15 minutes all about the sky JPEGs in the background of a Star Wars game from 17 years ago has gotta be up there for silliest video I've done. It's all earnest though. I love it. Thanks for watching. support- www.patreon.com/any_austin merch- www.anyaustin.fun Music: The Excellent Man from Minneapolis

I love that there's still a dedicated community for this game

This video could have been 2 hours and I would've loved every minute of it. I'm glad I found a channel that finally appreciates the art that goes into these games and the decisions used to create these "stage" backgrounds.

This episode reminded me of a saying my old man always used to use. He’d look at me, shake his head and say “you know kid, I’m a lot like Star Wars Battlefront II in a way: cursed with an ugly sun.”

Very few series on KZfaq make me click right away, but this is one of them. Personally, I feel like it would make me nervous trying to calmly check out the skyboxes while there is a battle going on around me, lol. The way the planets look in the space levels (the flatness) is almost disturbing, and I am not sure that I even know what to say about the ground being decorated with skyscraper wallpaper.

This brings me back to 2013 when you broke open Shadows of the Empire and then expressed your Love for N64 SkyBoxes. Good to see you haven't changed and have still aged like fine wine my good sir.

My man's making Monday into Funday with a whole ass mood of an upload

I've had a horrible last couple of months, and this series and your other videos have regularly been the best part of my week. Thank you for all you do -- videos, music, all of it. You're a gift to the world.

I was actually really surprised when you showed off the ground texture on Coruscant - I'm not sure if it's just a thing on the Xbox version, but I've had the PC version of the game for years and that features a dedicated floor texture, rather than just images of buildings. Also interesting is that you were able to run off the edge, as the PC version puts an invisible wall there.

Two things died on that hospital bed in Polis Massa. Padmé, and the FUN FACTS we were gonna hear :

LIterally the peak of KZfaq content. Thank you for still making videos Austin. Freakin love you

The first game I've ever noticed "skyboxes" was as a child while playing the first F-Zero for SNES. Technically it isn't a box but it certainly achieves the same thing. It is astounding how much world building those sky boxes did with such little things. It really gets the imagination going. Maybe you could take a look at F-Zero next?

Dude, you really know how to hit that niche feelings slot of us have with these games man, thought it was just me lol

i love how long this one is! can never have too much rambling about skyboxes in my opinion

While those skyboxes are beautiful, let's have a moment to appreciate that mustache.

I always thought those flat, disc shaped “planets” were weird. They, quite literally, make me sick to even think about.

I would love to see some skybox love for dark souls 1 if you’re interested. The world in that game is so darkly beautiful and I feel like they would have a large variety of skyboxes.

I recently repaired my PS2 and got into CRT gaming, and the skyboxes in Battlefront 2 just have the most beautiful dithering effect on them. Felucia has to be a new favourite of mine.

Skybox appreciation for any of the PS1 Spyro games would be nice! I used to love staring at them when I was little, even before I knew what skyboxes were. It was my first experience appreciating that art of a videogame.

I love the bespin, Yavin 4 sunset and Mustafar skyboxes. They look so gorgeous in on way or another. Its hilarious to me that we can have such drastically different opinions about some of this stuff. I love it. Also, The fact that they used the buildings as ground is perfect. Keep it up, great video.

I really like this series because it makes me think about things I wouldn't normally think about.

So cool! The Mustafar skybox is 😍. As an artist your "skybox appreciation" and "odd and unremarkable" series really motivate me to draw, your appreciation of structure, color and odd little details is very inspiring. Thank you for your work!!

I think i dreamed this into existence when i started replaying this game last Thursday

bro you're literally going through like the only childhood games I played, hell yeah. I'm glad to see someone else staring at corners and whatnot like I used to

I didn't know about this until a couple of days ago but, this would've been perfect for your odd and unreasonable places in Battlefront 2. On the Hoth map you can go over the mountain that Echo base is built into and get to an empty hanger and huge open area from the campaign. After playing since release and still playing consistently I didn't know that until I saw it in a video. I always assumed going over the mountain would give you the "leaving the battlefield" notifications

Definitely not too long! Loved staring at images in retro games to make me feel weird for a longer while.

