As May 4th approaches, you’re probably elbows deep in planning out your adventures for the day dedicated to all things Star Wars-related. While watching the films is always a must, geeks who are looking to head out for some hands-on fun should add a trip to check out the Star Wars: Battle Pod arcade game to their list of things to do.

If you weren’t already aware, Bandai Namco announced an immersive Star Wars-themed arcade game at the New York Comic-Con event back in October of last year. The game officially hit participating arcades earlier this year in January, and has been impressing people ever since.

The 1,200-pound high-speed arcade game, which utilizes a unique 180 degree dome screen “enveloping your entire area of sight”, features synced controller and seat vibration, air blast technology and 5.1 surround sound. In terms of content, it includes five stages that recreate the fiercest battle scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. That means  “you can play as an X-wing at Yavin. There’s a snow speeder on the battle of Hoth. Step into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon to take down the Death Star II. You can play in Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced, and you can race on a speeder bike through the forests of Endor”.

There’s no better way to top off your day of Star Wars-related activities, than with this immersive Unreal Engine 3-powered gaming experience. If only we could experience the films this way. For more on the experience, check out the video at the top of the page. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to look for a participating arcade nearby.

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Are you adding this to your Star Wars Day shenanigans? Let us know in the comments below.