My intro to F-Zero
Well, starting a little earlier, my intro to Nintendo itself was from my aunty and uncle. They had a NES and like a lot of kids, I got sucked into the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3. At the time though, Super Nintendo was already out I think, so when it came time to ask for something for Christmas, it had to be that!
I never actually had F-Zero as a kid, but I do remember drooling over it. The first time was probably from its appearance on a poster that came folded up with one of my games. 
Another would be one of the “Now you’re playing with power - Super Power!” commercials. This isn't the exact one since it's for the US and I was in PAL land, but it was similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B80Nwd-ISA
And of course my magazines. To this day I don't know why the screenshots are black and white! 
The most memorable is unfortunately for the wrong reason - I recall standing out front of a Toyworld shop watching it loop in the window, and having some bullies come past and tease me for staring. I think they snatched my cap for a bit as well! Oh well, those losers are probably still living in Gosnells and look like this guy now, if they're alive at all. Not doing something productive like writing a blog post about old games, that's for sure!
I never ended up buying it though, and I can’t really recall why. Maybe it wasn’t in stock much after launch, maybe I just got onto other things, or didn’t have much money. Probably all of the above. It wasn’t until much later that I hired it out with a mate and we spent all evening trying to beat each other’s times. I remember it fondly but that would be the last time I played it until emulating it I think, maybe after F-Zero X had come out. Since then, I bought a Super Famicom version, got it on Wii Virtual Console, again on Super Famicom Classic Mini. Now I also have it available through the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. No shortage of ways for you to play this now, if you haven’t already!
Modes
Grand Prix
The main mode of the game. You race in 3 increasingly difficult leagues, Knight, Queen and King, across Beginner, Standard and Expert difficulties. Clearing Expert will unlock a 4th Master difficulty for the league you cleared as well.
Each League consists of 5 tracks, each of which you race 5 laps around. Each lap has a “Safe” position. For the first lap you need to finish above 15th place, then for each successive lap, finish above 10th, 7th, 5th and finally 3rd, or else you’ll be ranked out, lose a life and have to retry the course before you can progress to the next.
You’ve got 3 lives to start with, but you can earn more for every 10000 points you receive. You get points based on your current position each time you complete a lap. This setup is rather unique amongst racing games, where normally there will be points awarded for each race, that are totalled at the end. It seems rather generous that you only need to be in the top 3 - at least until you reach Master difficulty!
At the start of the race, you can hold down the accelerator to get a “Rocket Boost”. The effect is short lived and double-edged however - soon after, your engine will cut out and you’ll lose speed. To actually get a good start, you need to maneuver your car in front of another, which will hit you from behind, allowing you to retain speed. You need to do this twice to get the best start. It’s made a little easier by a “Check” mark showing where you’re about to be overtaken.
On each lap after the first, you’re given a Boost. You can store up to 3 boosts and use them whenever you want, but generally you’ll want to use one per lap - on safer bits of road, or to take shortcuts. If you’re aiming for a lap record then using multiple boosts per lap is beneficial though. When you’re boosting, your cornering (or maneuvering around other racers) becomes much harder, so you need to be careful. Boosting into a wall is very dangerous as well, as you’ll bounce back considerably, which often leads to hitting the wall multiple times in succession like you’re a pinball.
You have a separate energy bar that depletes when you bump into other racers, the walls of the track or track hazards. At low energy, your car won’t reach its maximum speed, which will really leave you struggling. If you lose all your energy, your car will explode and you lose a life. You can also explode from leaving the course via a jump plate. On each track there’s a “pit” zone to recover energy. Energy recovery isn’t instant however - a hovering service bot of some sort has to appear first before you’ll start to recover. It also starts to disappear if you leave the pit lane, so you’ll want to stay in there completely to maximize the amount of energy recovered.
Despite there being only four selectable cars, there are actually more generic racers on the field. Sometimes you’ll see them if you’re ranking low, but more often you’ll lap the slowest of them repeatedly. They can be a real hazard, especially in groups, as knocking them will often make you lose control of your car and push you into walls, although occasionally you can get a favorable boost from them too. Some of these cars will be flashing as well, indicating the next hit will make them explode, which if you cause, can cost you a lot of energy.
