F-Zero review of the original SNES high-speed racer (now on Wii Virtual Console)

F-ZeroFor the launch of Nintendo’s Super NES, the 16-bit follow-up to their extremely successful 8-bit console, they needed a racing title to add to their portfolio of best-selling, well known franchises like Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid and Zelda.

They ended up coming up with a futuristic high-speed racing game that would fully use the power of the Super NES to create pseudo 3D effects that would wow the player. Using sparse backgrounds Nintendo was able to maintain a solid framerate with no slowdown whatsoever, which gave the game an unforeseen feeling of blazing speed . . . and thus the high-speed action/racing genre was born (which would be further refined by the likes of the Wipeout and Extreme-G franchises, among others).

The original F-Zero came on the scene in 1991 in the U.S. and it quickly became a best-seller and has since been a staple in Nintendo’s evolution of hardware, with a new F-Zero title, using new technology, released each console generation. The N64 saw F-Zero X, the GameCube saw F-Zero GX, and the Game Boy Advance has seen a slew of F-Zero titles.

Now the origin of high-speed racing has been re-released, in it’s original glorious form, on the Wii Virtual Console. Still fun after all these years? Find out in my review of the SNES version.

F-Zero Title Screen

System: Super NES
Also On: Wii VC
Genre: 3rd Person High-Speed Racing
Debut: August 15, 1991 (NA), June 4, 1992 (EU), Nov. 21, 1990 (JAP)
Save: Cart Save (Only saves racing times. Can’t input initials)
Players: 1
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Origin: Japan
Rating: E for Everyone

F-Zero is a high-speed racing game in which the player can choose from one of four different hover crafts (or “machines”). Each craft has it’s own stats that make a difference in how it handles.

The crafts you can choose from are: The Blue Falcon (blue craft), Golden Fox (yellow), Wild Goose (gold) and Fire Stingray (pink). The Blue Falcon is the best overall craft, the Golden Fox has the best acceleration but low defense and turning, the Wild Goose is a strong craft with the second worse acceleration, while the Fire Stingray has the worst acceleration but the highest top speed and the best turning.

Machine Select

The crafts are different enough to really effect your ability to win a cup, like any good racing game, and each person will probably have their favorite of the four. You cannot edit the crafts in any way, nor or is there any kind of on-screen representation of the craft ratings or even a description. You do however get a graph that shows the acceleration of the craft. And it does show max speed and weight, but this will just confuse most players who won’t know what it all means.

F-Zero actually contains a very detailed premise and backstory . . . unfortunately none of it is displayed in the game, rather it’s all confined to the rather hefty instruction booklet, which most players will not have access too, so I’ll sum it up here (cause I’m nice like that).

Basically F-Zero is set far in the future (2560 to be exact), in a time where Earth is no longer the only planet with humanoids, and the world is now an intergalactic one where the existence of aliens is a common occurrence. Corporations sprung up that got rich off of intergalactic trade with various alien races, and in their rich laziness they wanted to come up with a new way to entertain themselves (you know the cliche). Eventually a new project sprung up that would be a competition, on a galactic scale, “similar to the F-1 races on earth centuries ago”. The multi-billionaires jumped at the idea, and so F-Zero was born, and with it tracks for the races on various planets across the galaxy.

Of course, befitting of the “futuristic” theme, the courses aren’t normal courses, rather they are fitted “300 feet above the ground” and outfitted with “anti-gravitational guide beams” on both sides of the course, which allow the hovercrafts taking place to . . . well, hover. Using “super magnetic technology” of course. The story says that when the races were first held, people were outraged at the brutality of it all (seeing a machine crash and burn in a fireball of flame would do that to you) since the creators of the tracks had placed various obstacles on the courses, but soon people forgot all about it as they got used to the violence. And the lucky individual who won this race was to be considered the highest honor bestowed upon anyone in the universe (yes, that important). Eventually, this race became known simply as “F-Zero” (F-1 . . . minus one, you see. Either that or “zero gravity”, probably both. But I digress).

Get Ready

The book goes on to name the racers of the four hovercrafts mentioned above and give a little back story on each of them as well as their machines. The pilots are: Captain Falcon (“Show your moves!”) of the Blue Falcon, Dr. Stuart driving the Golden Fox (the ladies man of the group), the beloved alien “killer” Pico (see what I did there) piloting the Wild Goose, and of course the hefty “rumored to be Japanese American” Samurai Goroh and his Fire Stingray. (Samurai Goroh BETTER be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl or I’ll . . . I’ll . . . delete this review! Ok . . . not really. I’ll just be like, “That sucks! Why Nintendo, why!”).

And on a side-note, the instruction book is actually worth tracking down (or finding online . . . ok, ok. I did the hard work for you) because it contains a full-color comic at the back called “F-Zero: The Story of Captain Falcon” which follows the bounty hunter as he does what he does best . . . hunting bounties. It’s pretty cool though and was definitely a nice inclusion.

