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With the release of F-Zero 99 on the Switch NSO following the latest Nintendo Direct, I think a thread regarding this franchise is long overdue. Let's dive in !
I grew up with the first F-Zero on the Super Nintendo. I used to only do the Practice mode back then, and I kept listening to the game's songs. Back then, while I did like the game, I wasn't all that pulled into it like I was with Pokémon or some other games of that time. Later on, I got Super Smash Bros. Melee, which made me rediscover the F-Zero franchise through its Mute City and Big Blue stages along with their remixes. That's when I learned of Captain Falcon himself, leading me to main him in subsequent Smash games to come (yes, even Brawl, where he was dirt garbage in competitive).
While I skipped F-Zero X initially, I did manage to play F-Zero GX at a friend's home at one point and got the game myself. Best 15 euros spent ever. While F-Zero GX is a very difficult game, it is quite rewarding once you master the basics. I haven't got into any other F-Zero games until my first emulator days, which led me to the GBA games of Maximum Velocity, GP Legend and Climax, which took a lot of inspirations from the Super Nintendo game in regards to the playstyle, especially MV. Playing the GP Legend and Climax games led me to the Anime of the same name which, funny enough, can be watched on Youtube since all episodes are uploaded there and somehow still up to this day. F-Zero is also infamous for not having had a new game in a very long time until F-Zero 99. In fact, it has been almost 19 years since the release dates of F-Zero Climax (released on October 21st of 2004, and only in Japan). And fans have been clamoring a return of the franchise since the Wii era.
Regarding the franchise's lore, it can be quite confusing at first due to poor managements of old dedicated wikias, which uses informations from a very old F-Zero X website that was not canon... Yet most people assumed it was the case and everybody ran with it until fairly recently, where a new wikia strives to correct all the wrongs. Tangent aside, each F-Zero venues and pilots have their own lore or biography describing all of them, which has been left somewhat unexplored due to the nature of a racing game not focusing on such things, despite some Story Mode existing for F-Zero GX and GP Legend. Which is a shame, since there is a lot to do with all the information we get from the games (for example, exploring the rivalry between Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh and why they became enemies, or how Doctor Stewart managed to save every single pilot from death after an event known as the "Huge F-Zero Accident", leading to a 3-year suspension of the F-Zero sport).
I spoke long enough, I think. I'd like to hear what other people have to say about this franchise. As for me, I'll keep on racing in F-Zero 99 !
I grew up with the first F-Zero on the Super Nintendo. I used to only do the Practice mode back then, and I kept listening to the game's songs. Back then, while I did like the game, I wasn't all that pulled into it like I was with Pokémon or some other games of that time. Later on, I got Super Smash Bros. Melee, which made me rediscover the F-Zero franchise through its Mute City and Big Blue stages along with their remixes. That's when I learned of Captain Falcon himself, leading me to main him in subsequent Smash games to come (yes, even Brawl, where he was dirt garbage in competitive).
While I skipped F-Zero X initially, I did manage to play F-Zero GX at a friend's home at one point and got the game myself. Best 15 euros spent ever. While F-Zero GX is a very difficult game, it is quite rewarding once you master the basics. I haven't got into any other F-Zero games until my first emulator days, which led me to the GBA games of Maximum Velocity, GP Legend and Climax, which took a lot of inspirations from the Super Nintendo game in regards to the playstyle, especially MV. Playing the GP Legend and Climax games led me to the Anime of the same name which, funny enough, can be watched on Youtube since all episodes are uploaded there and somehow still up to this day. F-Zero is also infamous for not having had a new game in a very long time until F-Zero 99. In fact, it has been almost 19 years since the release dates of F-Zero Climax (released on October 21st of 2004, and only in Japan). And fans have been clamoring a return of the franchise since the Wii era.
Regarding the franchise's lore, it can be quite confusing at first due to poor managements of old dedicated wikias, which uses informations from a very old F-Zero X website that was not canon... Yet most people assumed it was the case and everybody ran with it until fairly recently, where a new wikia strives to correct all the wrongs. Tangent aside, each F-Zero venues and pilots have their own lore or biography describing all of them, which has been left somewhat unexplored due to the nature of a racing game not focusing on such things, despite some Story Mode existing for F-Zero GX and GP Legend. Which is a shame, since there is a lot to do with all the information we get from the games (for example, exploring the rivalry between Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh and why they became enemies, or how Doctor Stewart managed to save every single pilot from death after an event known as the "Huge F-Zero Accident", leading to a 3-year suspension of the F-Zero sport).
I spoke long enough, I think. I'd like to hear what other people have to say about this franchise. As for me, I'll keep on racing in F-Zero 99 !