Worlds did feel massive on the N64 and there was this extra smoothness that really stood out. Nice to know countless years later I'd learn it's texture filtering and AA
That and no texture warping like the PS1 had so they could use fewer polygons to make larger areas seem detailed. And devs using the n64 hardware took advantage of fog. Lots and lots of fog haha.
@@amerikaOnFire Only N64 games I can recall not having too much fog are the first and second party developed games as now that I think about it I can't recall much fog in titles like Mario, Zelda, Banjo, and whatnot. Probably goes without saying of course Nintendo and Rare knew how to get the most out of the hardware since Nintendo made it and Rare was still working under them at the time, but I guess not many of the people from Nintendo or Rare gave tips to other devs on what techniques they used since third party games were almost always foggy to some degree.
I'm telling ya. The soundtrack to shadows is legendary. It is phenomenal. It was so god damn star wars. I think it was better than anything John William's put out for the prequel and sequel trilogies.
@@BloodRedFox2008 Mario 64 has fog! It's extremely subtle and doesn't show up on most emulators but you can see it on the mupen64plus-next retroarch core.
A proper DF Retro episode for a long time. You almost make me cry it's like a time machine. I'm from that time and everything YOU said about that game and technology of that era is just squeezing a drop from my eyes! Thank you John for your tremendous work!!!
DF Retro is my favorite series on this channel, however I also really like Alex's explanations of PC settings and the tech behind them. Looking forward to whatever you guys are cooking up next.
N64 always had an immense sens of SCALE, right from the get-go, with Mario 64 and Turok blowing my little mind, these games featured structures and environments larger than any I would be allowed to venture into on my own IRL for quite some years to come... Imagine being in Grade 1 and your entire IRL world is essentially your house, your school, and maybe a few other houses on the street. Okay now imagine being dropped into a world like Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie with no prior gaming experience. I can't accurately describe the impact. The sense of freedom. Your life is altered....
That cheesy VHS promo conveyed what you referred to in Shadows. It's odd how despite having seen polygon worlds (even Star Wars ones like Dark Forces) in computers games, that footage of Dash walking up a narrow canyon ledge blew my mind.
People ignorantly shit on the N64's cartridges. The cartridges are one of the primary reasons why N64 games could be so big. I doubt games like Ocarina of Time, Shadows of the Empire, or Perfect Dark would've even worked on the PS1 with CD-ROMs. And if they did you would've had to load level sections every few minutes
@@leftyfourguns Agreed. But, I don't know people who shit on the cartridges.. I tend to know people who quite like them, myself included. I guess if I search youtube reviews on N64 and listen to either Playstation fans or modern gamers I would maybe see more of the judgements, but they know not what they do. N64 forever!
They never should've shut down LucasArts, they were an amazing developer and publisher. I miss them, EA never should've received the rights to the franchise. Huge mistake on Disney's behalf.
When this game became a “players choice” title my grandpa bought it for me :) I had played it via rental but never got passed the train level, so being able to play as much as I wanted was amazing!
Yeah when I was a kid I got this VHS tape from Nintendo powers with a bunch of demo footage on it introducing the launch titles for the N64 and Star Wars shadows of the Empire was one of the games showcased. I watched that short tape hundreds of times until I could finally play the game for myself I wanted it so badly!
When this first came out it blew my young mind flying around Hoth, taking down AT-AT’s in a snow speeder. It felt like truly next level s**t at the time. Thanks for the memories!
It was the third game I ever got for my N64, and I loved it! Especially messing with the Wompas! Let them out, fight one another and the survivor does my dirty work for me. Great times!
I couldn't imagine Digital Foundry without DF Retro, it's a staple of this channel and the reason I subscribed in the first place. I sincerely hope I continue to see more content like this next year and in the years beyond.
Another excellent episode of DFretro and of one of my favorite N64 games. You really hit the nostalgia nerve with this one as 1997 saw my first real experience as a PC gamer. Oh that voodoo 2...The complex ridiculousness of PC gaming in 97’ is what sparked and drove me to my career in computer animation and simulation. It also inspired me to learn about PC architecture, the need for the voodoo 2 at the time (I’ll never forget that price tag pitch to mom as a 12 yo) and to start “modifying” my family PC (harder pitch than the voodoo itself for reference) I’ve really enjoyed the multitude of DFretro’s that 2019 had to offer and I am very much looking forward to an awesome 2020. Furthermore, Thank you for the great effort, care and attention to detail that you always clearly put forth in your research and analysis. The content showcased on DF and specifically in this case DFretro is consistently exceptional as a result.
You guys probably have no idea just how meaningful and impactful your videos can be in the lives of some of your viewers, but let me assure you that you guys have gotten me through some tough days with the content you've made available; it's an uncommon pleasure to listen to the passion and unabashed enthusiasm you have for the entire industry as a whole. That sort of authentic love is compelling, contagious and a third C word for alliteration. Anyway, thank you very much for all you do.
