F-Zero

[Prowler]

Every Nintendo fan has heard of the F-Zero franchise before. It's been around since 1990 with the first ever instalment of the series being a launch title of the SNES. The first ever F-Zero game was quite ground breaking at the time for its great graphics(thanks to the use of SNES' mode 7) and its high speed velocities, which fit well in the futuristic racing theme. F-Zero, most likely being the natural successor to Formula One. Other than its graphics and fast speed, F-Zero was also notorious for its great OST. Mute City and Big Blue are two very well known video game tracks with several renditions of them throughout the years. Who can forget the first time they've heard both tracks?

Due to limitations, the original F-Zero only had 4 cars. My personal favourite was the Fire Stingray. It had poor acceleration, but had the highest top speed of all the cars and also the best grip. Wild Goose came in a distant second for me. Wasn't a big fan of the Blue Falcon, to be honest. And much less of the Golden Fox.

The only thing the original F-Zero lacked was a 2 player mode. I mean, it's a racing game. How could this be overlooked? I don't buy the "technical limitations" excuse on this one. It's also strange that only about half the tracks in the game could be played in the Time Attack mode.

Fast forward to 1998, and F-Zero X comes out for the Nintendo 64. The first ever 3D F-Zero game. Now this one had a multi-player mode up to 4 players and it also had 30 racing cars. Quite an improvement over the original on these aspects. The gameplay was also improved upon and I really miss the Death Race mode. The OST, while not as memorable as the original F-Zero game, was still pretty rad. Gotta love that electric guitar riff as soon as you turn in the console. And finally, there was an unlockable cup, the Joker Cup. Which was pretty difficult in the highest difficulty level.

There's one thing F-Zero X didn't really impress on: the graphics. It looks very outdated and it wasn't anywhere near being the most graphically impressive Nintendo 64 game back in the day, either.

In 2001, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity came out for the Game Boy Advance. Now, the Game Boy Advance was notorious at first for having several ports of NES and SNES games, which led to some complains back then. Who doesn't remember people asking "These remakes are cool and all, but can we have some new games, please?", but then you had games like F-Zero Maximum Velocity and Super Mario Circuit, which were totally new games of their respective franchises. Admittedly, I was a bit let down, because despite playing the SNES F-Zero occasionally back in the 90s, I didn't own the game until 2007 or 2008. And at first, I didn't like how MV had completely new cars and characters. But it was a pretty damn good GBA racing game, with a lot of replay value. And also a pretty challenging one. This is by far the most under appreciated and the most forgotten F-Zero game.It doesn't help that it has a completely different cast from any other F-Zero game either. None of the characters and cars that appear in this game have appeared in any other F-Zero game since then. Makes sense considering it was set several years later in the future, but come to think of it, why did they do this instead of using the familiar cast already? Weird decision by the developers.

Then came F-Zero GX in 2003. When I saw the first trailer for this game, I was blown away by it and thought "I need to have this game". Which I got, for Christmas back in 2003. This is, by far, the best F-Zero game to date, and I doubt it will ever be topped. Everything from this game is great, except that it can be really hard at times which kinda discourages you from playing it, but hey, I beat the story mode and I beat every cup in every difficulty setting. And this was done back when I was done only 13-14 years old.

I've been told that F-Zero GX is quite hard to find for a decent price on the internet nowadays, since it's a very sought game and it didn't exactly sell millions of copies, so I was pretty lucky in getting it back when it came out.

In the same year, 2003, The GBA would get F-Zero GP Legend, an F-Zero game based on the anime bearing the same name. I haven't played much of it compared to other F-Zero games, but despite being a good game, I wasn't too crazy about it. Mind you that I didn't get the chance to play this game until a couple of years ago. Yeah, I think F-Zero GX has set the bar way too high as far as F-Zero games go.

And finally, there was F-Zero: Climax. Another GBA F-Zero title, which came out in 2004. never got to chance to play this one since it was a Japan exclusive F-Zero game.

It's been over a decade since an F-Zero game. I think a new one is long overdue. Do you think we will see a new F-Zero for the NX? Or one for the 3DS even?

What are your thoughts on this series and your memories of it? Also, what are your favourite cars/machines, tracks, etc?

[raph27]

I recall hearing once that Miyamoto said that they didn't have the right controller for it. Hopefully the NX has that right controller. It's been long enough, we need another game.

