What we didn’t expect from Nintendo’s game announcements this week is a reimagining of the SNES classic F-Zero (1990).
But here’s F-Zero 99 on the Nintendo Switch, a brilliant battle royale racing experience we immediately swooned for. By heck, this thing is ruddy epic!
Frantic Battles for Glory in F-Zero 99
Back in 2019 Tetris 99 launched and brought a new angle to the classic puzzle game. We still play the thing now it’s that ruddy fantastic.
It’s the usual Tetris concept, but you’re pitched against 99 players online and have to work very quickly indeed to clear blocks to stay in the game.
Now Nintendo has applied the same concept to its long-dormant F-Zero series and the result is spectacular.
The last entry in the series was F-Zero Climax (2004) on the GBA. Nintendo didn’t even make that one, it handed the IP to Japanese developer Suzak. The game met with mixed reviews.
Almost 20 years later and we’ve finally got some F-Zero action back. And what a hell of a return this is, F-Zero 99 is wonderful. This is how it plays, we’ll explain what’s going on after the glory of this video.
Right, so it’s the usual F-Zero battle for victories. But you’re up against 99 people from across the world in a pitched battle to win.
You can take part in one off 99 races. These earn you token and help to develop your skill rating via points. You can then use the tokens to enter into more advanced Grand Prix events. The big behemoth of the lot is a pitched five race battle.
Those knock you out if you don’t reach a certain position in time.
It’s frantic stuff. You need skill here and your racing is put to the test but you really can’t help but revel in the organised madness of the experience. We’ve long hailed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s (2017) online play as the best fun ever.
F-Zero 99 is very close to that, but aimed at the gamer who wants more of a focus on skill rather than potluck carnage.
One of the highlights being a Super Sparks collection device you can use to unlock a Skyway above the normal track. You can use it strategically to blast yourself up the order.
But everything about the experience is bang on.
The updated 16 bit era graphics, the pelting and iconic soundtrack, the speed, the frenetic nature of many vehicles blasting around type circuits. It’s impossible not to love it immediately.
Whilst winning on this thing is tough, we did manage to luck out and win OUR VERY FIRST RACE in the 99 mode! Glad to get that monkey off our backs. It’s just… we haven’t won a race since then. Ho hum.
But perseverance is the name of the game here. Plus, taking part is just so much fun! Even when you drag yourself home, your spaceship almost out of power and ready to explode, for 11th place it feels like a victory.
Nintendo has judged this one to perfection. Everything is so very rewarding and it balances its retro gaming sensibilities magnificently alongside a modern gaming perspective.
Some gamers are already hailing F-Zero 99 as one of 2023’s best games.
It’s difficult to argue with that. Although we somewhat expected the game to possibly become repetitive after extended play, we’ve not got bored with it.
All we have is an overwhelming desire to keep racing.
Nintendo will keep adding new features to this over time and, well.. as a title that launched out of the blue all we can conclude with is it’s an instant classic. As one F-Zero fan noted, “A dream come true.” Indeed!