I love these DF Retro pieces you guys are doing. They are not only entertaining but also help to enlighten gamers whos first console was a PS3 or XBOX 360... How far we've come!
He's like the male Shirley Walker, a composer of big property overshadowed by their predecessor (for Shirley it was Danny Elfman for McNeely it was John Williams).
The welcome return of DF Retro! It might just be nostalgia (it's highly likely) but I quite like how N64 games look, blur and all. There's a certain quality to it I find appealing. It still seems futuristic, in a retro kind of way. Fog, texture filtering, anti-aliasing, all very basic versions but still work. To me it felt the N64 was the first console to do 3D properly with rock solid geometry, and not fudged like on PSone and Saturn (I loved my Saturn btw).
It actually has a modern port on Steam that you can buy for dirt cheap, however the controls haven't been updated and the third person parts when you're on foot are misery to control. The controls haven't been updated and they're a perfect example of terrible, early 3D movement.
Great video! I hope you also get a chance to cover the Rogue Squadron games, they were also amazing tech show pieces for Nintendo hardware, and Factor 5 in general has a fascinating/bizarre history.
This game was incredible at the time... I rented only and it blew me away. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. The scale was mind bending... and yes, the texture filter was a big deal. That was the first N64 game with a first person mode and walking to a wall and not seeing all the individual pixels I was seeing on Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake at the time was impressive. I remember calling my dad to see it. It was the future. Side note: Always surprises me when DF show me a game that was 100% perfectly playable back then and it was only running at 16fps... My memories tells me it was running at least at 30.. it was never an issue... 16 to 20fps was perfectly fine and today would be something we would consider unplayable.
This used to be one of my favourite N64 games, it is actually the reason I bought the N64! Not Mario, not Turok, not Golden Eye! No sir, it was Shadows of the Empire! And There is one technical feat that you didn't mention John, it's the fact that the game allowed to you change between 3rd and 1st person modes in real time! So you could literally play the game twice from two completely different perspectives or do a custom mish mash playthrough should you want to do so! Now that was something back in the day!
Oh for sure a mix of the two! No way I could do jet pack in first person view. That beggars cannon mission was brutal to me. You just beat bobba then guess what?! Now fight slave one! Soo many seeker missiles used.
Thanks as always for making my Sunday, John. DF Retro while having my morning coffee go together like retro games and CRTs. I don't know how you do it but your videos just keep getting better and better.
I worked at a computer shop when this game was released on PC and I was tasked to setup a demo PC to run this game. I don't remember the spec but I did install a 3dfx card in there with Microsoft's first foray into force feedback joysticks and it was a hit at the shop. We sold tons of those joysticks. 😂
As always, this video is top tier, with everything that Digital Foundry Retro does, fully on display. My first 3D accelerated PC was a Gateway PC with dual Voodoo 2 GPUs. It was a great computer to play games on, with many games of that era, such as Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena, looking absolutely stunning. Even then though, good PC exclusives were quite rare, so I spent most of my time playing my Sega Saturn, more so than even my PS-One. When Star Wars came out on the N64, it was very impressive to me when I played it at my friend’s house. I never had the PC version, and forgot it even existed, so the incredibly thorough break down here is fantastic. It’s also great to see that there was Anti-Aliasing on the N64 in so many titles. This is something I thought was only present in Hi-Res pack supported titles. Prior to the Hi-Res pack, it was always hard to see that there was any form of Anti-Aliasing on N64 given the low resolution, and the overall blurry nature of its visuals, though there were many exceptions like the incredible Doom 64. Despite there being many great looking N64 titles that hold up quite well even now, Crash Bandicoot 3 on PS-One, in my humble opinion, looked far more sharp on CRTs than many early pre-Hi-Res N64 titles.
John, these DF Retro episodes are a big part of the reason I subscribed and it's always a pleasant surprise when a new one appears. Please keep them coming!
Great video! This was a childhood favorite of mine. So happy to see it get the DF Retro treatment! Thanks for posting and keeping the spirit of classic gaming alive, John.
I cannot count how many hours I have into playing this game. This has always been one of my favorite games. It was the reason I wanted a nintendo 64 and it was the 1st game I had for that console. Still have it to this day and I will always enjoy throwing in again in playing some good old fashion Star Wars fun. The flying segments like the sweeter and the space fights as well as the swoop gang was a lot of fun.
Outstanding video. Took me back to the early days of N64 gaming. I always thought it was a bit odd not showing the gun in view when playing the first person sections. Thanks for this John, you are a master at creating these nostalgic trips down memory lane, and yet also adding a new angle to proceedings.
The thing I love most about your series is your obsession to not only show the game but HOW the game was back when it was released. I built my first PC back when the voodoo 3 came out. It's easy to forget that video cards were significantly different from each other back then.
