The last entry a F-Zero, Nintendo’s antigravity racing series, came out in the Game Boy Advance 17 years ago. The last major version of the console was F-Zero GX, co-developed with Sega’s Amusement Vision studio in 2003. Still F-Zero tracks that appear in Mario Kart, and Captain Falcon is a Super Smash Bros. mainly, Nintendo has shown no interest in continuing F-Zero during the last two decades. Fans will need to hold their breath.
Late last week, IGN released a file fragment from his interview with retired Nintendo designer Takaya Imamura about F-Zero’s long hiatus. (Sorry for the delay, but as it is F-Zero we’re talking, I couldn’t miss this news at all.) IGN asked Imamura if the franchise was really dead, and he said this:
“Of course, I’ve thought about it many times, but without a great new idea, it’s hard to get it back.”
The subtext here is that Nintendo tends to design games based on new game concepts. Unless the company can find out one to get a new one F-Zero, being that it cannot justify the recovery of the series. Obviously, Nintendo has a precedent for revitalizing the beloved series with new ideas, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which serves as the first modern example. Personally, I would be pleased if Nintendo just made an excellent arcade runner, but apparently it’s not an option. There must be a trick.
Very well, well. Then give us a trick.
My main problem with the Imamura line here, and that’s what Nintendo has parrot before about this franchise: that’s what it suggests F-Zero not only it needs an artifice to work, but that is also inherently immune to creativity. I guess you can’t apply a new thought because it’s a racing game.
G / O Media may receive a commission
This is a bit ironic, because Mario Kart 8 and 8 Deluxe, which was recently combined with the best selling racing game of all time, I barely had any new ideas to talk about. Karts are transformed into mid-race hovercrafts and gliders, but these transformations are brief and almost entirely cosmetic; they do not significantly alter the behavior of the vehicle or add smart facets to the overall races. Mario Kart it has never changed that much, and yet Nintendo continues to sell many of these games.
However, if the company is convinced F-Zero i can’t go back without an ingenious idea, there is a lot of potential in this universe. On the one hand, the large number of quirky characters makes her ripe for a narrative.
What if players run a racing team, like a futuristic version Grid, hiring pilots and sponsors? Get inspired From Splatoon template – based game i Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ extensive team development activities when you are not fighting for the right path. Give us the role of good faith racing that no one else is brave enough to do, just like you’re doing for golf.
Get back to the deep aspects of customizing and building machines F-Zero GX. Study how other games in the genre have kept things fresh with asynchronous goals and leaderboards that motivate players to constantly beat their friends ’times and scores.
I can’t be convinced it’s absolutely nowhere F-Zero to go. We have gone through three generations of consoles without any new ones, and this medium has been evolving in the long run.
It’s especially infuriating for long-time fans since, as Imamura says, in 2003 F-Zero GX it was phenomenal because Sega and Nintendo had just made the damn game together; there was no “big idea” or trick. Led by Toshihiro Nagoshi (yes, that Toshihiro Nagoshi, better known today as Yakuza) F-Zero GX it was a technical marvel on the GameCube and remains one of the most visceral and dazzling arcade racing experiences to this day. But it wasn’t a big surprise, as Nagoshi gave it to us as well Virtua Racing, Daytona USA i Scud Race.
Imamura explained what that game was like:
“I think it started with [Amusement Vision’s] Toshihiro Nagoshi proposed the project to Miyamoto, “says Imamura.” I really liked Daytona USA (which produced Nagoshi), so I had the honor of working with him. We had an arcade system board called Triforce that was based on in the GameCube architecture, so when Nagoshi proposed to make an arcade version of F-Zero, I was very happy, as I had always been a fan of arcade games.
“Back then, Nagoshi was the pinnacle of Amusement Vision, a subsidiary studio of Sega. I don’t think a lot of people outside the company were allowed to go into the actual development offices. Companies don’t usually let people into their development offices, but they showed me the arcade furniture they worked on, which has become a special memory for me, ”recalls Imamura. “Nagoshi had a professional dart machine in his office, which I found very elegant. In those days, Nagoshi still had long hair, but it was already quite imposing.
It is noted that there is still reverence for F-Zero GX for those who worked there, including Nagoshi himself. However, it is difficult to make a commercial case for a game that has a relatively small but extremely passionate and vocal fan cult. F-Zero it’s been out for so long that I can’t help but believe that a new entry wouldn’t hurt, especially with all the love for Nintendo and the Switch that exists today. Maybe you just give us a remaster of GX to measure reception, first? Honestly at this point, I will settle for anything.