Practice
As the name suggests, this mode lets you practice the game, either by yourself or with a single rival car. Not all courses can be practiced, only 7 of the 15 - All 5 from the Knight league, as well as White Land I from Queen League, and Port Town II from King League.This is also essentially the game’s Time Trial mode.
Records
Here the game stores best times for every track - 10 best course times and 1 best lap. The times are stored in hundredths of a second. Times can be registered in both Grand Prix and Practice modes. One nice feature is that the game will flash a new best time after setting a record in Grand Prix, and give you a summary of new records after a league is completed.
Cars
There’s just 4 selectable vehicles in F-Zero. Their pilots would only be known to those who bothered to read their manuals. Back then a lot of us did though!
Blue Falcon
The all-rounder, with decent top speed and cornering, although you’ll still lose grip from time to time.
Golden Fox
The fastest to accelerate but with the lowest top speed, and so weak and slippy you’ll explode before you know it!
Wild Goose
A bit of a tank car that can hardly turn and loses speed easily.
Fire Stingray
The undisputed king. Great cornering ability and the fastest top speed, just it’s a bit slow getting there.
Tracks
There are 15 tracks in F-Zero spread across 9 locations/themes, although a lot of them are just modified from each other, so it can feel like there’s less.
Knight League
Mute City I
This is a pretty good course design that is iconic for its chicane section surrounded by dirt patch (with a thin gap close to the wall for daredevils to sneak or boost through) followed by a sharp hairpin to end the lap. As a starting track it’s very good, though I’ve often wondered why they placed a jump ramp on the 2nd straight. It can’t be used for shortcuts and doesn’t serve much purpose!
Big Blue
Big Blue steps up the track design with considerably more bends than Mute City, but isn’t much more difficult. Its iconic feature would be the slip zone on the final curve, which if you’re not careful, can cost you the race.
Sand Ocean
Not much going on here in terms of track obstacles, but the ante is upped compared to the previous 2, with more than one hairpin turn. A sweeping circular stretch of road is memorable on this track.
Death Wind I
The first Death Wind course is a deceptively simple rectangular shape that would be easy to navigate if not for its main feature of wind pushing your car towards the side barriers. It’s essential to hit the boost pads on the straights to stay in front, but this is easier said than done with the aforementioned wind! It can also be tricky to avoid cars while boosting, as your turning ability is greatly limited.
Silence
The final track of Knight League is a fitting end to the cup. It introduces mine bomb obstacles that guard the game’s first dedicated shortcut/alternate path. You’ll also need to take a sharp corner to hit a jump ramp or else slow down through an otherwise unavoidable dirt patch. The remainder of the course is a series of 90º turns including a very harsh chicane section.
Queen League
Mute City II
Rather than continue with a more difficult track than Silence, Mute City II is a bit of a step back in terms of difficulty, as it opts to simply modify Mute City I (a recurring theme in F-Zero). The only real difference is on the second straight, which is now forks in a circle. Both routes are the same so the only reason to take one direction over another is to avoid other vehicles.
Port Town I
Port Town I introduces the game’s first jump over a gap in the track so it’s very memorable. The jump is followed by a sweeping turn into some light chicanes that are made more difficult by a new track feature, magnets, pulling you to the side of the course, ending with a final sharp corner as you near the home stretch.
Red Canyon I
Red Canyon I starts with a layout that is a little reminiscent of Sand Ocean I, but changes things up with a chicane guarded by magnets on the road that pull your car down. You’re aided through the section with jump plates, and although you’re not clearing a large gap, a bad knock from another car can still send you flying off course. After this, there’s a wavy section of track with dirt patches on the sides, to guide you through the middle. You don’t want to get knocked into the wavy walls here as it can be tough to recover.
White Land I
The first dedicated “ice” course reintroduces the slip zones from Big Blue, this time on a nasty hairpin and also as obstacles to avoid with jump plates (along with magnets on the road again). It’s not a particularly tricky layout for the most part - the hairpin can be approached from the side, which makes it easier than normal, but messing up can have you facing the wrong direction quickly!
White Land II
It feels like a strange choice to put the second White Land right after the first, but then it’s hard to know where else it would have slotted in as well. Perhaps because of this, the layout is not just an alternate of the first White Land. The hairpin here is a full 180º over ice and much harder now. It’s followed by 2 more hairpins, where if you want to win, you’ll really need to cut over the protruding guard rail. Another light ice curve follows before you reach the track’s most notorious section - a gap jump. If you’re bouncing on walls before this or not up to speed, you’re not going to make this jump!