@@leegsy How dare you not agree with me!! Do you know who I am??? Only kidding bud, at least you enjoyed it but I really enjoyed it and ofc I've not played every SW game, this one is one I'm always giving it another go. Especially now I can play the game with little issue through GOG
the production quality of these videos is just on another level. Thank you DF/John! Definitely one of the more important games of my childhood - among Star Wars Games it was one of the most atmospheric and immersive entries - also thanks to its brilliant soundtrack. The music is so good that I often wish for a proper movie release - make it happen disney!
@@UttRConcrete ugh... I am ashamed to admit I paid 80 dollars for Cruisin' USA. What a garbage port. It was my birthday and by God I was gonna get a damn game. There weren't many options thanks to shortages and not many titles to begin with because the system was new. So Cruisin' it was. I hated that game and traded it for WCW vs NWO after a while.
The S3 virge taught me that 3D acceleration was about compromise. You lose resolution if compared to software mode rendering, but you get 16bit colors and bilinear filtering. Then i got a 3Dfx and this lesson was no longer valid. Also S3 virge was not THE worst card of that era, that's the Alliance AT3D, a card where they decided to use dither for *EVERYTHING*
@@dark1x Those AT3D chips are so broken that it's almost beautiful how badly they fail. Also as far i know, those voodoo rush cards do use the AT3D as the 2D video chip, which makes those very heretic cards.
This game is incredibly important to me, as it fostered both my gaming habit and my love for Star Wars in my formative years. I’ve basically got it and the N64 to thank for who I am today. And I remember the day we first got that debug code to work. Oh how we had fun tinkering behind the scenes! Thanks for the deep dive!
@@dan_loup It was fully featured and entirely adequate in GDI performance, however not particularly fast. Matrox, ATI, Tseng and NVidia were all faster at GDI acceleration than the Virge, but some of them barely and others by less than a factor of 2. As to 3D acceleration... well it's clearly designed for a compromise. Closer to 320x240 gaming than 640x480, which the former is anyway what software renderers of the time aimed for. Plus the early drivers were quite glitchy with blend modes.
Really like df retro, just letting you know. I understand that you have many suggestions, but chronicles of Riddick should be really interesting to go back to.
I LOVE the cross examination of 3D acceleration on the PC relative to the N64. The 64's prowess for its time is often lost on younger people who weren't around at the time.
Fantastic video and so much great information about Shadows of the Empire. I have it in my N64 now and I appreciate it even more now. Thank you for taking the time to give this game the respect it deserves and especially for helping people to understand the video game landscape in which it was released. Job well done. So glad I have subscribed!
Wow, thanks for the effort. Amazing video! Back in the day I used to wish content like this existed, always wondered what all the pc graphics cards would look like side-by-side, I only had magazines and a few early websites to describe them. It took 20+ years but you finally delivered it!
I hope you play some games with 30fps or more to have a reference for what is playable or not. If you say under 10fps is playable to you you don't understand what gaming is about 😂
Shadows of the Empire is a weird game. That first Hoth level is amazing and then the rest of the game just doesn't live up to it. I have a weird experience related to the game. Was going to buy Perfect Dark but when I took the cart home I found out that it was SOTH with a PD label pasted on it. Pretty disappointed by that ngl.
33:41 Maaaan you said it right. You mentioned that leap before in the video and that reminded me how incredible of a jump the 3D accelerator were for the PC gaming. The games just started to not be clunky, all the textures were smooth and the geometry was just there instead of shaky mess. At the time I thought "wow! This just can't get any better!" :D Oh how wrong I was. Awesome video :) Thank you!
All of your N64 DF Retros have been interesting with the in depth look at the ways developers had to push the hardware. Thanks for making a new one John ! I've missed these.
This was my 1st N64 game. I played this game after playing the much hailed Tomb Raider on PS1. And oh boy, can't believe critics complained about the controls of Shadows of the Empire while also praising Tomb Raider. Jumping or just moving around in that game was a challenge in itself. Dodging the tigers in the 1st stage and then climbing a wall was such an unnecessary chore. Meanwhile, using Dash Rengar was a cakewalk by comparison.
Yeah I miss the days when developers weren't afraid to make games that required a little practice, had a learning curve, games like Tomb Raider demanded some skill from the player and "dodging tigers" was & is mechanically rewarding to master. But nowadays if someone can't very easily get into it right away they complain and whine about controls, hurting innovation in action oriented games. Hence why we have more automated gameplay in Tomb Raider and Uncharted (even though they are still enjoyable)
Pfft! Learning curve? There was no freakin learning curve in Tomb Raider. The only thing you would learn by controlling Lara Croft in her first game was that she controlled like ASS. For crying out loud, Super Mario 64 was showing everyone at the time how an actual 'learning curve' is implemented. You start off by being told how to do Mario's movements before even entering the castle. While with Tomb Raider you're just thrown into the game and you're supposed to employ the most obtuse control ever designed for a 3d game. Shit, even Bubsy played better. So save me the "in the old days, games were hard" baloney. There were factually games that played better than Tomb Raider at the time. And Shadows of the Empire was one of them.
