Whatever Happened to... F-Zero?

One of my favourite game series as a kid was F-Zero; when I got my Super Nintendo back in 1993, it was one of the games that came bundled in with the console along with Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World. F-Zero featured Mode 7 graphics that allowed developers to scale and rotate the game's backgrounds, creating a sense of depth and speed before 3D graphics were really a thing in gaming. 

The story in F-Zero was simple: in the year 2560, the greatest racing competition around was the F-Zero championship. Pilots from around the galaxy gathered to compete and risk their lives in this high-action racing game. The first entry in the series was only single-player, so you weren’t able to compete against other players. Instead, my brother and I had to take turns playing and switching off when someone's vehicle was destroyed or they successfully completed a cup. There were four different vehicles that you could select to race: The Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose, and Fire Stingray. As a kid, I always selected the Fire Stingray because it was the fastest (and it was pink), whereas my brother liked the Golden Fox because of its fast acceleration.

This all changed once the sequel F-Zero X was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64. The story goes that because of the extreme danger of this kind of racing, the original tournament was discontinued for several years. It is now back with revised rules and regulations with the name F-Zero X. F-Zero X was a TRUE local multiplayer: you were able to race against three other players — if you had enough controllers, that was! The game also introduced the ability to attack your opponents with side or spin attacks if smashing them into the side barriers wasn’t working for you. The graphics were now in 3D, and instead of a small roster of four racers, there were 30, including the originals. I always remember the F-Zero games having recharge strips where you could replenish your energy and desperately trying to find one of these areas when my car was beeping and close to exploding! The other big change was the insane increase in speed, you would move so fast it was hard to stay on the track, and if an opponent bumped into you at the right time on a ramp, you would fly off the course and explode into the ground below.

I won’t go into detail on the other releases in the series, but one title came out on the GameCube called F-Zero GX, followed by Game Boy Advance titles F-Zero GP Legend and F-Zero Climax. F-Zero Climax was the last title in the series and was released on the 21st of October 2004, but only in Japan. Fortunately, the Game Boy Advance isn’t region locked, so you can still check it out if you want. The text is all in Japanese, but it’s pretty easy to figure out, meaning you can still enjoy some portable futuristic racing action. Since then, there has been nothing, no games on the Wii that could have used motion controls, nothing for the Wii-U that could have taken advantage of the gamepad, and now for the Switch, we only have re-releases of the original F-Zero, and F-Zero X if you are a subscriber to Nintendo Online. Blue Falcon’s driver, Captain Falcon, has had to take to fighting in the Smash Bros. Tournaments because there haven’t been any races in 2004! Why hasn’t this series continued on? Why did it come to a smashing halt?

It turns out the reason is quite simple: based on the research I have done, it looks like it’s because Nintendo doesn’t want this racing title to compete with their super popular Mario Kart series. So instead, they have tossed a few F-Zero tracks into that series; it feels like they are just trying to appease the fans. Personally, I would purchase both games if they decided to release a new F-Zero title; just because I love one doesn’t mean that I can’t love the other, too. Don’t get me wrong, Mario Kart is great, but the games are drastically different. You don’t get that ridiculous sense of speed that you do from the futuristic racer, and knowing that one bad turn could mean instant destruction gives you a rush of adrenaline whenever you take a corner a bit too fast. I just want to hear that amazing music again!

I sincerely hope that Nintendo changes its mind on this or at least releases a remaster of some of the earlier games. Or better yet, if they could release some new tracks for the original F-Zero title that’s on Nintendo Online, I would totally pay for that!