the developers even expected it.
I really liked that one as a kid. I flew everywhere and shot down all my allies before even beginning to kill the enemies. I did the same in that pyramid level in star fox 64. Second level was really comfy with the wombat and all kind of hidden places. Junkyward is really special and boss scary as fuck. Same with sewer level. Rest of the game was pretty bad but that one place where you get the jetpack and can fly up and down the Boba Fett level was cool too. I got where they were going with the bike level but it was not too fun.
Man, I really like how you cover games on your channel, your writing and editing is pretty dang fun! Looking forward to binging your channel! May the algorithm be with you 🙌
This game is great. Fighting boba fett and flying around with your jetpack. all of the space/flying levels. The train level with the bounty Hunter boss at the end.
Oh man, I could listen to an hours long retrospective of this game. I grew up with this game. WAMPA STOMPA. I remember it all. IG-88? No big deal. edit: alright, I'm gonna have to replay this game. It's been since I was like, 12, and I sucked. Now, I can face my fears of creepy deep water beasts and low-res assassin droids with a level of proficiency once unimaginable.
God, I remember this game. Even as a kid I remember the looking at the N64 control as I flew off the map in a platforming area, wondering it was me, the controller, or the game that had failed every damn run I tried to do through the game. I know I wanted to love it back then. Hadn’t thought of it for like two decades haha. Thanks for the vid! (PS: the backstreets back sections broke me 😂)
I was quite young when I played Shadows on the n64 and I always remember being genuinely spooked by the setting. Especially Xizor and music on the menu screen. The whole atmosphere of the game added to this dark era of star wars that gave nightmares but also was just inviting to explore its lore and survive the rule of the empire.
THE Emulation experience: 1. Buy controller 2. Commit piracy 3. Bind inputs to that controller you bought 4. Enjoy the walk feature the analog stick provides
It was fun back then cause N64 only had 8 games at the time, you paid $75 retail for it at Fred Meyer/Kroger, the soundtrack was great and you could select chapters and didn't notice just how often you simply replayed the Battle of Hoth over and over. Except I also got every challenge point on all difficulties so I could play as a Wampa and a TIE Fighter. No, there were not any useful GameShark/Action Replay codes that took the edge off of how difficult that accomplishment is.
Same, my friend and I absolutely crushed this game and unlocked everything.. looking back, I have NO effing clue how the effing eff we managed that one. We probably had GamePro 'mini guides' or something for SOME help but, finding all the collectibles on our own... Priceless. Then we'd go and master Cruis'n USA (another game people seem to hate/despise that I truly loved and enjoyed). 100+%ing old games now seems too daunting and insane, though I constantly daydream about it. Fun game, though, and I always enjoyed that final mission flying around in the Dash mobile ship, I'd just find myself meandering around space if I were bored. :) Good times!
Man I remember IG-88 terrifying me as a kid. Something about the static screen with Dash’s silhouette and IG-88 appearing over him, it still gives me the shivers.
I always remember the controls being a little floaty on the N64, but never this bad. I wonder if this was just another game that actually benefitted from the N64 style controller (like Mario 64) 🤔
Perhaps this is just a consequence of me growing up with the game for most of my life, but yeah, the N64 controller makes the controls a little better surprisingly. It’s amazing how easily you can get used to crap controls when you play the game as a kid, teen, and then adult.
Part of the problem he's having with the controls is that in the PC version, the game speed is tied to the framerate. So when the framerate is super high, things in the game are moving too fast. You can see this on the Hoth level with the probe droids bobbing up and down. On the N64 version it looks pretty standard, but on PC they're clearly moving way too fast
More aggressive editing, I love this stuff And I still enjoy the game, though that's on the lower difficulties. It is neat to see how much the PC version has been cleaned up though, if I could get a controller working it'd be my go to way to play this game
I'm glad I've found this channel, I saw your name listed as one of Ifinishedavideogame's patrons in his Panzer Dragoon retrospective and thought to myself "This guy's done retrospectives too and he's here so he has great taste." I've been proven right and figured I'd start here since I played this game way back in the day and haven't thought about it in years. I somehow managed to beat this when I was very young like 6 maybe? How I managed it I have no idea since I couldn't beat Kotor 1 or 2 on release lol, I do remember the ending slide though only reason I'm convinced I managed it. Anyway enjoy the presentation style, the humor in particular. Thanks for the nostalgia trip, he might've been a blatant Han Solo rip off but I liked Dash and feel it's a shame he never appeared in Star Wars again.