I love your videos because you really nail *how* we played and experienced these games as children. Nobody else quite seems to get that.

This video cured my cold I've had for a week. Love the format as always and please make more videos this long!

While they are techincally unimpressive (even for their time) I can really appreciate these skyboxes. There's no doubt in my mind that they are a homage to the matte paintings from the original Star Wars movies. While they may not fool the eye, they are carefully constructed to evoke the feeling of their respective settings. As you point out they aren't treated as a texture that can be repeated and otherwise manipulated. It is simply a matte painting gently wrapping in the little stage you are playing on. I especially appreciate the lack of dynamic elements. It would be easy to throw restraint out the window within the limitless domain of computer technology, but they kept it simple, which is even more admirable when you consider that this game was a contemporary to the prequel trilogy where technology ran amock. The game was also made on a strict schedule of course, and having one artist draw a matte is both way cheaper and faster than having an entire team draw, model, animate and code what would have been considered an graphically impressive skybox back then. These skyboxes seem to me to be the developers hitting two birds with one stone.

The nostalgia of this game. I remember having fun running around the maps for hours and jumping from pillar to pillar to get to the highest point on the map. Top tier content

I'm gonna need those Polis Massa facts sir

0:44 Majora's Mask says: That's not a reason. Also, more, please! Keep scratching that very specific itch.

“Hey, I liked this video!” The length was perfect imo!

my new favorite youtuber actually

Great video, it was fun to watch even though I never played that game, and it did not feel like it was too long at all! Thank you very much for making it!

Love your battlefront videos!

This video speaks to me in ways the voices in my head cant

Great sode as usual, I especially liked the Adam Savage cameo.

Just discovered your channel and I'm exactly into these things too! I think the skybox that hit me the most is the Graveyard into Grunty's Lair in Banjo-Kazooie. I don't know why, but that skybox, sound effects, music and general mood makes me want to live there. Plus, there's that very cool little house down the hill

This is one of the most interesting KZfaq series ive ever seen, also the duration being longer is perfect. Im already waiting for the next.

I've never played Battlefront but thanks to you I like looking at it! Thank you for a dope video!

You are brilliant! The longer the video the better! Thank u for your perspective, enjoy all your vids 🙏🙏🙏

Loved this one! It's definitely interesting to think about the pressures that would be on the developers working with a huge IP that was probably slightly more concerned about its brand identity at the time, Padme's birth/deathbed being a capture point is hilarious. I like the videos being their current length and focused on the skyboxes but the fun fact was really tempting, I'd definitely be interested in a longer-form companion piece or uncut version, especially for games like this where it's not as well-documented as the first-party Nintendo ones

Perfect length. Love the vids man.

Really love these lol. Thank you for your appreciation of things to look at and sharing that. Wanna give another shoutout to the skyboxes in the uncharted games. Oooh also doom and doom eternal had some intense ones.

Great video!

"As a kid I loved Star Wars. As an adult I love sky boxes" should be on a T-shirt.

Loved the video, love the content, keep it up!

i dont think you understand how long ive been waiting for this video

Just moved from Boston to Arizona and the skybox down here is a vibe bruh. I feel like you made this video to flex your Star Wars knowledge on me. Liked the video 😉

I liked this video (it was a good length) and I would love to see more star wars content

I'd love to see a video about movie locations and such in this game. I always appreciated the crunched down and compact interpretations of these levels to stuff in as much as possible.

Videos like this remind me: humans make cool things.

Would love to see a Halo 3 skybox appreciation video. The multiplayer maps in particular are so beautiful for the time imo

I always love to tune in to a new skybox vid. Thanks for the content, Austin! You actually inspired me to take a look at my Steam copy of BF2. I forgot how beautiful this game looks. Coruscant actually has a realistic floor texture (floorbox?), so maybe that's a difference between the PC and console versions

I love Austin. So many years of great content.

Great video as always. This game is a classic, I have great memories playing this off of my flash drive on the school computers.

keep em coming baby

Hey, I liked this video (I also liked the length of it). Also, just to mention, the tash looks great 👍

12:38 lol the bed where Padme died is a command point I never realized that.

I would absolutely love if you did a video on the skyboxes of the Knights of the Old Republic games. Paired with the beautiful soundtracks from those games, I would stare at those skyboxes for literal hours.