N64 shadow of the empire was my favorite star wars game ever! I spent hours, days with friend after school getting all the challenge points. So many good memories. Will never be forgotten.
Wow. You have a big bad taste or is really missinformed. Not that this game is bad, I played a lot of it, but there is A LOT of amazing SW games out there. But whatever.🤷♀️
Despite all the hate from ultra casuals, this is still a fun game. I bet many don't even know the true ending of the game and still believe Dash Rendar died. Fcking casuals!
The amount of effort that goes in to gathering all this footage with different hardware and options is nuts. Excellent work.
Obsessively nuts.
Why do you think he stopped making them for awhile?
But where does he get the music from?
agree, it crosses my mind every time
The quality of the footage is also amazing
so glad to see DF Retro back. brilliant stuff as always John
Ggggv
@@CacheTaFace Sentences start with a capital letter!
@@colors6692 no.
John was wrong about his pc gpu “facts”. Alex is the best.
Worlds did feel massive on the N64 and there was this extra smoothness that really stood out. Nice to know countless years later I'd learn it's texture filtering and AA
That and no texture warping like the PS1 had so they could use fewer polygons to make larger areas seem detailed. And devs using the n64 hardware took advantage of fog. Lots and lots of fog haha.
@@amerikaOnFire Only N64 games I can recall not having too much fog are the first and second party developed games as now that I think about it I can't recall much fog in titles like Mario, Zelda, Banjo, and whatnot. Probably goes without saying of course Nintendo and Rare knew how to get the most out of the hardware since Nintendo made it and Rare was still working under them at the time, but I guess not many of the people from Nintendo or Rare gave tips to other devs on what techniques they used since third party games were almost always foggy to some degree.
I'm telling ya. The soundtrack to shadows is legendary. It is phenomenal. It was so god damn star wars. I think it was better than anything John William's put out for the prequel and sequel trilogies.
@@amerikaOnFire Have to love fog. I feel most games on the N64 and PS1 would not have been able to exist without it 😁
@@BloodRedFox2008 Mario 64 has fog! It's extremely subtle and doesn't show up on most emulators but you can see it on the mupen64plus-next retroarch core.
Man, this really makes me want to see John produce an episode of DF Retro dedicated to Stars Wars Rogue Squadron!
Hear hear!
haha that was basically 50% of this game done 100% better
Ah, man. I wish they would do DF Retros just a bit more often.
It's because people asked for them that John worked on this one! Hopefully it continues, it's an incredibly interesting series!
It takes a lot of time to make them since they’re so incredible!
A proper DF Retro episode for a long time. You almost make me cry it's like a time machine. I'm from that time and everything YOU said about that game and technology of that era is just squeezing a drop from my eyes! Thank you John for your tremendous work!!!
DF Retro is my favorite series on this channel, however I also really like Alex's explanations of PC settings and the tech behind them. Looking forward to whatever you guys are cooking up next.
Alex's videos are my favourite!! Love this channel
Let's not forget Wichard's hand gestures.
N64 always had an immense sens of SCALE, right from the get-go, with Mario 64 and Turok blowing my little mind, these games featured structures and environments larger than any I would be allowed to venture into on my own IRL for quite some years to come...
Imagine being in Grade 1 and your entire IRL world is essentially your house, your school, and maybe a few other houses on the street. Okay now imagine being dropped into a world like Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie with no prior gaming experience. I can't accurately describe the impact. The sense of freedom. Your life is altered....
That cheesy VHS promo conveyed what you referred to in Shadows. It's odd how despite having seen polygon worlds (even Star Wars ones like Dark Forces) in computers games, that footage of Dash walking up a narrow canyon ledge blew my mind.
People ignorantly shit on the N64's cartridges. The cartridges are one of the primary reasons why N64 games could be so big. I doubt games like Ocarina of Time, Shadows of the Empire, or Perfect Dark would've even worked on the PS1 with CD-ROMs. And if they did you would've had to load level sections every few minutes
@@leftyfourguns Agreed. But, I don't know people who shit on the cartridges.. I tend to know people who quite like them, myself included. I guess if I search youtube reviews on N64 and listen to either Playstation fans or modern gamers I would maybe see more of the judgements, but they know not what they do. N64 forever!
They never should've shut down LucasArts, they were an amazing developer and publisher. I miss them, EA never should've received the rights to the franchise. Huge mistake on Disney's behalf.
I mean, Jedi Fallen Order was good. But not worth losing LucasArts over, that's for sure
This game is basically the reason why I’m a Star Wars fan today. Thank you DF for bringing it back :)
When this game became a “players choice” title my grandpa bought it for me :) I had played it via rental but never got passed the train level, so being able to play as much as I wanted was amazing!