[Netkeeper]

F-Zero X has the honour of being the first video game I played on hallucinogens. That was one wild ****ing ride.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Netkeeper

F-Zero X has the honour of being the first video game I played on hallucinogens. That was one wild ****ing ride.

LOl seriously? How often did you fall off the track? And did you play the death race mode while you were high?

[XERO]

"YOU GOT BOOST POWAAAH!"

For me, though, GX will always be my favorite F-Zero title. Being a music major, it definitely had the most amazing soundtrack, not counting the fact that each pilot had their own friggin' theme song. EACH PILOT.

I'm glad I still have my copy. Might have to pop that in again soon.

[oldmanwinters]

The original F-Zero was one of the games I most wanted when I bought my first Super Nintendo a few years ago. I was lucky to get an in-box copy for $10.

The Gamecube title is pretty unique because I think it was the first collaboration between Nintendo and Sega, which was just wild. It's pretty hard, and I haven't played it in awhile, but I'm glad I own it and I bought a used copy a few years before the prices started to spike.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by XERO

"YOU GOT BOOST POWAAAH!"

For me, though, GX will always be my favorite F-Zero title. Being a music major, it definitely had the most amazing soundtrack, not counting the fact that each pilot had their own friggin' theme song. EACH PILOT.

I'm glad I still have my copy. Might have to pop that in again soon.

Gee, the announcer from F-Zero X. He had quite a memorable voice. And I couldn't understand him very well in the first few times I've heard him. His "YOU GOT BOOST POWAAAH!" was way more memorable than GX's. It was quite powerful.

F-Zero GX had a pretty good OST as a whole, but I wasn't so keen on some character theme songs. Maybe because I'm not a huge techno fan. But the game had some killer tunes, yes. I still prefer the SNES F-Zero OST above every other F-Zero OSTs nevertheless.

[Prowler]

On the subject of F-Zero GX, this is one of my favourite music tracks from the game:

[Icebot]

Speaking of F-Zero music tracks, I really like most of them from the N64 game F-Zero X, especially Mute City and the ending music. I also like the White Land music, it's probably just me but I thought that music sounded like the song Separate Ways by Journey.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Icebot

Speaking of F-Zero music tracks, I really like most of them from the N64 game F-Zero X, especially Mute City and the ending music. I also like the White Land music, it's probably just me but I thought that music sounded like the song Separate Ways by Journey.

It's alright but I much prefer the SNES version of White Land I. But the worst is what they did to Silence. I'm just not a fan of the N64 version of it.

I agree with you on Mute City. I think it's my favorite version of it.

What about the death race theme? Do you like that one? I find that one pretty kickass.

[Icebot]

Originally Posted by Prowler

It's alright but I much prefer the SNES version of White Land I. But the worst is what they did to Silence. I'm just not a fan of the N64 version of it.

I agree with you on Mute City. I think it's my favorite version of it.

What about the death race theme? Do you like that one? I find that one pretty kickass.

By Death Race, did you mean Death Wind? That music's pretty cool! Now that you mention Silence, I like the SNES music in that too, way better than in N64.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Icebot

By Death Race, did you mean Death Wind? That music's pretty cool! Now that you mention Silence, I like the SNES music in that too, way better than in N64.

No, I mean the Death Race mode in F-Zero X:

Spoiler:

Death Wind certainly has a particular theme and a quite fitting one, but can't say I'm a big fan.

[Icebot]

Originally Posted by Prowler

No, I mean the Death Race mode in F-Zero X:

Spoiler:

Death Wind certainly has a particular theme and a quite fitting one, but can't say I'm a big fan.

Oh okay. I honestly don't think I ever tried that mode in F-Zero X so I never heard that music. I'll check it out!

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Icebot

Oh okay. I honestly don't think I ever tried that mode in F-Zero X so I never heard that music. I'll check it out!

It was fun as hell to destroy other cars in F-Zero X. It wasn't as fun to do that in F-Zero GX, for some reason. It seemed to be done better in X.

[Netkeeper]

Originally Posted by Prowler

LOl seriously? How often did you fall off the track? And did you play the death race mode while you were high?

Oh my god I couldn't even finish some of the easiest maps in the game, I was ****ing horrible. I was REALLY ****ed up that day.