Well I have finished working my way back through all of your content. It's been a lot of fun. I am definitely looking forward to more. Keep up the good work.
Discovered the channel with the Legend of Dragoon video, and stayed for the humorous lines and the jokes. The Tommy Wiseau Wampas are just perfect. (And I'd recommend reading the book.)
My favorite levels that I would frequently replay were the Hoth battle of course, but also the space battle levels and the Swoop race. I think it was largely the novelty of a 3D world that sold me. The space battles were still pretty novel for the time and the swoop race gave me the unique experience of a fairly well realized Mos Eisley you can explore, at least for the time and hardware.
Eh, I still love this game. Can't speak to the 'bad controls' of the PC port(s) but I have great fond memories of mastering it on N64 back in the day. I'll pop it in every now and then and just roam around. I know it's not for everyone, but it was definitely for me. :P That being said, great review! I got a lot of laughs out of this, for sure. :) I see that your channel isn't even a year old (at least, oldest posted video) so I wish you the best of luck and success! Keep up the great work; more stuff like the 3DO RPG video would be greaaaat.
The IG-88 fight traumatized me as a kid: I was still under the impression that jumping off of the train = death. So naturally I tried to dodge him and died anyway when he walks up and nukes you with his pulse cannon.
Yeah, being able to use the tow cable to trip an AT-AT was a glorious dream come true when this came out, though dangerous and nerve-racking. Necessary to get the best time on the level though. It was also awesome if you were good enough to fly through its legs like in the movie. I remember as kids we sort of forced ourselves to get good with the poor controls and weird physics through sheer tyranny of will, and that magic of repetition only bored kids with no new games can execute. It's funny because you could see how the designers you to play most levels, but there was usually a cheap and easy way to do it too, so we got better to actually tackle the challenge of playing "as intended". In the end though, my best memories of the game were from playing with it like a big 3d sandbox, leading the wampas around into weird places, messing with the enemies, and exploring all the corners. Like practically every game on the N64, it feels painful to play and doesn't hold up in the modern era. I am just really glad I didn't play it on PC so I didn't have to see those abysmal cutscenes.
Got some mad secondhand nostalgia from this comment. When you're a kid and don't understand that video games have "rules", there's just nothing like it.
I'm glad someone else talks about those goddamn Dionagas and how terrifying they were in the sewer level. The low visibility in the water, how fast you could get swarmed and damaged to death by them made them a frustrating, terrifying obstacle. I was always happy when I put that level behind me.
2:33 hahaa holy shit, 2nd person camera controls? That's amazing. Empire at War had something like that (the trademarked BATTLECAM™ system) and it was kind of dope. This? This is a headache.
I had the misfortune of playing Shadows of the Empire pretty much directly after Rogue Squadron showed everyone how Star Wars starfighter combat was done on console. So the introductory Hoth mission that initially had everyone hyped about the game didn't impress me at all. I found the follow-up mission in the Rebel Base way more interesting at the time. Man, third-person shooters pre-Resident Evil 4 were a trip. I'm specifically remembering both this game and Mega Man Legends.
Because Darkforces was a 2.5D game like Doom, and lacked any sort of regular physics calculations like shooters nowadays do. So i assume they had to shove that in, while also implementing a fully 3D renderer. Eg. Darkforces was a Doom style engine, with 3D polygonal rendering as a side-feature, Shadows was a fully 3D engine built on top of that 2.5D engine.