F-Zero is really as bare bones a racing game as they come though, despite all the backstory. Matter of fact there are only three choices when you fire the game up (which appears without any kind of intro or even a company name being displayed), and they are: Grand Prix, Practice and Records. The Practice mode simply lets you race on a few tracks without having to worry about winning, while the records lets you view your saved best times on all the tracks in the main game (although this is useless because you can’t enter your initials, nor does it show what craft you were racing with). And that’s all she wrote.

There are three cups, or “Leagues” in F-Zero: Knight, Queen and King. And each cup is composed of five tracks. In addition to that, you can choose from three difficulty levels: Easy, Standard, and Expert. Beating the King League on Expert will also unlock an even harder Master difficulty level, which is for those insane people.

Machine Dead

There are a few elements that are very unique to F-Zero, such as an energy meter and lives. Your energy meter (“Power”), is shown in the upper right corner of the screen, and if this meter gets depleted then your machine will blow up. To refill your meter you will find energy zones at one point in the track, if you drive through it you’re energy will start filling up. Below that shows your speed, and below that your race time for the lap.

Energy Refill

In addition, you only have so many lives, which are shown on the bottom right hand of the screen. You are awarded points for completing laps depending on what place you were in when you completed it, and points for completing the track depending on what overall place you were in (1st, 2nd, or 3rd). You can also gain an extra life by reaching 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 points. Points are shown in the upper left hand corner of the screen.


F-Zero Gameplay Video

To the right of the points display you will see a number that says “Safe”. Strangely, you have to race five laps in F-Zero instead of the typical three as in most every other racing game. To qualify to race the next lap you have to be at or below the safe number, which starts high and obviously gets lower as you complete laps. Next to that you will see your “Rank”. This number tells you what place you are in, and you will want to make sure that the number stays below the “Safe” number or you will lose the race and have to use one of your lives.

Dash Arrow

The bottom right corner of the screen, below your lives, shows three S marks, these are your boosts. They will fill green once you complete the first lap, and turn red when you are using one. You can only store three at a time, so if you have three filled up you might wanna use one. The bottom right corner of the screen shows a mini-map of the course. You will also be able to see a number above the four machines ahead of you, that donates what place they are in, as well as a “Check” marker that appears when a craft is coming up on your rear. Use this as a guide to try and block them from passing you.

Sand Ocean

The racing itself is very simple, but there is A LOT of technique to the game. This means that you can’t expect to win (at least on the harder difficulties and latter two cups) by simply holding down the gas button. This is a very different game indeed from say Super Mario Kart, since you really gotta have some skill to come in first place, especially on the harder difficulties. F-Zero also doesn’t use “rubberband AI”, which means that if you get behind in the game, then it is difficult to catch back up.

You start each track on the starting lane with the four main cars on the lane with you. During the race you will also come across “faceless” cars that make up the other 8 or so racers, they come in a couple varieties, from flashing “bomb cars” that will knock you into the walls if touched to plain orange-colored ones.

The controls in F-Zero are simple. B is the gas button, Y is the break, A is the boost and the shoulder buttons, R & L, are used for sharp turning. But to succeed you need to know when to use boosts, how to turn correctly, and most importantly of all, use both the break as well as letting go of the gas to navigate the many sharp turns you will come across on the various tracks.

Big Blue

The tracks in the game are all very unique and expertly designed. The types of tracks include memorable names: Mute City, Big Blue, Sand Ocean, Death Wind, Silence, Port Town, Red Canyon, White Land, and of course, Fire Field. And on the higher cups you will race on harder versions of these courses (donated with a number, like Mute City III).

Each track has it’s own look and colorization as well as it’s own unique perks. Death Wind for example lives up to it’s name by featuring a constant blowing wind (which you can’t see btw) that pushes your craft to the right throughout the entirety of the race, making it harder to turn. While White Land features “ice” covering the tracks which makes your cart slide, as well as “snow” that drastically slows you down (the quotation marks are because, according to the book, there really isn’t any “ice” or “snow”).

Ice On the Track

Many of the tracks feature jump plates that will hurl your craft into the air and it’s here that one of the coolest features of F-Zero is revealed. While in the air you can use the down and up buttons to make your car point upwards or downwards. This will make your craft either fall to the earth sooner, or float for a longer period of time, and it’s even required on a few later tracks where a jump plate sends you over a huge gap.

Jump Plate

Of course, lots of later tracks will also use extremely tight corners in addition to rough areas (which slow your craft down) that align the sides of the tracks at nearly all times, to make them harder to navigate. One track even has sides that jut out in many triangle shapes, wherein you need to stay in the middle or move side to side to navigate correctly, and the corners only get tighter and harder as you progress to the later tracks. These types of tracks will require some skill to make your way through. Some will even require you to fully break to make the turn. Very bad if you are a slow accelerator.

