F-Zero

warelander

warelander

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I figured it would be interesting to see how many here have had any experience with this series.

F-Zero X is a game that I grew up on, my only experience with racing games before playing it was the Mario Kart series, so this completely different take on the genre with its much higher emphasis on speed, no items, the fact that you could actually die (I'm sorry ''retire'') and the crazier track layouts really stood out for me and I stuck with it, despite sucking horribly and I'm still fond of it today.

I also played Maximum Velocity, which I have good memorys of, but it's been probably around ten years since I last played it.

This is where my history with the series ends, unfortunatly, I never played any of the other games or watched the anime (save for the memetic Falcon Punch scene), but I am very interested in playing GX at some point and should there ever be a new F-Zero game I will certainly pick it up.
 
I really liked the game a bunch as a kid, actually. My uncle had it on his SNES, and I remember being really excited to play it when we went there. I really liked the game, I loved the graphics and track designs, the bright colors and everything. I loved the music, haha I thought it was the greatest back then : p

Sadly though, thats about it for my experience with F-Zero. I never had a copy myself (I didnt even have my own SNES until the Gamecube had been released), and Ive never played an F-Zero game besides the original.

If I could find it for cheap for Gamecube, though. Id totally pick it up.
 
F-Zero GX is a masterpiece. I prefer X's hard rock soundtrack but otherwise GX beats it handily in every way.

infact it's so good it perfectly fills my f-zero need. Sure, a new F-Zero with the requisite more stuff, resolution upgrade and online would be great... but GX is such a content-heavy and endlessly replayable game I don't actively hanker for a new game.
 
If they made a new F-Zero I definitely want a more heavy metal influence. Maybe even visually. Like the Heavy Metal movie.
 
F-Zero GX is one of the best Gamecube titles ever and one of my all-time favorite racers period. I was obsessed with that game for a while, along with making pixel art reproductions with that emblem editor and always keeping an eye out for an AX arcade machine (Never found one).

It's funny that Miyamoto has said the reason the series has been dead for so long is because they don't want to just do a rehash but don't know what to add, considering that most Nintendo series generally rely on the same conventions with small tweaks and additions over time. I'd be just fine with an HD, online-enabled GX re-release at this point.
 
Now that the NX is soon to be coming to stores or so it seems was hoping to open the discussion up again. Since Nintendo can't only just rely on things such as Mario, Zelda, etc. They would also need to start making more creative stances with either creating new IPs as we seen with Splatoon or make sequels to already existing franchises Nintendo hasn't touched in years. Something like the NX could be a way to open the way for a new F-Zero game. It has been discussed before it still seems the company isn't sure to what degree they could really evolve from. If it could be the same fast paced racing game we all know it would be really swell, perhaps they could do things to enhance to mix up the gameplay, something similar to MK8. They could perhaps include various stage hazards or " ledges " not sure if I'm saying this correctly, to preform insane jumps much like you would see in Tony Hawk games for the PSX. To gain a boost or momentum than just using the boosts already on stages. If it's at all possible having an online co-op or multiplayer like we have seen with the Mario Kart series with F-Zero it would be amazing considering how many racers would be on the screen as much as 30.
 
I like how in X, you can still win as long as your cross the finish line

I hit a wall and my wreck got just enough momentum to cross the finish line as it blew up. It exploded while the victory fanfare played. It was awesome.
 
Ah, F-Zero, didn't expect that to turn up on here.

I was mainly introduced to F-Zero due to Smash, like with other series like Metroid and Star Fox, but the first title I actually experienced was GX.

In case you might read this Ware, GX is definitely worth playing. It boasts incredibly fast-paced gameplay and you go at speeds that are so intense, that on some courses you can actually fall off and 'retire' if you go too fast over a hill. It still retains the same 'crash your opponents out of the race' mechanic that allows you to get away with denying your higher-placed rivals a spot so you can get back on the scoreboard during a Grand Prix, and it also has Story Mode, which puts you in control of Captain Falcon exclusvely as you play on a couple of unique tracks and objectives besides 'finish first in a race of 30 opponents.'.

HOWEVER, the game can be incredibly brutal as well to the point of being very frustrating. First off, a few of the Story Mode courses can be incredibly lengthy and nerve-wrecking in both course layout and the incredibly cheap rubber-banding AI that it can be a real challenge completing them on normal. Yes, Normal, because there are also Hard and Very Hard difficulty variants that you unlock upon completing both normal and hard versions of a chapter once. And there are 11 extra characters to unlock who were in the arcade counterpart AX in the game itself if you didn't save AX data on your Memory Card, but they require you to beat a chapter on Very Hard to do so, 10 characters per chapter and one for beating Story entirely once.

Special mention to said hard chapters is 7 in particular which has rubber-banding AI up the wazoo and it's VERY easy to slip up and retire. Oh, and there's Master Difficulty beyond Expert too that you unlock in Grand Prix, which when you clear it actually unlocks a funny little CGI sequence for said character to view. However you can easily find those on YouTube nowadays.

Frustrating difficulty aside, GX is pretty much a blast to play like I said before.


To move on from GX, there was X which I then later played on the Wii's VC service, and it was alright. Still love the 'do or die' speedy gameplay GX had, even if it felt more weighty, but by god does the soundtrack really rock! Like, damn did they actually manage to convey a good electric guitar/rock soundtrack over to the N64 hardware? That title screen riff and tune still makes me feel good years later!

And then lastly I played GP Legend on the GBA which was based on that F-Zero anime like Ware described is more infamous on the internet these days for the Falcon Punch scene from the finale, but as far as gameplay goes, it's a decent throwback to the SNES-style classic F-Zero gameplay even if I never played those before, but I swear the controls do tend to feel slippery without me having to brake frequently.

I'd definitely love a revival of F-Zero since over 2 console generations of dead inactivity, but given how Nintendo likes to play safe nowadays, it might as well be a dream only. But nevertheless, I'd still very much dig a online mode for a new F-Zero title like GX where it's just elimination-style racing with frantic 30 people online-crazyness that'd put Mario Kart Double Dash to shame, and they missed a HUGE opportunity by not making Falcon a guest character in MK8 like Link and the AC characters did. Yet they bothered to make a whole F-Zero track and his vehicle in the game. >=(
 
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If you loved FZero GX I highly recommend Fast Racing Neo on the Wii U. It nails the feeling pretty well... and I believe they even got the same guy to do the announcer voice that is GX. It just doesn't have all the weird character and personality that GX had outside of the Grand Prix.
 
I have Fast Racing Neo on Wii U. Braindead journos banged heavily on the "This is THE NEW F-ZERO" drum (and the devs capitalized on that by hiring Jack Merluzzi as the announcer) but the handling is more like Wipeout, but not exactly like it either. As a low-budget game made by a tiny team, it's competent enough (and it sure looks pretty) but because of the handling model, the terrible boosting system, and insane rubber-band AI, I didn't enjoy it that much.
 
@Magma @Glowsquid For a game made by a tiny developer I don't think it looks all that bad. The gameplay could definitely use a few finishing touches and the tracks could at least be more inviting in terms of actually feeling the adrenaline rushing in especially in the latter cups in F-zero x. This kind of game being made just makes me wonder why these developers didn't work with Nintendo in making a new F-zero game? Or at the very least thinking about one in the future, the Switch would have been a good opportunity for it. What's more interesting is that Fast RMX game's announcer is the same one as in F-zero GX which makes you wonder if there were some sort of connection between this and F-zero behind the scenes.

 
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