I remember when this game first came out on the N64 as a kid, it was a big deal. One of the best Star Wars games out there
Yeah when I was a kid I got this VHS tape from Nintendo powers with a bunch of demo footage on it introducing the launch titles for the N64 and Star Wars shadows of the Empire was one of the games showcased. I watched that short tape hundreds of times until I could finally play the game for myself I wanted it so badly!
Good old wompa stompa...... Brings back memories!
"One of the best Star Wars games out there"
One of the best “remembered” Star Wars games
I still remember inputting that insane cheat code and having to move the analog stick with my chin because all my fingers were holding down buttons.
When this first came out it blew my young mind flying around Hoth, taking down AT-AT’s in a snow speeder.
It felt like truly next level s**t at the time.
Thanks for the memories!
DF Retro is my favorite series on RUclips, the knowledge and passion that goes into them cannot be overstated, John. Thank you.
It was the third game I ever got for my N64, and I loved it! Especially messing with the Wompas! Let them out, fight one another and the survivor does my dirty work for me. Great times!
Omg best debug ever I spent hundreds of hours playing with this and always credit it with my love for this channel.
I couldn't imagine Digital Foundry without DF Retro, it's a staple of this channel and the reason I subscribed in the first place.
I sincerely hope I continue to see more content like this next year and in the years beyond.
Another excellent episode of DFretro and of one of my favorite N64 games. You really hit the nostalgia nerve with this one as 1997 saw my first real experience as a PC gamer. Oh that voodoo 2...The complex ridiculousness of PC gaming in 97’ is what sparked and drove me to my career in computer animation and simulation. It also inspired me to learn about PC architecture, the need for the voodoo 2 at the time (I’ll never forget that price tag pitch to mom as a 12 yo) and to start “modifying” my family PC (harder pitch than the voodoo itself for reference) I’ve really enjoyed the multitude of DFretro’s that 2019 had to offer and I am very much looking forward to an awesome 2020. Furthermore, Thank you for the great effort, care and attention to detail that you always clearly put forth in your research and analysis. The content showcased on DF and specifically in this case DFretro is consistently exceptional as a result.
Early 1995, Dark Forces.
What I remember of this game : "Dad ! We need to add more RAM to the computer, the game is just so slooooooow."
Shadows of the Empire and Dark Forces 2 are hands down my favorite old school PC Star Wars games.
I miss the days of playing DF2 multiplayer on the MSN Gaming Zone. So many awesome mods/maps!
Omg yes. Those mods were called cog simply because it was .cog files. Good times.
@@edisleado I miss Yahoo chat boards, where you could chat with random people from around the world.
@@nerychristian Yeah and you could actually hook up with real girls!
You guys probably have no idea just how meaningful and impactful your videos can be in the lives of some of your viewers, but let me assure you that you guys have gotten me through some tough days with the content you've made available; it's an uncommon pleasure to listen to the passion and unabashed enthusiasm you have for the entire industry as a whole. That sort of authentic love is compelling, contagious and a third C word for alliteration. Anyway, thank you very much for all you do.
I love these DF Retro pieces you guys are doing. They are not only entertaining but also help to enlighten gamers whos first console was a PS3 or XBOX 360... How far we've come!
Joel McNeely's score is so damned good - I feel he will never get his due credit!
He's like the male Shirley Walker, a composer of big property overshadowed by their predecessor (for Shirley it was Danny Elfman for McNeely it was John Williams).
@@brandonginsburg3120 I was not aware of her! I will definitely do some research. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
The welcome return of DF Retro!
It might just be nostalgia (it's highly likely) but I quite like how N64 games look, blur and all. There's a certain quality to it I find appealing. It still seems futuristic, in a retro kind of way. Fog, texture filtering, anti-aliasing, all very basic versions but still work. To me it felt the N64 was the first console to do 3D properly with rock solid geometry, and not fudged like on PSone and Saturn (I loved my Saturn btw).
23 years... this came out when I was born, it is quite impressive how awesome the game still is! Wish we would get a remake...
Ok kiddie
Disney killed Lucasarts and the Expanded Universe
You were born and we were rocking the game. Seems fair.
It actually has a modern port on Steam that you can buy for dirt cheap, however the controls haven't been updated and the third person parts when you're on foot are misery to control. The controls haven't been updated and they're a perfect example of terrible, early 3D movement.
Most of the expanded universe was terrible anyhow. 🤮
These DF Retro episodes are such a treat. The amount of work you put into these is greatly appreciated. Great work, John.
Excellent deep dive into a N64 classic, I remember being blown away at the time.
As long as DF Retro exists then the world is worth living in. Definately the best show on the channel.
Great video! I hope you also get a chance to cover the Rogue Squadron games, they were also amazing tech show pieces for Nintendo hardware, and Factor 5 in general has a fascinating/bizarre history.
