F-Zero

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/fzero/fzero.htm

Even though F-Zero has is part of Nintendo's long list of franchises that are only ever dug out from their vault for new Smash Bros. characters and trophies, it once used to be one of the big names identified with Nintendo in the 16- and 64-bit days. As one of Nintendo's launch titles for the Super NES, it was a showcase of the system's capabilities as much as it was a sharply designed game, and essentially codified what people would get and expect from a futuristic racer - insane speeds, rocket engines, crazy jumps, and murderous race tracks.

Part 1 of 2, second part will be posted later on in the month.

[zilliont]

Oh snap! I was planning to do an article on the exact same franchise after I finished up my Vectorman article

[zargon]

I never played this one much, but I had the Gameboy Advance one, which seemed to be similar. I'm not sure if it was just brutally hard compared to the N64 game I obsessed over as a kid, or if it was because the GBA controls just felt awkward to me for racing. I'm not sure I ever even won one race.

[ReyVGM]

The USA version of the FZ Maximum Velocity censored the women's skimpy clothing a little bit:
tcrf.net/F-Zero_Maximum_Velocity#Endings

Also, isn't BS F-Zero 2 going to get its own article? I mean, it's pretty much a new game, so it should have its own article.

Bsnes and SnesGT play Satellaview games perfectly, so it shouldn't be a problem getting screenshots.

[drpepperfan]

And the world continues to wonder why Nintendo won't make a kickass HD F-Zero with every new console that passes. FeelsBadMan

[personman]

I remember the X cup in F-zero X managed to render a track that had such a harsh curve right at the beginning all the cpu drivers just jettisoned off the track in a big rush. Was almost surreal having to carefully go through that track all by myself.

I actually really liked Maximum Velocity much more than most seemed to. Reason being the machines had a lot of subtle difference to them that I just don't recall the four from the original feeling nearly as varied. As such I got a ton of mileage out of the game trying all the circuits with all the different cars on the highest difficulty (go figure my favorite, and the main one was the worst though). I will admit I wasn't nearly as into racing game back when I played F-Zero so maybe the machines did really have a lot of apparent differences but was lost on me.

Plus the actual designs for the machines I'd say are my favorite in the series. Especially the Hot Violet, Stingray and Falcon MK II (which looks like a blue A-10 without wings in game amusingly enough).

[bakudon]

I think that the biggest difference between Maximum Velocity and the original is the control feel – the cars feel much less floaty in MV. You can get through the tightest hairpins by mashing the acceleration button, while in the original it’s easier to mess up and get bounced from wall to wall.

[Maciej Miszczyk]

May 2, 2016 22:53:29 GMT -5 drpepperfan said:

And the world continues to wonder why Nintendo won't make a kickass HD F-Zero with every new console that passes. FeelsBadMan

yeah, given its arcadey roots it would make sense but for some reasons this is the one series they're not milking

[Malev]

The article glosses over info about the Expansion Kit for X. On top of the track editor and new vehicles and editor, it adds two new cups with new stages and some new songs. The interesting fact is that the added space changes the music to stereo rather than the mono originals, as well as expand the length of a few song tracks. Gotta love the guitar rendition of Rainbow Road.

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

I love the original F-Zero. Certainly one of my top 20 games of all time.
Love X too, especially the soundtrack. Too bad for GX they changed the direction of the music. The rock soundtrack makes it much more intense, fits much better, and is less generic future-y.

Even though F-Zero is part of Nintendo's long list of franchises that are only dug out from their vault for new Smash Bros. characters and trophies, it used to be one of the big names identified with Nintendo in the 16- and 64-bit days.

You know, I still kinda see it as one of the major Nintendo franchises. I guess the fact we're haven't gotten a new F-Zero for over a decade hasn't really sunk in. I really hoped for an F-Zero on 3DS. I think it would be an awesome game to play in 3D.

It's hard to tell if it's a physics glitch or intentional behavior, but on some courses, you can go so fast that your vehicle is ripped right off the magnetic road and pulled into the void.

You mean when you're on one of those pipes? I'm pretty certain that's intended. 

[Leona Phoenix]

Left out the best part of the Expansion Kit:
youtu.be/DVZnxIfULYM

[elektrolurch]

Nice to see an article about it here. I always thought that F-Zero had a split screen mode- until I fired it up on an emulator with a friend, looking forward to a two player session some years ago (and yes I played it when it was new as well but did NOT remember it not having a two player option)..

I don't agree on it being the only early,or earliest,still enjoyable futuristic racer, but yeah this is highly subjective. I personally still enjoy Death Track fom 1989 for instance, which uses polygon graphics. And shortly after F-Zero, there were many more good futuristic racing games such as Megarace or SlipStream 5000. And yeah after wipeout, the genre basically exploded with stuff like POD, rollcage, Extreme G and so on and so on.
Although F-Zero is a very good, well designed game, I would not call it "revolutionary" or even trend-leading.

[Magma MK-II]

These days people only remember F-Zero because of the FALCON PUNCH meme.

[zargon]

May 3, 2016 6:05:42 GMT -5 Leona Phoenix said:

Left out the best part of the Expansion Kit:
youtu.be/DVZnxIfULYM

  Still not as good as his other ending.

[spekkio]

May 3, 2016 3:16:46 GMT -5 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 said:

I love the original F-Zero. Certainly one of my top 20 games of all time.
Love X too, especially the soundtrack. Too bad for GX they changed the direction of the music. The rock soundtrack makes it much more intense, fits much better, and is less generic future-y.

Although the F-Zero track remixes in Brawl/Smash 4 are limited in number, it's interesting that what remixes are there go for a more heavy metal motif akin to F-Zero X, as opposed to the primarily techo-ish feel of F-Zero GX's soundtrack.  Same goes for the remixes of Mute City and Big Blue in Mario Kart 8 (although those remixes are more of a jazz/metal fusion really).  And I agree, there's something about the rock/metal motif that fits the theme of F-Zero really well. 

That being said, it is cool that F-Zero GX features a rap during one of its cutscenes, a genre that you don't hear too often in 1st party Nintendo games from my experience... outside of examples such as the recent Xenoblade Chronicles X (another Nintendo franchise with a significant change in musical genres between games).



Edit:  I never noticed this until just now, but the message that pops up on the sign at 1:15 is apparently in Hebrew.  I'm curious what it translates to.