The disconnect between how much I loved the flying levels and disliked the on-foot missions was wild as a kid. Slap that shit in the cockpit view and have fun lol. Also, your control complaints are sorta... I mean, playing it on the N64 controller gave me like, none of those problems.
I fucking loved this game back in the day. After watching this review I will not be going back for a replay lol, but it was fun to watch someone else review it
I remember getting the n64 for Christmas - and popping this in first. "Its cool and all ... " and promptly put in mario 64. I want to say they were bundled w/ mario64 and shadows of the empire - but I could be mistaken. I didn't get the n64 the release year but the year after.
Dude... when someone is funny enough to make some air scape through my nose it already is great content, but you are hilarious! I am watching all your content!
I was both alive _and_ old enough to play this when it was new. Circling those stupid robot camels is still one of the most frustrating experiences of my _life._ (There's a _chance_ i'm thinking of Rogue Squadron.)
one of those games you really had to play on an n64 sometime during its lifecycle to really "get it", i honestly feel that way about most games from the 5th generation, if you played this or goldeneye on a crt tv on real hardware at that time it really felt like the future of gaming. i even really enjoyed the on foot sections despite being fully aware even at the time how frustrating and janky it felt, it was simply the best star wars action game available at the time
This was the first game I got with my N64. I beat it, managed to complete it on Jedi difficulty with all the challenge points, got bored with it, and sold it to a guy I knew who was: 1. A massive Star Wars fan 2. Rich, and 3. Unable to find a copy of Shadows of the Empire anywhere. Thinking back on it and what N64 games actually cost, I should've asked for more than $100... Anyway, I spent most of that $100 on a copy of Super Mario 64. I think I made the right choice.
This is still my favorite star wars game to date! Ive had so much good memorys from it as a kid as it was one of the first games for n64, I recently played it on pc as well and it takes some used to getting the controls down and some patches to apply for the cutscenes i still enjoyed it! maybe i am just used to janky games but i didn't have much issues with it lol. great review from someone elses perspective!
All of the valid criticisms here present an excellent argument for a remaster. I had this game back on the N64, and it was one of my favorites. I picked it up recently on GoG, and it's just unplayably crappy to control Dash.
Much like in Rogue Squadron 3, I hated every second I'm not in a ship. But the t47 and (especially) the Outrider levels were great fun back in the day.
Okay, so I'm not a native English speaker and sometimes I get stuff mixed up. Saying that, did they really name the bad guy here "Xizor"? Hue. Shaisor. Hue hue. Huehuehuehuehuehue! Fucking Shaisor. Amazing.
This video was hilarious (wampa in black-face joke had me dying😂) which was good because it also gave me flashbacks about how incredibly horrible the controls were in this game, especially with the insanity that was the N64 controller.
@@Majuular I literally cannot imagine putting myself through that torture, the move the mouse forward to move forward thing just sounds downright sadistic in its design.
"the insanity that was the N64 controller" You didn't actually own an N64. Thinking the N64 controller is some bizarre alien nonsense device is a meme for people who are too young to have played one.
It's worth noting that the PC version's physics are significantly buggier than the N64 version - slopes on PC are far more liable to just straight up eject you off the edge with weird momentum glitches, while the N64 version doesn't suffer this particular problem (though that doesn't mean the platforming is *good,* just not outright glitchy). The best way to play these days may honestly be the N64 version emulated on the latest version of Ares - it's the only way to play on PC, emulated or otherwise, that I've found to lack the speed and physics issues that otherwise plague this game on modern hardware. You don't get the FMVs, but that honestly might be a positive. They should put Dash Rendar in Fortnite, that's my hot take.
Shadows of the Empire has the distinction for me of fully ruining several Star Wars music tracks by way over using them for some of the most difficult levels, so now I permanently associate those tracks with AVGN-level frustration.
The only redeeming quality of this game was the snow speeder level. I didnt play the rest of the game, just the now speeder level on increasingly higher difficulties. I must've spent an entire $10 in video game rentals on this.
