jdodson gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
jdodson gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
Or at least that's what that incredible ad from the 90's said as the kid playing F-Zero was so blown back by the game it literally flattened him and then he walked off looking like Gumby. For real, that actually happened in that ad I linked and these kinds of old ads are one of the reasons why I still love the 90's.

F-Zero was a launch title for the Super Nintendo that showcased the systems mode 7 graphics. Mode 7 was a pretty hyped SNES graphical mode that allowed games like F-Zero, Super Mario Kart, Secret of Mana & Final Fantasy VI to exist. Basically Mode 7 created a 3D like view that works really well for racing games and other titles that feature air travel systems (like SoM and FFVI).

Whenever people talk about F-Zero they remember that it came with multiplayer but in reality it never had it. I think people confuse it with later games in the franchise or Super Mario Kart. I think multiplayer wasn't included because it was a launch title and Nintendo needed to get it ready OR maybe it wasn't widely known how to make split-screen multiplayer work at that time. Either way F-Zero still shines as a fun racer even in a world with much more modern games such as Need For Speed.

One aspect of F-Zero that makes it game that's still fun to play now is that it's really challenging. Each car selection comes with upsides and significant downsides enough to make the choice matter. Choose Dr. Stewarts yellow Golden Fox racer and you will blast ahead of that pack easily because it has the fastest acceleration but if you are bumped around on the track you are going to take damage faster as his car isn't very tough. F-Zero pro's seem to think that Samurai Goroh with his Fire Stingray is the best racer because while it has the absolute slowest acceleration, if you can make your way into the lead and hold it the tough armor coupled with the unmatched top speed is the best choice.

Typically when i've played F-Zero in the past i've played as Captain Falcon or Dr. Stewart but as Stewart I die... a lot. After reading what some F-Zero pro's suggest in going with Samurai Goroh it took some getting used to but for the first time I finally won all 5 races for Night League Easy.

I picked up a Super Nintendo Classic for Christmas and have been spending mostly all of my gaming time playing F-Zero and I plan to continue. The original SNES F-Zero cart came with a battery save so all your high scores on completing the zones is saved. The SNES Classic keeps this feature without the need to save your state and that's kind of a neat thing. If you need to step away you can save you state but I don't find for this game it's something I need to use a lot.

Travis   Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 03:30am

Ahhh that 90s nostalgia. I certainly didn't believe the controls... even after I played it.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 01/04/2018 at 04:56am

Hahahaha yeah, it can be pretty hard.

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