King League
Mute City III
Another modification of Mute City. They’ve removed the fork in the road and modified the second straight to have points jutting out. It’s normally easy to navigate this section, unless you’re trying to overtake here! The dirt chicane is now littered with bombs on the main path as well. Trying to take this section normally seems like a death wish as if you hit one, you’re likely to hit several more as you ricochet around. It seems to encourage the same shortcut as you’d take on Mute City I, although you still have to weave through a couple bombs to make it this time.
Death Wind II
This course ups the difficulty from Death Wind I considerably, despite only changing one straight into a series of turns. The turns are marked by successive boost pads on the inside (ie where you want to go) - but if you hit them, you’re likely going to go careening into a wall, which can sometimes even send you bouncing backwards. Energy is at a premium on this course too, since the pit lane feels much too short to recover a decent amount. An easier approach is to avoid the boost pads, but the best times carefully (and with a heaping of luck!) use them to bounce once then fling into the next one.
Port Town II
Only the final section of this track differs from Port Town II. Instead of the second to last straight, there’s now a hairpin followed by a tight chicane and a sweeping final corner into another (very small) chicane. It’s a more interesting course than the original as a result, and almost feels like a relaxing breather after Death Wind II!
Red Canyon II
This course follows a similar pattern to Port Town - extending the last few sections of track into an alternate path. There’s a new section with 2 paths, one through an easily avoidable bomb field (unless you’re getting knocked around!), or another jump over a massive pit onto another jump plate. This jump needs to be taken at speed or else you just won’t make it. The final part of the track has a thin straight that seems to remind you of the wavy section of Red Canyon I. This can be just enough to make you forget which version you’re racing on and go slamming into the new chicane afterwards.
Fire Field
The track of nightmares starts with a simple straight that can turn bad quickly since it’s lined with bombs, straight into hairpin. You get a slight breather then it’s another hairpin. You can thankfully cut the next a bit like a chicane, but you’ll lose some speed going over dirt in the process. More dirt in the next straight forces you to be perfectly centered or weaving in and out of the patches. It’s not long before you get 2 more hairpins, no cutting this time. You’ll be slow and dealing with CPU cars once you get out of this section and into the next sweeping curve followed by a deep S bend into another sweeping curve. A couple of tight corners and you’re into a forked straight that has a magnet in the center pulling you in. You clear the final corner and you’re faced with the toughest decision this track throws at you - take the pit lane or not. You’re likely low on energy but the pit lane is slower, unless you hit a boost upon exiting. You’ll get back up to speed quickly, but now you’ll have to contend with overtaking a bunch of cars as you approach the now deadly bomb section. This course is up there with Death Wind II as the hardest in the game.
Sound
Each track location in F-Zero has its own theme song so they become very memorable as you associate them with the track. Several, like Mute City, Big Blue, Silence and Port Town are instant classics that get stuck in your head from the very first listen, but the rest of them are almost as good. One of my personal favourites is the song that plays when you finish a Grand Prix. The entire soundtrack, right from the title screen, is very consistent for establishing the futuristic atmosphere. This extends to the sound effects as well such as the hiss of air when boosting, the scraping of your craft when turning or the electric sizzle when touching the guard rails. You really feel like you’re floating high above the ground and speeding through these tracks!
Controls
The controls for F-Zero are simple and responsive with a lot of depth. The d-pad handles basic steering, while the L and R shoulder buttons allow you to strafe in their respective directions. Coupling a direction with a strafe allows you to corner more tightly. The main button is B to accelerate, while A is your boost, and X and Y can be used to brake. Another method for taking corners quickly, is to briefly release the accelerator. This is also very important for recovering grip after a knock or an unintentional slide. Finally, up and down on the d-pad can be used when going over a jump ramp. If you hold down, you’ll gain more distance and land smoother, if you hold forward, the jump will be shorter and you’ll bump as you land.
Graphics
Much like the sound, the graphics of F-Zero contribute heavily to the game’s presentation and atmosphere. Each course looks distinct from one another but also follows a consistent futuristic theme. The outside of the tracks have nice little animation touches that really make it seem like there are different futuristic cities around the track. The display is also remarkably smooth, which coupled with the design of the track barriers and the track layouts themselves, really contributes to the sense of speed.