This game was incredible at the time... I rented only and it blew me away. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. The scale was mind bending... and yes, the texture filter was a big deal. That was the first N64 game with a first person mode and walking to a wall and not seeing all the individual pixels I was seeing on Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake at the time was impressive. I remember calling my dad to see it. It was the future.
Side note: Always surprises me when DF show me a game that was 100% perfectly playable back then and it was only running at 16fps... My memories tells me it was running at least at 30.. it was never an issue... 16 to 20fps was perfectly fine and today would be something we would consider unplayable.
This used to be one of my favourite N64 games, it is actually the reason I bought the N64! Not Mario, not Turok, not Golden Eye! No sir, it was Shadows of the Empire! And There is one technical feat that you didn't mention John, it's the fact that the game allowed to you change between 3rd and 1st person modes in real time! So you could literally play the game twice from two completely different perspectives or do a custom mish mash playthrough should you want to do so! Now that was something back in the day!
Oh for sure a mix of the two! No way I could do jet pack in first person view. That beggars cannon mission was brutal to me. You just beat bobba then guess what?! Now fight slave one! Soo many seeker missiles used.
Thanks as always for making my Sunday, John. DF Retro while having my morning coffee go together like retro games and CRTs.
I don't know how you do it but your videos just keep getting better and better.
I worked at a computer shop when this game was released on PC and I was tasked to setup a demo PC to run this game. I don't remember the spec but I did install a 3dfx card in there with Microsoft's first foray into force feedback joysticks and it was a hit at the shop. We sold tons of those joysticks. 😂
As always, this video is top tier, with everything that Digital Foundry Retro does, fully on display. My first 3D accelerated PC was a Gateway PC with dual Voodoo 2 GPUs. It was a great computer to play games on, with many games of that era, such as Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena, looking absolutely stunning. Even then though, good PC exclusives were quite rare, so I spent most of my time playing my Sega Saturn, more so than even my PS-One.
When Star Wars came out on the N64, it was very impressive to me when I played it at my friend’s house. I never had the PC version, and forgot it even existed, so the incredibly thorough break down here is fantastic. It’s also great to see that there was Anti-Aliasing on the N64 in so many titles. This is something I thought was only present in Hi-Res pack supported titles. Prior to the Hi-Res pack, it was always hard to see that there was any form of Anti-Aliasing on N64 given the low resolution, and the overall blurry nature of its visuals, though there were many exceptions like the incredible Doom 64. Despite there being many great looking N64 titles that hold up quite well even now, Crash Bandicoot 3 on PS-One, in my humble opinion, looked far more sharp on CRTs than many early pre-Hi-Res N64 titles.
30:00 Yup, thats the kind of framerates i remember when playing games on my dads PC back in the day. lol
it's how I remember finishing half-life on a pentium 100mhz without 3d card
The historical value of this series is immensurable, keep up this great work john.
I remember as a kid playing the Hoth level over and over because it was so cool being able to fly around and use the cable to bring down the walkers
DF Retro is by far my favorite content on RUclips. Keep up the great videos John!
I love this game, I wanna see it remade.
John, these DF Retro episodes are a big part of the reason I subscribed and it's always a pleasant surprise when a new one appears. Please keep them coming!
Go John! So stoked for this game to be revisited!
these DF Retro videos are the BEST videos digital foundry makes. Let John make more!!!
“With the DARTH of software available...” was intentional right?
Great video! This was a childhood favorite of mine. So happy to see it get the DF Retro treatment! Thanks for posting and keeping the spirit of classic gaming alive, John.
Oh, I remember back in those days: you bought a video card and you ended up feeling you always chose the wrong one.
Well done. Just as always, i appreciate the work you guys put into your videos.
Also, thanks John!
Thank you for bringing this series alive
I cannot count how many hours I have into playing this game. This has always been one of my favorite games. It was the reason I wanted a nintendo 64 and it was the 1st game I had for that console. Still have it to this day and I will always enjoy throwing in again in playing some good old fashion Star Wars fun. The flying segments like the sweeter and the space fights as well as the swoop gang was a lot of fun.
The 3dfx era of PC gaming was extremely exciting. 3D games made a huge graphical leap.
Outstanding video. Took me back to the early days of N64 gaming. I always thought it was a bit odd not showing the gun in view when playing the first person sections. Thanks for this John, you are a master at creating these nostalgic trips down memory lane, and yet also adding a new angle to proceedings.
Me (refreshing my feed)
DF Retro: hello there
General Kenobi.
"Everybody is good." "Section Ratio General!"
The thing I love most about your series is your obsession to not only show the game but HOW the game was back when it was released. I built my first PC back when the voodoo 3 came out. It's easy to forget that video cards were significantly different from each other back then.
One of the fecking best Star Wars games ever!!
It was okay at the time but I wouldn't say it was one of the best SW games.
