When Aspyr began re-releasing Star Wars games almost five years ago, it was assumed they were going to choose from the best of the bunch. While this was the case for a while, with early remasters including Episode 1 Racer and the former Xbox exclusive Republic Commando, the conversion specialists presently appears to be simply making their way through the entire Star Wars back catalogue – including titles that didn’t exactly delight fans back in the day.
This month sees one such title return. Star Wars: Episode 1 – Jedi Power Battles was seen as a low point, making critics worry the mighty Lucasarts they once knew – responsible for such hits as Monkey Island, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and Star Wars: X-Wing – was no more.

Originally released for PSone in 2000, before reaching the Dreamcast a few months later, Jedi Power Battles was a more arcade-like experience centred around simple mechanics, ill-fitting power-ups, and fast platforming action. It had an even more casual feel to it than the Episode 1 movie tie-in from 1999, and that was saying something.
Early previews weren’t too positive, leading to critics wondering just how many tie-in products Lucasarts planned to squeeze out of Episode 1. Surprisngly though, when it came to reviews it wasn’t unanimously panned – a few critics did find the simple arcade-like action enjoyable, especially on the Dreamcast. It seems that the DC’s default analogue controls made for a tighter and less frustrating experience, while some of glitches and collision detection issues from the PS1 version had been fixed. It seems reasonable to suggest the upcoming remaster will use the Dreamcast version as its foundation, as that was the case with Episode 1 Racer.
IGN awarded the PS1 version a miserable 3/10 (“With graphic glitches and some of the worst and unresponsive controls in a PS game, this is one Star Wars game that even hardcore fans should stay far away from”) but felt the DC version deserved a 6.8. “If you sit the two versions of the game next to each other, the difference is quality is so great it’s startling,” they said.

Game Informer magazine also opted for an 8/10. But while there were some positive reviews, the vast majority were negative. It garnered a rock bottom 1/5 from CVG, who highlighted terrible animation, repetitive gameplay, slowdown and poor camera angles. French publication Consoles Plus felt likewise, handing out 20%, while America’s PSM magazine went with a 2/5.
GameSpot’s review is still accessible online and resulted in a middling 58%. “Jedi Power Battles is a reasonably fun game if you’re a fan of Star Wars or if you’re into vegetating in front of a standard action game for a few minutes at a time (or especially if you’re both). Just be warned that what you get in the first level is essentially what you’ll get throughout the entire game.”
Eurogamer’s scoreless review is also still live: “While home to a few redeeming features, it falls flat on its face with bad collision detection, overly elaborate character animations and rather poor execution on the whole.”
The consensus today is that Jedi Power Battles was a bad game, but upon closer examination it seems that the Dreamcast version played to the system’s strengths and fixed a lot of problems. A new hope for the remaster due at the end of this month? Perhaps, but this is a twenty five year old game we’re talking about. And a movie tie-in at that.