You will also encounter other types of hazards on certain tracks, including: land mines, which will cause your craft to violently careen in one direction (usually towards the wall or another mine), down-pull magnets, side-track magnets, ice sheets, jump plates and dash arrows, which will, obviously, give your craft a boost when you run over them.

Huge Jump in White Land II

In addition, every track shares a few characteristics, among them gray or dark-colored “rough spots”, which will slow your craft down and generally line the sides of the track, and “anti-gravity guide beams”, these take the form of colored circles that line the outer edges on both sides throughout every track. They aren’t walls, since you can shoot over them if you hit a jump plate, but they line the tracks just before the edge, and if you touch them they will not only slow you down some but sap energy away. Some of these guide beams will even appear in other parts of the track, such as on White Land II, where you’ll have to pass through a turn with these anti-gravity objects in the middle, and if you wanna succeed in passing the track you’ll want to drive right through them.

All of these obstacles gave the developers something to play with, and they used them in extremely smart ways to design great tracks, each of which has it’s own feel and personality. Some of my personal favorites include Red Canyon II, which features a shortcut with a huge jump by which you can only make it to the dash arrow in the middle by boosting before you hit the initial jump plate, both Port Towns, which contain cool jumps over the city, and both White Land’s, the first of which is complex but expertly designed. Most tracks only use one obstacle until the later levels. Suffice it to say that Fire Field uses them all (Good luck with that).

Fire Field

F-Zero is an extremely tough game. And one aspect that makes is so hard is the fact that you can be bumped by other racers, which will knock your craft off-balance, causing you to slam into the sides and sometimes even bounce off the sides, which will make you blow up if you can’t gain control of your craft back. To re-orient yourself when you’ve been hit, you have to let go of the gas and press it again. Although this makes the game more challenging, it can be extremely frustrating. Matter of fact, when I was playing Fire Field on Expert, I was on the last lap when I was bumped by another machine, this caused me to hit the wall and bounce off of it . . . repeatedly. And that was the end of me. I blew up very close to the finish line . . . Sad part is that I had two lives left, and never did as good as my first race. So while you can recover from being bumped, it can be very hard too. So try to win on your first try!

Red Canyon Arrow Dash

F-Zero is also an extremely fast game. It’s a game all about speed (which is conveyed really well for such an old game), and while the graphics are extremely outdated and about as sparse as can be, they somehow get the job done and work well. It just seems to fit the theme when you look at the game. You never think “Man I wish this game looked better” (course, that may be cause there are newer F-Zero games that do look better). No, you are playing the original game, and it has it’s unique charm thanks in part to the sparsity of the graphics. Although I must say that the ship graphics and designs are well done. They are big on the screen, like you’d expect from a machine, and you can even see Captain Falcon inside his ship controlling it through the glass! Which is a really cool touch.

Captain Falcon on White Land

The game has a pseudo 3D look, even though it feels like a classic 2D racer (because it is), and you can’t switch the viewpoint, you’re always racing from behind your craft. Thankfully the game uses color well, and some levels are purple, brown, green, blue, etc. and it goes a long way in making each track feel different from one another. And in addition to that they do have unique backgrounds and textures over the sides of the track, from the canyons and dirt of Red Canyon to the cities of Mute City and Port Town, with blinking lights and other such lines to make it look like you are seeing cars and streets. Which of course, isn’t really the case since the game is so old, but it’s a fun look nonetheless.

City Below

F-Zero thankfully has a cool soundtrack. A lot of the tunes are considered classics now, those of Big Blue especially, but I love the music in Death Wind, White Land and Fire Field too. All the different track names have different music, and all of it is good, if not dated and simple, but that’s to be expected from a first-generation SNES game.

In the end, F-Zero is a simple but well designed game. There isn’t much replay value here due to there being no multiplayer whatsoever, and only one game mode (simply the Grand Prix), but the game is fast, fun and challenging. Only the best of the best will be able to conquer the game on the Master difficulty setting, and you have to be pretty good and dedicated to beat it on Expert. The game will likely only last you a few hours, but they will be good hours indeed.

FUN FACTOR – 8.0
F-Zero is a fun game but it’s extreme challenge can make it frustrating.

Graphics – 8.0
F-Zero has a bonafide classic look. The machines themselves are nicely detailed and big on-screen while the background and track details are sparse, but the look is consistent and works well.

Sounds & Music – 9.0
This game has some great and beloved, memorable music. Goes a long way in making the game feel cool.

Ingenuity – 7.5
15 tracks, four machines, three cups . . . only one viewpoint, no multiplayer, and no additional modes. For it’s time the game was groundbreaking. Even yet, the whole hovercraft concept of diving downward or hovering when in the air still feels unique, and F-Zero has a feeling that is much different than that of other titles.

Replay Value – 6.0
Since there is only one mode and no multiplayer, F-Zero doesn’t have much replay value to speak of. However the sheer difficulty of the game, especially if you want to conquer the Master difficulty setting, will keep you playing for a while.