The longer the better! Could listen to you talk about skyboxes for hours

Love these videos, and i would be absolutely okay with longer videos. Like an ending of ambient 2-10 minute shots of your favorite spots, or places viewers enjoy. Like when you eventually make your way to spryo 2 i would love a long couple of shots from the first steps out of glimmer into summer forest

Thank you for this content. I liked this video :)

My new favorite channel. Not too long, perfect length.

Currently recovering from sickness and binging these videos. The chill vibe has been perfect.

Dude holy shit. I've just been watching your videos for the last few days and I realized recently that you looked super familiar. Turns out I used to be a huge fan of Eggbusters when the early episodes were being released and I totally forgot. I'm glad to see you're still making awesome content.

Loved it, I can't believe I never noticed the skyscraper ground! Really enjoying these videos, and I think this was a good length

I would love to see a video about skyboxes from the elder scrolls series. They are one of my favorite things to go back and reminisce on, I've spent hours and hours looking into the night sky in Skyrim lol.

Love the longer vids

6:30 as a kid it absolutely drove me insane that this planet was in front of the clouds

This video was really good. I would like to see a video about the scenes from the episodes being mushed together into Battlefront II like you were talking about at like 12:30

I love this kind of content

Those skyscraper floors were definitely... an interesting choice.

Hey, I liked this video. It was not too long. Great content.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic has some aesthetic skyboxes. I’d love to see you make one of these on kotor.

Hey I liked this video (it was not too long I enjoy hearing you talk about things)

God I was so happy to see this sitting in my recommended before I went to bed!

Your videos are like therapy. I mean, I'm still going to go to therapy, but good videos 👍🏻

Hey Austin, I really liked the video!

Austin! How could you! I live for Polis Massa fun facts. :( Honestly another great video! Personally I don't see the reason to sweat the length - I'd watch a half hour of this sort of thing if you kept it interesting. :) (Which you do! For instance, your old glitch show had a lot of rambling and didn't get to the glitches very quickly, but the journey was definitely part of the fun with those videos. You have the best rambling style, haha.)

This had me laughing right from the start, elderly man. 😆 I like this video. Mustafar would look great as it is if it were paused. If it had some movement at all, it would be legendary.

Perfect timing. Right when I get off work

love these keep em coming! (especially if you ever plan on appreciating Doom 64's skyboxes)

I think a skybox appreciation video for half life 2 would go a long way.

I like that you dare to do different things with gaming vids. It’s not just let’s plays and top 10 lists. Big up yourself.

Don't know if you ever go through comments on old videos but I absolutely love this series and want to see more of it! Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the skyboxes in Halo: Reach. That and the Spryro series are probably some of my favorite moments realizing how pretty sky boxes can be.

Need the Polis Masa fact. Also great video as always i love long content. This was a good length, really however long you need to say what you want to say about a given topic.

I love this series

No way I just suggested this last night!!! Can't believe you made this video in 12 hours just for me 😱😱😱

I bought ur shirt austin. You a real one

very nostalgic

Don’t let fools flip you brother, you got qually cont. Keep smashin

I like this video. I like the length👍

I recognize that I'm late to answer this question, but I think I know what makes the space skyboxes fall flat; the images they use are very small and therefor rendered very close to the playable area, making three dimensional movement within the sphere feel unresponsive and claustrophobic; the environment in the "distance" does not track correctly from the player perspective. It also doesn't help that the planets look more like 2D portholes with no sense of scale. The whole experience makes you feel like you're all trapped inside a marble with walls just a few hundred yards away. To me this effect also contributed to the ships feeling like they all had very weak acceleration and handling compared to the ones you could fly in the original game (you may have only been able to fly around on that Besbin gas station map for a few seconds before exploding, but it was more fun than all the flying in Battlefront 2).

Top notch

The Unreal games have some pretty cool slyboxes. There's a few in the original that blow me away.

Dark Souls (1 or 3) sky box appreciation. locations in dark souls are visible from a lot of other places in game

GoldenEye 64 has good skyboxes. I often think of the one from Statue when the real sky looks similar.

I loved this video. (It was not too long.)