@@leegsy How dare you not agree with me!! Do you know who I am???
Only kidding bud, at least you enjoyed it but I really enjoyed it and ofc I've not played every SW game, this one is one I'm always giving it another go. Especially now I can play the game with little issue through GOG
RetroHamer the first half was great, the second half though, I think they ran out of time developing the game.
Unfortunately no. The SNES games, the Knights of Old Republic and Χ-wing are far better.
Nah.
I missed DF Retro. It's my favorite content on this channel. please keep it up!
Man, you know it's the 90s when there's a list of like 6 GPUs you have to test.
the production quality of these videos is just on another level. Thank you DF/John! Definitely one of the more important games of my childhood - among Star Wars Games it was one of the most atmospheric and immersive entries - also thanks to its brilliant soundtrack. The music is so good that I often wish for a proper movie release - make it happen disney!
One of those games that desperally need a remake
I finally found a time to watch this. An amazing episode of DF Retro! Surely made my day. Keep working on these John, highly appreciated.
I remember paying $100 for it (due to the game’s shortage at release).
Most of the n64 games were 79 dollars and up, I only owned like 7 games and rented most of the other ones.
@@UttRConcrete Mortal Kombat Trilogy was like $80 when it came out.
@@UttRConcrete ugh... I am ashamed to admit I paid 80 dollars for Cruisin' USA. What a garbage port. It was my birthday and by God I was gonna get a damn game. There weren't many options thanks to shortages and not many titles to begin with because the system was new. So Cruisin' it was. I hated that game and traded it for WCW vs NWO after a while.
@@jokerzwild00 In the words of a certain NWO member WCW vs NWO was too sweeeet!
cartridges were expensive as hell to produce especially the ones to hold the amount of data in n64
Now we need a Rogue Squadron DF Retro which is where the N64 and Factor 5 did a mind blowing work that stills holds today.
The S3 virge taught me that 3D acceleration was about compromise.
You lose resolution if compared to software mode rendering, but you get 16bit colors and bilinear filtering.
Then i got a 3Dfx and this lesson was no longer valid.
Also S3 virge was not THE worst card of that era, that's the Alliance AT3D, a card where they decided to use dither for *EVERYTHING*
Dr_Kachu san Oh my gosh. I need to get one of those! Forgot about that thing. Trying to build my old card database.
@@dark1x Those AT3D chips are so broken that it's almost beautiful how badly they fail.
Also as far i know, those voodoo rush cards do use the AT3D as the 2D video chip, which makes those very heretic cards.
i know the pain all too well, use to have an S3 virge DX in a Pentium 120mhz system
i know the pain all too well, use to have an S3 virge DX in a Pentium 120mhz system
i know the pain all too well, use to have an S3 virge DX in a Pentium 120mhz system
This game is incredibly important to me, as it fostered both my gaming habit and my love for Star Wars in my formative years. I’ve basically got it and the N64 to thank for who I am today.
And I remember the day we first got that debug code to work. Oh how we had fun tinkering behind the scenes!
Thanks for the deep dive!
That good old S3 ViRGE, it never fails to disappoint.... it does fail to do what it's meant to but that"s why we love it...right?
The 2D acceleration of the card on the other hand was espetacular.
@@dan_loup It was fully featured and entirely adequate in GDI performance, however not particularly fast. Matrox, ATI, Tseng and NVidia were all faster at GDI acceleration than the Virge, but some of them barely and others by less than a factor of 2.
As to 3D acceleration... well it's clearly designed for a compromise. Closer to 320x240 gaming than 640x480, which the former is anyway what software renderers of the time aimed for. Plus the early drivers were quite glitchy with blend modes.
Digital Foundry is like a detective digging out old cases that everyone forgot about to analyze every minute details. So entertaining to watch!
Really like df retro, just letting you know. I understand that you have many suggestions, but chronicles of Riddick should be really interesting to go back to.
Really glad to see the return of DF Retro! Great video but I'd have liked to see the best way to play it now like you've done on all your videos.
I LOVE the cross examination of 3D acceleration on the PC relative to the N64. The 64's prowess for its time is often lost on younger people who weren't around at the time.
Fantastic video and so much great information about Shadows of the Empire. I have it in my N64 now and I appreciate it even more now. Thank you for taking the time to give this game the respect it deserves and especially for helping people to understand the video game landscape in which it was released. Job well done. So glad I have subscribed!
That Hoth AT-AT attack was always the hallmark of any good Star Wars game.
Amazing run down of one of my fondest Star Wars memories. I still remember playing it on N64 and again on PC with a Voodoo 2!
Great episode as always!
Oh yes, I've been waiting for a proper in-depth DF Retro for so long and you surely delivered it, John!
Loved this game on the N64 :)
Wow, thanks for the effort. Amazing video! Back in the day I used to wish content like this existed, always wondered what all the pc graphics cards would look like side-by-side, I only had magazines and a few early websites to describe them. It took 20+ years but you finally delivered it!