My thoughts
Personally I’m not too fond of reviews of old games from the perspective of newer players. Sorry, that’s just the way it is! I feel like a lot of them lack the context of having experienced the game around the time of release. Even if they didn’t, I feel some effort should be made to, rather than spouting nonsense like “this game doesn’t hold up to modern standards”. My conclusion aims to summarize the game entirely on its own merits.
The good thing is, F-Zero does hold up. Its controls were excellent for the time and remain excellent now. If you go back and play racing games from this era you won’t find many that feel as good to play F-Zero. It’s not really appreciated that this was the game that introduced everyone to shoulder buttons, which paved the way towards powerslides in the Mario Kart games, something I think we can all be grateful for!
The visuals and audio can’t be faulted, even if you were to look at it from “a modern perspective” - there is no slowdown, it’s visually appealing and sounds plain incredible. A lot of reviews for this game mention Mode 7, the technique used to display the course so smoothly, but not many nowadays can appreciate how nice this was back then. Racing games at home in this era tended to have a jerky appearance due to limited scaling abilities for trackside details. This is cleverly avoided in F-Zero due to the nature of the technique, and only really shows itself in the cars themselves, but this isn’t an issue for gameplay.
That said, the game wasn’t perfect. There are obvious things that could (and would) be improved. For starters, there is no 2 player mode, so that kind of fun is just off the table. You’re limited to racing the CPU and practicing your times. Super Mario Kart would introduce 2 player gameplay soon afterwards, so it was a shame they didn’t make an F-Zero sequel on SNES that added it as well. Even the BS F-Zero game didn’t have it, we had to wait until F-Zero X, and even longer for Maximum Velocity, to have it in the original game’s format.
Having said that, F-Zero is a very addictive game to play for lap records. The game keeps a good track of them and shaving seconds is a lot of fun. I do dislike the starting boost mechanic where you need to bump off of rival racers to get a good start though. This, coupled with a relatively slow retry speed can make the process more tedious than it needed to be. Plus, it’s also unfortunate that you can’t practice all the tracks. It’s commonly believed that they didn’t have the space to add all the tracks, but I’ve been told that’s baloney by Mr GuyPerfect, who is well known for hacking F-Zero games. Either way, it is what it is and it still sucks, as some of the hardest tracks can only be played in Grand Prix, and it’d be really nice to practice them all.
The selection of tracks is very good for the most part. The variant courses range from barely different to suitably different. I don’t mind this approach but think a bit more could have been done for the Mute City variants. Overall though there is a good amount of variety and gradually increasing challenge.
The selection of cars provides some variety but I think they could have done a better job making them more balanced. It’s hard not to just choose Fire Stingray even over Blue Falcon, my favourite design. And you really don’t want to choose the other 2!
My final complaint relates to the game’s difficulty. For the most part, it’s not a very hard game even on Expert. On Master it can still be enjoyable at times, but on certain tracks like Death Wind II and Fire Field, it becomes an exercise in frustration.
The difficulty doesn’t come so much from the tracks themselves, but the erratic CPU car behavior and the effects from getting knocked. The CPU on Master will routinely overtake you as if their coasting speed is faster than your max speed all of a sudden, but they won’t just drive past nicely either. They barge through from behind, or worse, from the side as you’re entering a corner. When this happens you get flung around and smacked into the wall multiple times, sometimes you end up facing the wrong way, all while your ability to turn and correct is hampered.
It might not be so bad if it wasn’t for the CPU cars being unaffected by it at all, keeping their speed throughout the whole ordeal. They also don’t need to use the pit lanes, will regenerate if you knock them off course, and routinely teleport immediately behind you the second you make a mistake. So for a few moments like this, the fun disappears as it becomes more about luck than skill.
It’s disappointing but it’s a relatively minor part of the game as a whole, that is easily rectified by just playing on Expert where it’s still fun and still a decent challenge.
Overall, I think F-Zero is great, only let down by a few things. Super Mario Kart would soon fix a lot of its issues, and later F-Zero games greatly expanded upon some of its ideas, but there’s a good game here at the core, that is a lot of fun to play. I mean, it says a lot that so many of the tracks from this game have appeared in later installments, but sometimes I still just want to play them on the original!
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