I was just thinking about this game the other day 😍
Rikki Constable Like having sex with it and stuff? Weirdo. 😂
That's the DF retro format I have been missing!
7:57 Not sure if mistake or a pun on “dearth”.
Hah! I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out. It was definitely intentional.
SOTE is still my favourite Star Wars game, that level with the jet pack remains one of my all time favourite gaming experiences.
7:56 "The Darth of Software"
Made me grin 👀
Awesome work. That comparison of retro graphics cards is really invaluable and the video capture is perfect as always. Thank you!
Growing up with Framerates like these, and games, are why I'm not sensitive to framerates drops, even 10fps(or lower!) is playable to me. :)
10 fps is literally approaching power point levels Bruh
I'm the same.
It is somehow playable.
For me even 30 fps looks like a slideshow...
I hope you play some games with 30fps or more to have a reference for what is playable or not. If you say under 10fps is playable to you you don't understand what gaming is about 😂
John and Clint from LGR are the best youtubers. Such quality and entertainment value.
Shadows of the Empire is a weird game. That first Hoth level is amazing and then the rest of the game just doesn't live up to it. I have a weird experience related to the game. Was going to buy Perfect Dark but when I took the cart home I found out that it was SOTH with a PD label pasted on it. Pretty disappointed by that ngl.
I remember playing this - it’s lovely to see a part of my childhood being re-visited so many years later! Kudos to you sir!
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Game: What are shadows?
33:41 Maaaan you said it right. You mentioned that leap before in the video and that reminded me how incredible of a jump the 3D accelerator were for the PC gaming. The games just started to not be clunky, all the textures were smooth and the geometry was just there instead of shaky mess.
At the time I thought "wow! This just can't get any better!" :D Oh how wrong I was.
Awesome video :) Thank you!
0:09 Aaaaand thats the end of shooting the monetization !!! Congrats !!!
All of your N64 DF Retros have been interesting with the in depth look at the ways developers had to push the hardware. Thanks for making a new one John ! I've missed these.
This was my 1st N64 game. I played this game after playing the much hailed Tomb Raider on PS1. And oh boy, can't believe critics complained about the controls of Shadows of the Empire while also praising Tomb Raider. Jumping or just moving around in that game was a challenge in itself. Dodging the tigers in the 1st stage and then climbing a wall was such an unnecessary chore. Meanwhile, using Dash Rengar was a cakewalk by comparison.
Yeah I miss the days when developers weren't afraid to make games that required a little practice, had a learning curve, games like Tomb Raider demanded some skill from the player and "dodging tigers" was & is mechanically rewarding to master. But nowadays if someone can't very easily get into it right away they complain and whine about controls, hurting innovation in action oriented games. Hence why we have more automated gameplay in Tomb Raider and Uncharted (even though they are still enjoyable)
Pfft! Learning curve? There was no freakin learning curve in Tomb Raider. The only thing you would learn by controlling Lara Croft in her first game was that she controlled like ASS. For crying out loud, Super Mario 64 was showing everyone at the time how an actual 'learning curve' is implemented. You start off by being told how to do Mario's movements before even entering the castle. While with Tomb Raider you're just thrown into the game and you're supposed to employ the most obtuse control ever designed for a 3d game. Shit, even Bubsy played better. So save me the "in the old days, games were hard" baloney. There were factually games that played better than Tomb Raider at the time. And Shadows of the Empire was one of them.
One of my fav of the n64! When i came home from school i would play it for hours! So many memories
Dash Rendar with a jet pack: "He can fly now?"
He can fly now
N64 shadow of the empire was my favorite star wars game ever! I spent hours, days with friend after school getting all the challenge points. So many good memories. Will never be forgotten.
This is the only Star Wars game I like, amazing.
Wow. You have a big bad taste or is really missinformed.
Not that this game is bad, I played a lot of it, but there is A LOT of amazing SW games out there.
But whatever.🤷♀️
@@neildrunkmaam7040 So true. Nostalgia is terrible for good judgement.
One of my favorite video series, DF RETRO. Just always the best.
I would love to see x-wing alliance remade in a modern engine.
Dude that game was so good. To me it's as nostalgic as shadows
The problem is it would get made as more arcade like console friendly multi platform game, not the flight simulator the original games were.
This video was a nice blast to the past and a pleasure to watch. Good work and thanks for making it! 👍
Despite all the hate from ultra casuals, this is still a fun game. I bet many don't even know the true ending of the game and still believe Dash Rendar died. Fcking casuals!
Some of the levels where hard as fuck
My first and only game I had for the 64 for months. I love it. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was and I would play the battle of hoth for hours
As a filthy zoomer, I can say this one could certainly use the Nightfdive Treatment.
absolutely loved this unique perspective on Shadows. thanks for putting this together and sharing all these details.